SYRACUSE – Wawasee’s Allissa Flores hit a three-run homer to cap an eight-run fifth inning and clinch an 11-0 Northern Lakes Conference softball win over Plymouth. The win came on the heels of a pre-game injury to the Lady Warriors’ No. 1 pitcher, Amber Lemberg. It wasn’t known what happened, but Lemberg lay in rightfield for several minutes having her leg attended to before being carried off the field and into a private vehicle. Wawasee head coach Jared Knipper said he didn’t know the extent of the injury or the timetable for her return to the lineup. It was Meghan Fretz’ turn to pitch for the Warriors anyway, and she began by striking out the first six batters she faced, then retired the last nine Plymouth hitters in a row. The lone Pilgrim threat came in the third inning, when two singles sandwiched around an error loaded the bases with nobody out and the top of the Plymouth order coming up. Fretz fielded a comebacker from Bre Martin to force a runner at home, got Zoe Feldman to foul out to catcher Paige Hlutke, and struck out Bailey Hatfield to end the inning. Fretz finished with five innings pitched, allowed only one hit, one walk and struck out 10. Meanwhile, Wawasee had all kinds of opportunities to open an early lead, but managed just three runs in the first four innings. The Lady Warriors loaded the bases with nobody out in the first but didn’t score, and stranded eight baserunners in the first three innings. Knipper said his team was ready in spite of the pre-game circumstances. “It takes a little wind out of your sails when you know you’ve got the rest of the conference stretch and the postseason and you might not have (Lemberg),” he said. “It took a little while to get over that and realize Fretz is a viable No. 1 option, too. On any given night, we had trust in Lemberg. We were definitely worried, scared, and our regular third baseman was sick today. All that composited into one. “We’ve had a couple of slow starts, but it’s how the end of the game goes that matters.” In the clinching rally, all eight runs scored in the fifth inning after two were out. Wawasee sent 10 batters to the plate, and Kayla White got the first run across with a sacrifice fly to right. After a wild pitch allowed the second run to cross the plate, Cristina DeLaFuente drove in a run with a single to center, then Danielle Gunkel had a two RBI single to left. After Paige Hlutke drew a walk, Flores sent her second hit of the inning over the leftfield fence and everyone went to watch the rest of the junior varsity game. Wawasee remains unbeaten in NLC play at 5-0, and moved to 10-2 overall. Goshen will visit Syracuse to take on the Lady Warriors at 5 p.m. Friday.
