SYRACUSE – Earlier this season, Wawasee head softball coach Jared Knipper referred to junior pitcher Meghan Fretz as “Tyrannosaurus Fretz” for a monster game she had, hitting a pair of home runs and striking out a bunch of opposing hitters. Monday night, Fretz was on the attack again. She homered twice, drove in three runs, and from the pitcher’s circle she struck out 11 Concord hitters and allowed just two base hits in Wawasee’s 8-2 win over the Lady Minutemen. Fretz got a quite a lot of help from her friends; Kayla White led off the scoring in the first inning with her first varsity home run. She added a double among her three hits and drove in two runs. Hannah Haines, Graceanne Kerlin, and Cristina DeLaFuente had two hits each, with DeLaFuente smacking an RBI triple and scoring twice. Wawasee’s offense has, for the most part, been effective this season because they take batting practice against Fretz and Amber Lemberg; pitchers whom Knipper referred to as “two aces.” “We were fortunate with an early spring to have a lot of live-arm hitting, against the two aces you’re seeing every night. They are seeing great pitching day-in and day-out,” Knipper said. “They are hitting off those two girls. And they hit those (Concord pitchers) hard. When you see the best night-in and night-out, I think it translates into what you see.” The only time Fretz ran into any kind of trouble in the pitcher’s circle was in the fourth inning. Concord’s McKenzie Loge broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single to center, and a pair of walks loaded the bases with nobody out. A grounder to shortstop Kylee Rostochak produced a forceout at home, but a slow roller to second forced the Lady Warriors to trade an out for a run. Fretz then recorded another strikeout to retire the side with minimal damage. Concord’s other run came in the seventh and final inning, when a walk and a pair of wild pitches put Summer Fleck at third, and she scored when Kaylyn Lipscomb’s fly ball fell between three Wawasee fielders. The win completed the first half of the Northern Lakes Conference season for the Lady Warriors, who are now 14-3 overall and 6-1 in the NLC standings. “We had a rough few days with kids getting hurt and a couple kids having opportunities to do some things within the school by missing a few games,” stated Knipper. “For us to be in the position we are in now, we played it out. We are two ahead now in the conference, that’s a good position to be in. You still feel like you gotta win out. Any given night anybody can win in the NLC. It doesn’t matter what your record is or how good you are. If you don’t play well, you’ll get beat. We gotta continue to focus and not lose what we’ve started here.” The junior varsity game went nine innings before Concord pulled out a 5-3 win. Leah deSomer homered for Wawasee. The Lady Warriors continue NLC play Wednesday when they travel to Warsaw.
