Talented junior tosses 1-hitter, hits 3-run HR in 22-0 win
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
SYRACUSE – As if Wawasee’s Meghan Fretz wasn’t already tough on Warsaw, the Lady Tigers hurt themselves Thursday evening. In a Northern Lakes Conference softball game that was scheduled to be played at Warsaw on Wednesday, only to be postponed because of the weather and then moved to Syracuse Thursday, Wawasee cruised to a 22-0 win in five innings. Fretz worked a complete-game in the pitcher’s circle, giving up just one hit and no walks, while striking out eight. At the plate she was 4 for 5, a performance that included a three-run homer, five RBIs and two runs scored. The Lady Tigers hurt themselves in the loss by committing 10 errors and issuing eight walks. “Ten errors and eight walks is not going to win games,” said Warsaw coach Kevin Dishman, whose team fell to 4-13 overall and 4-4 in the NLC. “We certainly know that. Today was not the best of days from the start. We were a day behind. We had a lot of good things planned for this game ... it was going to be a home game, and then things changed and it wasn’t. “With that being said, it kind of threw us off from where we were at. We’ve been doing some really good things lately. But whether this was 22-0 or 2-0, we have to put the ball in play, and we didn’t do that at all today.” Senior Taylor Sleeth had Warsaw’s only hit in the loss, a single. The Lady Warriors, who improved to 15-3 overall and 7-1 in the NLC, pounded out 18 hits in the win. While Fretz had four hits, senior Danielle Gunkel and junior Amber Lemberg had three hits each, and juniors Madi Wilson and Hannah Haines and senior Allissa Flores finished with two hits each. Of the 22 runs Wawasee scored, only eight of them were earned, meaning the Lady Warriors put the ball in play and also capitalized on Warsaw’s miscues. “When a team makes mistakes, you have to capitalize,” said Wawasee coach Jared Knipper. “With this group of kids over the years, sometimes when teams made mistakes we haven’t always capitalized, and we’ve been on the wrong side of that even though on paper we should’ve won. It’s good to see this team mature and take advantage of what’s given to them.” The Lady Warriors, who played the game as guests though it was played on their home field, plated two runs in the top of the first inning, one in the second and four in the third. While Wawasee was in control of the game, the Lady Warriors put the nail in the coffin by scoring 11 runs in the fourth inning, and then adding four in the fifth for good measure. Wawasee sent 16 batters to the plate in the fourth inning. By comparison, Warsaw had just 16 at-bats the entire game. “The hardest thing when a game gets away is for our kids to maintain focus and still have good at-bats, and be selective against pitches, and still hit the ball when it’s a strike,” said Knipper. “We still did those things, and that’s the biggest I take away from a game like this. “When the game was out of hand and we’re obviously rolling, we still made good decisions at the plate. That inning, the kids still did the right things like it was a tight game. We had some major hits, Warsaw had some bobbles, and that opened it up pretty quick.” Freshman Courtney Chookie was charged with the pitching loss after giving up 14 hits, 18 runs and five walks in 3-2/3 innings of work. She struck out three. She was relieved by junior Abby Glass, who gave up four hits, four runs and a walk while striking out one in 1-1/3 innings. Wawasee is in action again today at Elkhart Memorial, while Warsaw travels to Shanklin Park today to play Goshen.
WAWASEE 22, WARSAW 0 Note – the game was played at Wawasee because of wet field conditions at Warsaw. Wawasee was the visiting team. Waw 214 (11)4 – 22 18 1 War 000 00 – 0 1 10 Wawasee – Meghan Fretz (W, 5IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 8K); Warsaw – Courtney Chookie (L, 3.2IP, 14H, 18R, 4ER, 5BB, 3K; Abby Glass (1.1IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 1K) 2B – Kylee Rostochak (Waw) HR – Fretz (Waw) Records: Wawasee 15-3 (7-1 NLC), Warsaw 4-13 (4-4 NLC) JV – Wawasee 29, Warsaw 15
