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Triton Hitters Bash Valley

BOURBON - Music doesn't boom over any loudspeakers at Triton's baseball field, because there aren't any speakers. But after what these Triton fans saw Monday afternoon, they needed to make noise.So they did the next best thing.Those fans sitting in their cars watching the game against Tippecanoe Valley honked their horns. They watched Cory Monesmith and David Sauer, the third and fourth hitters in Triton's lineup, hit back-to-back home runs over the center-field fence.Each rounded the bases to the sound of blaring car horns.Their blasts pushed Triton's lead to 11-1 after only three innings. Yep, the day couldn't have been much better for Triton fans.They saw home runs, solid pitching and exceptional defense.They also saw their veteran Triton squad beat Tippecanoe Valley 13-3 in five innings.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Columbia City Ends Wawasee's Season

The Wawasee boys basketball team had the unenviable task of playing the sixth-ranked Columbia City Eagles twice in the past 10 days. A week ago Tuesday, the Warriors lost to Columbia City by the score of 42-29 in Wawasee's next to last regular season game. Friday night the Warriors played the Eagles again. This time it was in second round play of the Warsaw Sectional.Unfortunately for the Warriors, the result was the same, but this time it was all Columbia City in a game the Warriors were never in. The Eagles advanced to Saturday's night's final game against Dekalb with a convincing 58-37 win over Wawasee. Wawasee coach Phil Mishler knew it would take an excellent effort from his Warriors and he knew they would need to get off to a good start. "We just couldn't get it done tonight.It just didn't happen." Columbia City looked every bit like a top-ranked team jumping out to a 9-0 lead and never looking back.
Mike Madison, Times-Union Sports Correspondent- | July 28, 2016

TV Fans Should Make Other Fans Green With Envy

Anyone who says that the class basketball system has killed attendance at basketball games hasn't been to a Tippecanoe Valley game lately. After good attendance during the regular season, the Valley fans surprised almost everyone at the Plymouth Sectional by showing up in droves wearing bright yellow Tippecanoe Valley shirts.It's been quite a while since I have seen such enthusiasm from both students and adults in a high school game. To date, more than 850 bright yellow Valley shirts have been sold by the Valley Booster Club, and glancing at the crowd last week, I would say 80 to 85 percent of the fans were cloaked in the eye-catching garb. After good regular-season attendance, the Vikings had an even better showing at the sectional, selling 600 tickets before the game.After just one afternoon of ticket sales for the regional, more than 570 tickets had been sold.
Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Three's A Charm!

Tippecanoe Valley Set To Play Pendleton Heights In Frankfort Semistate By Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sports Writer Because of the new format the IHSAA has adopted for the boys and girls basketball postseason, coaches all around the state are scrambling to gather information about opponents. Tippecanoe Valley coach Bill Patrick is no exception.Because he is an experienced coach, he wasted no time relishing Valley's 47-43 victory over West Lafayette in the regional.Instead, he got right to work locating tapes and scouting reports to prepare for Saturday's semistate game against Pendleton Heights. As of Thursday evening, Patrick had six videotapes and several scouting reports on 16-7 Pendleton Heights, which defeated No.1 Maconaquah in its regional, and he and his assistants were diligently pouring over the videos to scavenge as much information about the Arabians as possible.
Tippecanoe Valley, Triton and Warsaw Advance To Semistate Competition- | July 28, 2016

Tiger Baseball Team Shuts Out Warriors

It's been the Achilles' heel much of the season for Warsaw's varsity baseball team, but the Tigers took a step forward with their defensive play Wednesday afternoon. Behind stronger defensive play, a solid outing from senior pitcher Ryan Cox and some quality at-bats, the Tigers beat visiting Northern Lakes Conference rival Wawasee 10-0 in five innings in front of a good-sized crowd at Tiger Field. Warsaw entered the contest having committed 45 errors in 12 games, an average of nearly four miscues per contest. Wednesday against the Warriors, things were different, however. The Tigers committed an error in the first inning, allowing Wawasee leadoff hitter Ryan Beer to reach first, but were flawless the rest of the game as they swept the two-game season series against the Warriors.
Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Panthers Trade NLC Title For Regional Crown

NAPPANEE - As it turns out, according to NorthWood senior basketball player Natalie Will, the Panthers' 48-38 conference loss at Warsaw earlier in the season was one of the best things that could have happened to them. "That loss to Warsaw was such a wake-up call," said Will."Since then our defense has only gone up and that's the way it should be." Will's statement is true and then some. Since that 10-point loss to Warsaw, their first loss to the Tigers in six years, the Panthers have won six consecutive games.In those six games they've outscored the opposition by an average of nearly 35 points per game.NorthWood won its seventh game in a row Saturday when they hosted and defeated fifth-ranked 19-2 South Bend Washington 79-41 in the 3A regional championship. NorthWood (21-3) came into the game ranked sixth in the latest 3A poll and had only been held under 50 points twice this season.
DALE HUBLER, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw Tennis Team Blanks Tippy Valley

AKRON - After his No.2 singles player picked up her first win of the season Monday, Warsaw tennis coach Rick Orban said some momentum is exactly what Anushri Gokhale needed. Momentum is what was on Gokhale's side as she defeated Lindsey Stavedahl of Kosciusko County rival Tippecanoe Valley. Of the five varsity matches Monday afternoon, only the No.2 singles match went to a third set, as the Tigers left Akron with a 5-0 team win. Stavedahl won the first set 6-4, but it was if losing that set woke Gokhale up, setting off an alarm. Gokhale came back and won the second and third sets 6-2, 6-0, completing the five-match sweep for the Tigers, who improved to 3-3 on the season.
Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Budget Deal Isn't Very Impressive

Frankly, I'm a little bothered about this whole federal budget deal. I'm not very happy with the Democrats.And I'm fully disillusioned with the Republicans. Lawmakers stuck their moistened index fingers into the political wind and acted accordingly. They knew that education was on the minds of the American people so they rushed in with proposals to hire 100,000 new teachers and modernize 5,000 schools. The Republicans gave Clinton and the Demos the teachers but refused to pass the $5 billion to modernize the 5,000 schools. Of course this makes Republicans anti-education, you see, which is what Clinton and the Demos will tell us all the way to Nov.3, which is election day, by the way. But if you remember last week's column, you will note that the Republican-led Congress passed a whole bunch of education initiatives.
GARY GERARD, Times-Union Managing Editor- | July 28, 2016

Its Odd How We Entertain Ourselves

The evolution of the American entertainment consumer is quite an amazing phenomenon. It seems there must be a continual ratcheting up of gratuitous sex and violence in the entertainment biz to keep us happy. A while back one of our readers wrote a column about the movie "Thirteen." He pointed out the glaring irony of the movie's R rating.The story was about a couple 13-year-olds engaged in activities that made the film an "R."So 13-year-olds couldn't get in to watch a movie about 13-year-olds. Pretty bizarre. Then there's the whole "Kill Bill" thing, which is billed as one of the most violent films ever.Of course the director, Quentin Tarantino, is famous for violent films. I won't see those films, so I'm not going to judge them or review them. But it just seems weird what people perceive as entertainment. It's hard for me to see what is entertaining about somebody being hacked up, but apparently legions of Americans can see something I don't.
GARY GERARD, Times-Union Managing Editor- | July 28, 2016

Triton Tennis Team Upends Valley

AKRON - Tuesday afternoon's girls tennis matchup between Triton and Tippecanoe Valley was filled with unique matchups. With the exception of Triton singles player Alisha Anthony and doubles player Megan Weissert, everyone was playing a different position in Valley's home finale, with the Trojans having little trouble grabbing a 4-1 win. Anthony, Triton's No.1 singles player, cruised past Valley's Andrea Kindig 6-0, 6-2. Junior Danielle Anthony played next to her younger sister, Alisha, in the No.2 singles slot. Triton head coach Laura Lamaster was impressed with the elder Anthony's play. "Danielle is playing really well for us," said Lamaster."I've been pleased with her improvement and she's shown me a lot playing singles." Both sisters won their matches by the score of 6-0, 6-2. The switch in lineups not only allowed the players to play where they want to, it also gave coaches a chance to plan for next year.
DANIEL RIORDAN, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Tigers hold off challenge from upstart Culver Military

It was appropriate that Warsaw would play a close game in the championship game of the sectional Friday. That is the way they have done it all year. This bunch of Tiger players have been involved in more than their share of close games this season.But the important fact for Warsaw is that it came out ahead in almost every one of them. Stepping up big at the end of games have been their trademark this season. The Tigers got two big free throws from junior Andy Plank with 10 seconds left to hold off an upset-minded Culver Military Academy team, 48-45, to claim their second straight Warsaw Sectional title and seventh in the past eight years.
Greg Jones, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Zercher Wins Mental Attitude Award

INDIANAPOLIS -ÊThe IHSAA Executive Committee selected NorthWood's Amy Zercher as the winner of the Mental Attitude Award for Class 3A Girls Basketball. Zercher, a four-year participant in basketball and an all-state volleyball player, finished the game with 17 points and seven rebounds in helping NorthWood to the Class 3A state championship.She was also a member of NorthWood's state finalist basketball team in 1997. Academically, Zercher ranks tied for first in her senior class of 158 students with teammate Natalie Will.She has been active as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Students Against Drunk Driving. Zercher plans to study criminal justice at Ball State University where she has signed an athletic scholarship.Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000 scholarship to NorthWoood High School in Zercher's name.
Times-Union Staff Report- | July 28, 2016

D.C. Breathes A Collective Sigh Of Relief

I'm really glad they caught those sniper guys. That was really quite unnerving.I can't imagine what it must have been like to live out in that area. As if life isn't stressful enough in today's America, you have to worry about being shot dead while gassing up your car? Of course it's easy to say that the risk of dying from a sniper's bullet is very small.It's true that the odds of that happening are extremely small.Probably smaller than being struck by lightning. But that really isn't much comfort, is it? It was a long three weeks. Any time something of this nature is resolved, it's good to look back and use the advantage of hindsight to determine how things could have been handled better. One area I think could have been handled better is the media/police relationship. There is always that fine line between what the police consider help and hindrance when it comes to the media.
GARY GERARD, Times-Union Managing Editor- | July 28, 2016

Lantz Leads Area Trio In All-Star Game

PLYMOUTH - Though he was saddled with a knee injury during his team's state tournament run, Wawasee High School senior Kory Lantz appeared healthy in Sunday's 17th annual North-South Indiana All-Star Classic high school basketball game at Plymouth. Lantz, a four-year varsity starter for coach Phil Mishler's Warriors, who won the school's first-ever regional crown this year, was perfect from the field and free throw line as the North All-Stars beat their southern counterparts 123-114 in the boys game.In the girls game, the South All-Stars dominated their northern counterparts and picked up a 92-71 win. Lantz, who will play college hoops for Mike Lightfoot and the Bethel Pilots, was 3 of 3 from the field, with all of his shots coming behind the three-point line, and was 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
Times-Union Staff Report- | July 28, 2016

Trusting Washington Is Becoming More Difficult

I find it exceedingly difficult to believe anything I hear from Washington these days. It has always been difficult to trust the Washington elite, of course, but lately it's become virtually impossible. At every turn, it seems, they try to deceive us. This is not specific to any certain party, either.It's both parties. Some examples: Back in 1994 when the Republicans took over Congress they voted to eliminate the grip on power held by committee chairmen by imposing committee chair term limits. That was a wonderful idea.For decades, much of the politics as usual and most of the rampant government spending could be attributed to the fact that the same committee chairmen held those positions for years. The chairmen wield enormous power with little accountability.
GARY GERARD, Times-Union Managing Editor- | July 28, 2016

Triton Captures Second Straight Sectional Title

CULVER - Culver's girls basketball team couldn't help it.Call it bad luck or poor timing, the Cavaliers were the one team that helped define Triton's season. After starting the season 1-0, Triton lost the next 10.The Trojans redefined player roles, and in the 12th game of the season, snapped the 10-game losing streak by blasting Culver 62-25. The Trojans did not know it then, but starting with the Culver game, they would go 8-4 in their next 12. That 12th game took place Saturday night in Culver in the form of a Class A sectional championship.To win the sectional, Triton had to beat Culver on its home floor.The Trojans (9-14) did that, capturing their second straight sectional title and second in school history by beating the Cavaliers (6-15) 51-41.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Hoosiers Can't Avoid Falling All Over Each Other

DirecTV is a wonderful thing. With this 18-inch dish, three CBS affiliates are available, one from the east, midwest and west. Each typically carries different college tournament games, so from noon to 11:30 p.m.Thursday, I saw several minutes of California-Princeton, Kansas-Jackson State, Cincinnati-Butler, Villanova-Long Island University, Purdue-Rhode Island, Boston College-Valparaiso, North Carolina-Fairfield, Kentucky-Montana, Colorado-Indiana and Pacific-St.Joseph's. Only about three games were not available: College of Charleston-Maryland, Xavier (Ohio)-Vanderbilt and Arizona-South Alabama. In the games I saw, every team played with heart.The players looked like they belonged in the tournament.They looked like they were happy just to be there. Except for one team. Indiana. The Hoosiers showed little enthusiasm and even less heart.They fell behind 7-0 en route to an 80-62 loss to Colorado. What the heck happened? I don't know.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Four Tigers Add To Grace Women's Program

WINONA LAKE - When Scott Schramm took over the Grace women's basketball program two years ago, he knew it would be natural for him to take part of what he had done in the Warsaw High School program serving as the freshman coach. This was not quite what he had in mind, but he certainly isn't going to complain. When Schramm begins his third season as the Lancer mentor, his team will definitely have a Warsaw feel to it as he has added an influx of four former Warsaw players to his program. WCHS seniors Sarah Calhoun and Sheila Whitaker recently signed on at Grace to play their freshman seasons with the Lancers this winter, and Traci Dunn and Kristi Keilman, former Tiger players, will be transferring in from other schools to the program. Dunn just finished two seasons at Danville (Ill.) Area Community College, while Keilman played the last two years at Valparaiso University.
Greg Jones, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

No. 2 NorthWood Has Little Trouble

NAPPANEE - Another year, another regional championship for that NorthWood Panthers girls basketball team. Nothing new there. For the sixth consecutive season and the 11th time in 12 years, NorthWood's girls basketball team advanced to the semistate after defeating Plymouth 42-32 Saturday. For the Panthers, it was the first time this year that they scored less than 50 points in a game, but that was only because of Plymouth's patient offensive style.NorthWood actually shot 40 percent from the field, the highest percentage the Panthers have had in the postseason this year.
Jason Knavel, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw Rules NLC Meet

Three teams.Three goals.One track meet. That was the underlying theme of the Warsaw-NorthWood-Wawasee track meet held Tuesday in Warsaw.The Tigers were going for their 23rd straight win.NorthWood was looking to challenge Warsaw with a young team.And Wawasee was looking to set some school records. When all was said and done, each team accomplished its goal. Warsaw won the meet with 95 points to NorthWood's 53 and Wawasee's 18.NorthWood got some good experience for several young competitors.And Wawasee saw a 20-year-old record fall by the wayside. "Warsaw is a strong team," said NorthWood coach Mark BeMiller."We wanted to come out and have a good performance, but I'm not surprised with the outcome.Warsaw is very talented." And Warsaw used that talent to its advantage.The Tigers started the meet with a win in the 3,200 relay and never looked back.From the first race through the end of the competition, Warsaw held the lead.
Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016
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