Wawasee stuns Warsaw in final
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
It took three extra days to start the softball sectional championship at Warsaw, so Wawasee and Warsaw decided to extend the game a bit.
The game, scheduled for Saturday, was postponed until Tuesday because of rain. In the end, Wawasee shocked Warsaw with a 4-2 victory in nine innings.
There were so many sub-stories from this game that it is hard to count them all. First, Warsaw defeated Wawasee by scores of 10-1 and 10-4 in the regular season, but could not find the offense on Tuesday afternoon.
Second, Wawasee stepped up three times defensively in clutch situations and three times offensively.
Third, Wawasee kept the pressure on Warsaw in extra innings. With Warsaw getting the last at-bat of every inning, Wawasee could have been feeling the pressure of shutting down the Tigers. But Wawasee scored in the top of the eighth and the ninth to keep the pressure on Warsaw to score every time up.
Fourth, the Wawasee baseball players, also playing at Warsaw in the baseball sectional, went to the softball field after they disposed of Columbia City to root on the softball team. It was an act rarely seen in high school sports, if only for the reason that two teams from the same school hardly ever play at the same place on the same day.
Warsaw had a chance early to jump out on top, but squandered away a few chances. In the bottom of the second inning, the Tigers loaded the bases with just one out, but Wawasee pitcher Jaime Conn struck out Melissa Himes and got Tiffany DeLaCruz to ground out to first to end the threat.
In the bottom half of the third, Warsaw threatened again. With runners on first and second and just one out, Warrior coach Bo O'Dell switched pitchers. Angie Hoover came on and got Shannon Barger to foul out and Rachel Liebsch to ground out to second.
Meanwhile, Liebsch had amazing control for Warsaw on the mound. After throwing the first pitch of the game for a ball, she then threw 17 consecutive strikes. Through three innings, Liebsch threw 30 pitches, 26 for strikes, in allowing just two hits.
But in the fourth, Wawasee got on the board. Conn singled and moved over on a sacrifice bunt from Carly Beer. With two outs, Warsaw second baseman DeLaCruz mishandled a grounder and Conn came around to score.
It stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Barger doubled with one out and scored after Liebsch singled and then shortstop Kari Wortinger made an overthrow.
In the eighth inning, Wortinger walked with one out and Sara Frantz bunted for a base hit to put runners on first and second. Jill Schlotterback caught a fly ball to left field, but made an overthrow allowing Wortinger to score and give Wawasee a 2-1 lead.
Warsaw fought back though. In the bottom half of that inning, Tyson Reber walked, Barger singled and Liebsch reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Shanna Smith then singled to tie the game, but the Wawasee defense then stepped up. Angie Cox hit a grounder back to the pitcher that got an out at home. Himes then popped out to shortstop and DeLaCruz grounded out to the pitcher to end the threat.
In the ninth, Megan King and Hoover flew out to center, before the Wawasee bats got hot. Jenny Szynal doubled and scored on a base hit from Heather Levernier. Levernier then scored on a single from Sonya Beer to put Wawasee ahead 4-2.
After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, Hoover got the last three outs of the game to pull off the win.
"Warsaw is a great team," O'Dell said. "They responded each time that we were trying to shut the door on them. They worked hard just like our kids did."
"We didn't get any timely hits tonight," Warsaw head coach Rod Yoder said. "We just didn't get a hit when we needed it. I'm going to miss my seniors. These seniors have worked harder than any group of seniors I've ever had to put the program back up on a respectable platform where they can be taken seriously. It's going to be tough next year without them."
Conn pitched the first 2 1/3 innings for Wawasee, allowing one unearned run on one hit. Hoover came in to pitch the final 6 2/3 innings for the win. Liebsch pitched all nine innings for Warsaw, allowing eight hits and two earned runs. She pitched 20 2/3 innings in the three sectional games.
O'Dell said that the team's philosophy was to come out hitting against Liebsch, one of the top pitchers in the area.
"She's a good pitcher," O'Dell said. "We noticed that when she gets ahead of you, she brings the high, hard one and we have a hard time catching up to that whenever we're not focused. Even if we don't make solid contact, at least knowing where the hitting zone is was a big part of it."
Wawasee will move on to play a tough South Bend LaSalle team (22-6) in the first round of the regionals.
"We're not going to change our game plan," O'Dell said. "Last year we were expected to win the sectional, this year we had to work harder at it. I doubt they've faced pitching quite like ours. We've got a lot of different weapons. We don't have the hard stuff that they've seen. We have five pitchers that can come in and throw strikes.
O'Dell is pretty blunt about his expectations at the regional on Saturday.
"If (South Bend LaSalle) hits the ball, they beat us, and we go home happy. That's my feeling. If they play their ball game and we play ours, that's fine. I'm sure they're going to be hitting the ball hard."
Wawasee (9-15) will meet South Bend LaSalle on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mishawaka. [[In-content Ad]]
It took three extra days to start the softball sectional championship at Warsaw, so Wawasee and Warsaw decided to extend the game a bit.
The game, scheduled for Saturday, was postponed until Tuesday because of rain. In the end, Wawasee shocked Warsaw with a 4-2 victory in nine innings.
There were so many sub-stories from this game that it is hard to count them all. First, Warsaw defeated Wawasee by scores of 10-1 and 10-4 in the regular season, but could not find the offense on Tuesday afternoon.
Second, Wawasee stepped up three times defensively in clutch situations and three times offensively.
Third, Wawasee kept the pressure on Warsaw in extra innings. With Warsaw getting the last at-bat of every inning, Wawasee could have been feeling the pressure of shutting down the Tigers. But Wawasee scored in the top of the eighth and the ninth to keep the pressure on Warsaw to score every time up.
Fourth, the Wawasee baseball players, also playing at Warsaw in the baseball sectional, went to the softball field after they disposed of Columbia City to root on the softball team. It was an act rarely seen in high school sports, if only for the reason that two teams from the same school hardly ever play at the same place on the same day.
Warsaw had a chance early to jump out on top, but squandered away a few chances. In the bottom of the second inning, the Tigers loaded the bases with just one out, but Wawasee pitcher Jaime Conn struck out Melissa Himes and got Tiffany DeLaCruz to ground out to first to end the threat.
In the bottom half of the third, Warsaw threatened again. With runners on first and second and just one out, Warrior coach Bo O'Dell switched pitchers. Angie Hoover came on and got Shannon Barger to foul out and Rachel Liebsch to ground out to second.
Meanwhile, Liebsch had amazing control for Warsaw on the mound. After throwing the first pitch of the game for a ball, she then threw 17 consecutive strikes. Through three innings, Liebsch threw 30 pitches, 26 for strikes, in allowing just two hits.
But in the fourth, Wawasee got on the board. Conn singled and moved over on a sacrifice bunt from Carly Beer. With two outs, Warsaw second baseman DeLaCruz mishandled a grounder and Conn came around to score.
It stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Barger doubled with one out and scored after Liebsch singled and then shortstop Kari Wortinger made an overthrow.
In the eighth inning, Wortinger walked with one out and Sara Frantz bunted for a base hit to put runners on first and second. Jill Schlotterback caught a fly ball to left field, but made an overthrow allowing Wortinger to score and give Wawasee a 2-1 lead.
Warsaw fought back though. In the bottom half of that inning, Tyson Reber walked, Barger singled and Liebsch reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Shanna Smith then singled to tie the game, but the Wawasee defense then stepped up. Angie Cox hit a grounder back to the pitcher that got an out at home. Himes then popped out to shortstop and DeLaCruz grounded out to the pitcher to end the threat.
In the ninth, Megan King and Hoover flew out to center, before the Wawasee bats got hot. Jenny Szynal doubled and scored on a base hit from Heather Levernier. Levernier then scored on a single from Sonya Beer to put Wawasee ahead 4-2.
After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, Hoover got the last three outs of the game to pull off the win.
"Warsaw is a great team," O'Dell said. "They responded each time that we were trying to shut the door on them. They worked hard just like our kids did."
"We didn't get any timely hits tonight," Warsaw head coach Rod Yoder said. "We just didn't get a hit when we needed it. I'm going to miss my seniors. These seniors have worked harder than any group of seniors I've ever had to put the program back up on a respectable platform where they can be taken seriously. It's going to be tough next year without them."
Conn pitched the first 2 1/3 innings for Wawasee, allowing one unearned run on one hit. Hoover came in to pitch the final 6 2/3 innings for the win. Liebsch pitched all nine innings for Warsaw, allowing eight hits and two earned runs. She pitched 20 2/3 innings in the three sectional games.
O'Dell said that the team's philosophy was to come out hitting against Liebsch, one of the top pitchers in the area.
"She's a good pitcher," O'Dell said. "We noticed that when she gets ahead of you, she brings the high, hard one and we have a hard time catching up to that whenever we're not focused. Even if we don't make solid contact, at least knowing where the hitting zone is was a big part of it."
Wawasee will move on to play a tough South Bend LaSalle team (22-6) in the first round of the regionals.
"We're not going to change our game plan," O'Dell said. "Last year we were expected to win the sectional, this year we had to work harder at it. I doubt they've faced pitching quite like ours. We've got a lot of different weapons. We don't have the hard stuff that they've seen. We have five pitchers that can come in and throw strikes.
O'Dell is pretty blunt about his expectations at the regional on Saturday.
"If (South Bend LaSalle) hits the ball, they beat us, and we go home happy. That's my feeling. If they play their ball game and we play ours, that's fine. I'm sure they're going to be hitting the ball hard."
Wawasee (9-15) will meet South Bend LaSalle on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mishawaka. [[In-content Ad]]