NORTH MANCHESTER - Wawasee head softball coach Cory Schutz said his team's 11-1 win in six innings over host Manchester Friday afternoon was the kind of game the Warriors needed.

After several tough losses with pitching and hitting woes, Friday's contest saw everything come together for the Warriors.

Leadoff hitter and shortstop Rachel Canen finally saw her bat come around, going 3 for 5 with three runs and a stolen base.

Those are the stats that leadoff hitters are judged by.

"We've been hoping for this kind of game from Rachel. We've been expecting her to hit the ball hard, and once she does that, and gets on base, that makes us a lot better," said Schutz.

Canen, who didn't play softball her junior year, may finally be coming into midseason form.

Canen scored the first run of the game for Wawasee in the third inning after reaching on a seeing-eye single to left field. She then stole second base and was driven home by second baseman Megan Walker, who nailed a single of her own to leftfield.

Walker scored after a sacrifice bunt by catcher Tarina Sorensen and a single by clean-up hitter and third baseman Ashley Holdeman.

Manchester was able to hang in the ballgame until the fourth and fifth innings when the Warriors put together a couple of four-run innings.

The Squires' starting pitcher, Kala McKenzie, held strong to a point, but her defense couldn't bail her out.

Manchester committed seven errors over six innings, many of which came with runners on and in scoring position.

"Our defense has been a problem for us all season," said Manchester head coach Jim Troyer. "We came out and we weren't ready to play tonight."

McKenzie, a senior, gave up 12 hits over six full innings and was charged with all 11 runs that crossed the plate. She did strike out twp, while sprinkling just three walks over the duration of her outing.

The heart of Wawasee's lineup was just too much, however.

Holdeman and Sorensen each had two hits and two runs against Manchester, while Walker smacked two hits and scored a run.

The Warriors found some production at the bottom of the lineup from centerfielder Kasey Bollier.

While Bollier finished 0 for 3, she reached base and scored on a walk and an error by Squire second basemen Tammy Egolf.

Egolf did provide some offensive punch and grabbed one of the seven Manchester hits from the eighth spot of Troyer's lineup with a single in the third inning.

Catcher Megan Hoch had a single for Manchester before leaving the game with an injury. Amber Hunter hit in the cleanup spot for Hoch and drove in the Squires' lone run of the game when she lined a double to deep left-center field, scoring left fielder Amy Vanlandingham.

Manchester threatened again in the bottom of the sixth inning in the face of the game being called due to the 10-run mercy rule.

After striking out Shanna Helvey, Froebe gave up a single to McKenzie then walked Egolf.

Schutz replaced Froebe with Beth Voirol.

Froebe grabbed the win and left after 5-1/3 innings, giving up seven hits, one earned run and striking out four.

Like Canen, this was a big confidence-building game for the junior pitcher.

"This is a game we needed from (Froebe). We've been working a lot with her and it really paid off tonight. She had control and let the defense work for her," said Schutz.

After Voirol came in, she got Squire first basemen Jade Kennedy to put the ball in play, but Kennedy reached on a throwing error by Walker.

It was the lone error committed by Wawasee in the game.

With the bases loaded, Wawasee dodged a bullet when Holdeman snagged a line-drive screamer that had extra bases written all over it from the bat of Manchester leadoff hitter Casey Thomas.

Vanlandingham then popped out to Warrior right fielder Kayln Price to end the game.

Despite the late offensive burst, Troyer concedes that his team has struggled to score runs this year. But Troyer, in his ninth year at Manchester, worries his team's focus on offense is bleeding over to the defensive end of the game.

"It's a confidence thing. They don't hit and they become so focused on that, they don't concentrate as much when they're in the field," said Troyer. "We haven't come back from spring break mentally. If we don't soon it's going to be a long season."

Conversely, Schutz feels like his team is hitting its stride.

"I think this game is big for our confidence level. We haven't played our best ball yet which is fine because it isn't tournament time. But if we can maintain this confidence for Warsaw on Tuesday and beyond, we'll be in good shape," said Schutz.

With the loss, Manchester moves its record to 1-4 on the season. The Squires are in action today when they host Triton for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

The Warriors move to 3-7 on the season and are next in action Tuesday when they travel to Warsaw to take on the Tigers in Northern Lakes Conference play. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.

WAWASEE 11, MANCHESTER 1 (6 Innings)

Wawasee

AB R H RBI

Canen 5 3 3 0

Walker 5 1 2 0

Sorensen 3 2 2 0

Holdeman 4 2 2 1

Thomas 4 0 1 2

Timmons 3 0 1 1

Price 4 1 1 0

Kaiser 4 0 0 0

Bollier 3 2 0 0

Totals 35 11 12 4

Manchester

AB R H RBI

Thomas 3 0 0 0

Vanlandingham 3 1 0 0

King 3 0 1 0

Hoch 2 0 1 0

Hunter 1 0 1 1

Fratus 2 0 0 0

Helvey 3 0 1 0

McKenzie 3 0 1 0

Egolf 1 0 1 0

Kennedy 3 0 1 0

Totals 24 1 7 1

Wawasee (3-7) 002 441 X - 11 12 1

Manchester (1-4) 000 010 X - 1 7 7

2B - Hunter (M), Thomas (W), HR - None.

IP H R ER BB HB K

Wawasee

Froebe (W) 5.3 7 1 1 5 0 4

Voirol 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0

Manchester

McKenzie (L) 6 12 11 11 3 0 2 [[In-content Ad]]