It was a simple question.

It just took Wawasee seven innings to come up with the answer.

Throughout the championship game of the Warsaw Baseball Sectional, Wawasee coach John Blunk kept asking his team if they really wanted to win.

The Warriors answered that question Monday when Shawn Johnson crossed home plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Wawasee won its first sectional title in four years with a 3-2 win over Churubusco.

"Basically they were down," Blunk said. "I yelled at them, and I said 'We are going back to our old ways, Wawasee wants to be losers, not winners.' I put it to them on the spot, and asked if they wanted to win."

Asked and answered.

Wawasee was down because it let Churubusco back into the game after holding a 2-0 lead. Two Wawasee errors in the sixth inning led to two Eagle runs and a 2-2 tie.

"I didn't want it to be a nailbiter because the last time it was a nailbiter with Churubusco, I lost," Blunk said of another sectional experience. "And I had probably the best team I have ever had.

"We let them off the hook," he said. "We made some mental and physical errors, but we hung in there and won. I don't think it would have been so dramatic if we wouldn't have had the errors."

Not only was the score tied, but Wawasee then had to face Churubusco's tough lefthander in Todd Fleetwood. But Wawasee manufactured the winning run on the Eagles' ace with a walk by Johnson, a sacrifice bunt from Rob Burke, a groundout and a wild pitch.

"It was a bad loss for them and a good win for us," Blunk said.

Wawasee looked as though it would have to play from behind in the final inning when Fleetwood was on second, and Johnson dropped Austin Papenbrock's long fly to center field in the top of the seventh. But Fleetwood delayed coming off second base and was gunned down at the plate on a perfect relay throw from shortstop Tony May.

"Tony May made a great relay to cut down Fleetwood at home," Blunk said. "It was over if he scored. There is no doubt in my mind."

Rod Holterman earned his third win of the sectional with one inning of work in relief of starter Josh Mitchell.

"I thought Josh pitched well," Blunk said. "Rod came in and did what he had to do."

Mitchell had a perfect game into the fourth inning and gave up only two hits.

Wawasee scored once in the opening inning as Johnson reached on an error and scored on Burke's RBI double to center field.

The second run came in the fourth when Jeff Beer singled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Burke.

Wawasee earned its first sectional title in the four-year Blunk era and moved the Warriors to 17-11 on the season, just win away from the school record for wins in a season.

"I have a great group of seniors, and it is a way for them to go out as winners," Blunk said. "If you look at it, there are only three programs in the school that do win consistently - swimming, gymnastics and wrestling. We are trying to build a program here. We have 17 wins, and 18 is a school record. We are going for it. We have nothing to hold back."

Wawasee plays Plymouth (20-4-1) in the Plymouth Regional Saturday at 1 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]