MENTONE - What the Valley softball fans - the six or seven who were there - were talking about in the stands at Monday night's game with Three Rivers Conference rival Whitko, was how well the Vikings played in the second game of their doubleheader Saturday versus Fort Wayne Concordia.

Valley, 1-13 at the time, went nine innings with Concordia before losing 10-8. Last night the Vikings came in with a 1-14 record and 0-1 mark in the conference. That handful of fans talked of how Valley needed to keep that intensity when playing Whitko - and for five innings, the Vikings did.

After trailing just 6-3 after five innings of play, the Vikings gave up six runs in the sixth and seventh innings in falling to Whitko 18-3. The Monday night loss dropped Valley to 1-15 overall and 0-2 in the TRC, while Whitko moved to 8-7 and 1-0.

"We came in tonight (Monday) ready to play ball," said Whitko coach Marla Burkhart. "Mentally we were ready to play. It was very important to win a TRC game to accomplish our goal (TRC champs)."

Center fielder Kelli Osborn singled to left in Whitko's first at-bat and then stole second base to get the Wildcats rolling. Batting in the cleanup position, Holly Hoffman pounded out a double for two RBIs, and Whitko led 2-0 after the top half of the inning.

Lead-off hitter Tabitha Pratt got Valley's first hit and eventually made her way to third base, but the next three Viking batters went down 1-2-3 to retire the side.

The Wildcats put two more on the board in the third after Valley pitcher Sabrina Newsome walked the bases loaded and a passed ball hit the backstop, allowing the two to reach home with BrieAnn Starkweather batting. Whitko led 4-0 at that point before Starkweather popped out to the shortstop to retire the side.

In the Valley half of the third, Emily Jackson walked to load the bases before Vicki Steen doubled to clear the bases and cut the Whitko lead to 4-3. But those were the only runs Valley mustered the entire game.

In the sixth, Whitko blew the game open. Newsome walked six Wildcat batters in the inning as Whitko put six runs across pushing the lead 12-3. Newsome walked 17 for the game and only gave up seven Whitko hits. The Vikings committed eight errors in the game. And those walks, errors and the lack of offense are what Valley coach Lori Busenburg said was her team's downfall.

"Errors, walks, no hits in the sixth," said Busenburg. "In the seventh they scored another six on four hits."

Two of those runs in the seventh came on a two-run homer from Starkweather that pushed Whitko's advantage to 15-3 at that point. Osborn and Mindy Lopshire combined for three more RBIs in the inning acounting for the 15-run win.

Whitko (8-7, 1-0) will host Northfield Wednesday at 4:30 p.m and Oak Hill Friday at 4:30 p.m. Valley (1-15, 0-2) will host Manchester Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

WHITKO 18, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 3

Whitko ab r h rbi

Osborn cf 3 2 2 0

J. Keirn c 1 2 0 0

Elder lf 0 5 0 0

Hoffman 3b 1 3 0 2

Nestel 1b 4 0 1 1

Starkweather ss 5 1 1 2

Cride rf 2 0 0 0

Walter 2b 2 0 0 0

Lopshire p 2 2 1 0

Totals 24 18 6 5

Valley ab r h rbi

Pratt ss 3 1 1 0

Jackson cf 2 1 0 0

Steen 2b 3 1 0 3

Fisher c 4 0 2 0

Martin 1b 3 0 1 0

Nellans 3b 2 0 0 0

Newsome p 3 0 1 0

Kirk dh 3 0 2 0

VanCleave rf 2 1 1 0

Totals 26 3 8 3

Whitko 202 026 6 - 18

Valley 003 000 0 - 3

2B - Hoffman, Osborn, Krider, Steen. HR - Starkweather.

IP H R ER BB SO

Whitko

Lopshire, W 7 8 3 3 2 6

Valley

Newsome, L 7 6 18 11 17 1 [[In-content Ad]]