Tiger Softball Held To One Hit In Sectional Loss To Concord
May 23, 2019 at 4:02 a.m.
Tiger Softball Held To One Hit In Sectional Loss To Concord
By Mark Howe-
“We had just the one hit, a (second-inning bloop over first,) followed by another bloop over first (resulting in a fielder’s choice). We got runners on, but we didn’t get them in. We had chances,” said Warsaw head coach Kevin Dishman. “We were hoping for a break; something to fall in for us.”
Concord opened the bottom of the first (Warsaw is hosting the tournament, but was the visiting team in the game) when Yadi Gomez reached first base, then advanced to third on a sacrifice by Madison Lage when Warsaw failed to cover the bag at third. Gomez then scored on Alysa Marcin’s single to right-center field.
Meanwhile, Minutemen senior pitcher Alexis Kern tried to keep Warsaw batters off-balance. The Tigers had a lot of foul balls that went straight back to the backstop, usually an indicator that the timing of a pitch is good, but where on the bat the ball was struck is just a little bit off.
“We had a decent approach at the plate tonight,” the Warsaw coach said. “We understand her pitching, and she’s held us down all year. She likes to throw up and away, then drop down and throw rise balls on us. I thought we had a good approach and had good swings, but we couldn’t get anything to fall.”
Kern did record eight strikeouts, but pitched herself into some trouble in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Tiger freshman Avery Sleeth was hit by a pitch, and senior Carmen Albertson worked her way from a 1-2 count to a base on balls. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, then senior Hailey Locke was hit by another Kern pitch to load the bases.
Katie Anderson then lifted a fly ball to medium-deep centerfield, and all the runners tagged up. Sleeth opted to not go home (the play at the plate would have been close) and Albertson wandered too far off second. The throw home was cut off, and Albertson was picked off to end the inning.
“That’s Softball 101,” Dishman said. “On a fly ball with less than two outs, you’re tagging. Five steps is all it takes. Carmen needed to try and give Avery a chance to score there.
“But really, we gotta get some hits in those situations.”
The Tiger defense came up big to prevent a run in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Concord catcher Alysa Marcin was hit on her foot by a pitch, and tried to score from first on Skylar Decker’s double to centerfield.
Centerfielder Albertson’s throw to second baseman Anderson was perfect, as was Anderson’s throw to Sleeth at the plate to cut down Marcin and retire the side.
Dishman said the Tiger defensive strategy centered on using multiple pitchers. The idea worked for the most part, considering Concord scored nine runs in a game at Warsaw eight days earlier, and 12 runs in a five-inning game on April 26. The Minutemen had scored at least nine runs in a dozen games this season.
Junior Hudson Bolinger worked the first four innings, followed by Kennedy Tennant and Tauren Tackett. Along with the Tiger defense, Warsaw bent but didn’t break in holding Concord to three runs.
“Our game plan tonight was to throw all of our pitchers at ‘em, one at a time” Dishman said. “Hudson does a great job, and you never know what you’re going to get from her. I thought she was great tonight. She got through the order twice, which is what we were looking for.
“Then we went to Kennedy, and she’s kind of a change up. Her speed is a little bit slower, and the ball does a little funky thing at the end where it does a little curl. She did fine, too.
“Then Tauren comes in with a lot more speed, and we had (Courtney) Chookie ready in case we went extra innings, so we were ready.”
The 1-0 lead would stand up until Concord pushed across a pair of insurance runs in the sixth.
Warsaw’s last gasp had Courtney Chookie getting hit by the first pitch in the inning, then Sleeth drawing a one-out walk to bring the tying run to the plate.
Kern struck out Albertson and got Locke to fly out to shallow left-center to end the game and the Tigers season.
Concord (19-2) will face their Northern Lakes Conference co-champion Northridge (17-5) in the championship game at 6 p.m. Friday. The Raiders downed Elkhart Memorial 5-3 in Wednesday’s second semifinal.
Concord and Northridge each finished NLC play at 11-1, with the Raiders winning their only regular-season matchup.
Warsaw finished its season with a record of 8-20.
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“We had just the one hit, a (second-inning bloop over first,) followed by another bloop over first (resulting in a fielder’s choice). We got runners on, but we didn’t get them in. We had chances,” said Warsaw head coach Kevin Dishman. “We were hoping for a break; something to fall in for us.”
Concord opened the bottom of the first (Warsaw is hosting the tournament, but was the visiting team in the game) when Yadi Gomez reached first base, then advanced to third on a sacrifice by Madison Lage when Warsaw failed to cover the bag at third. Gomez then scored on Alysa Marcin’s single to right-center field.
Meanwhile, Minutemen senior pitcher Alexis Kern tried to keep Warsaw batters off-balance. The Tigers had a lot of foul balls that went straight back to the backstop, usually an indicator that the timing of a pitch is good, but where on the bat the ball was struck is just a little bit off.
“We had a decent approach at the plate tonight,” the Warsaw coach said. “We understand her pitching, and she’s held us down all year. She likes to throw up and away, then drop down and throw rise balls on us. I thought we had a good approach and had good swings, but we couldn’t get anything to fall.”
Kern did record eight strikeouts, but pitched herself into some trouble in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Tiger freshman Avery Sleeth was hit by a pitch, and senior Carmen Albertson worked her way from a 1-2 count to a base on balls. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, then senior Hailey Locke was hit by another Kern pitch to load the bases.
Katie Anderson then lifted a fly ball to medium-deep centerfield, and all the runners tagged up. Sleeth opted to not go home (the play at the plate would have been close) and Albertson wandered too far off second. The throw home was cut off, and Albertson was picked off to end the inning.
“That’s Softball 101,” Dishman said. “On a fly ball with less than two outs, you’re tagging. Five steps is all it takes. Carmen needed to try and give Avery a chance to score there.
“But really, we gotta get some hits in those situations.”
The Tiger defense came up big to prevent a run in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Concord catcher Alysa Marcin was hit on her foot by a pitch, and tried to score from first on Skylar Decker’s double to centerfield.
Centerfielder Albertson’s throw to second baseman Anderson was perfect, as was Anderson’s throw to Sleeth at the plate to cut down Marcin and retire the side.
Dishman said the Tiger defensive strategy centered on using multiple pitchers. The idea worked for the most part, considering Concord scored nine runs in a game at Warsaw eight days earlier, and 12 runs in a five-inning game on April 26. The Minutemen had scored at least nine runs in a dozen games this season.
Junior Hudson Bolinger worked the first four innings, followed by Kennedy Tennant and Tauren Tackett. Along with the Tiger defense, Warsaw bent but didn’t break in holding Concord to three runs.
“Our game plan tonight was to throw all of our pitchers at ‘em, one at a time” Dishman said. “Hudson does a great job, and you never know what you’re going to get from her. I thought she was great tonight. She got through the order twice, which is what we were looking for.
“Then we went to Kennedy, and she’s kind of a change up. Her speed is a little bit slower, and the ball does a little funky thing at the end where it does a little curl. She did fine, too.
“Then Tauren comes in with a lot more speed, and we had (Courtney) Chookie ready in case we went extra innings, so we were ready.”
The 1-0 lead would stand up until Concord pushed across a pair of insurance runs in the sixth.
Warsaw’s last gasp had Courtney Chookie getting hit by the first pitch in the inning, then Sleeth drawing a one-out walk to bring the tying run to the plate.
Kern struck out Albertson and got Locke to fly out to shallow left-center to end the game and the Tigers season.
Concord (19-2) will face their Northern Lakes Conference co-champion Northridge (17-5) in the championship game at 6 p.m. Friday. The Raiders downed Elkhart Memorial 5-3 in Wednesday’s second semifinal.
Concord and Northridge each finished NLC play at 11-1, with the Raiders winning their only regular-season matchup.
Warsaw finished its season with a record of 8-20.
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