The NorthWood Lady Panthers made it interesting, but the Warsaw softball team held its own Monday and got a 6-2 win at the Tigers Athletic Complex. Trailing 3-0 in the top of the sixth inning, NorthWood (1-3, 0-3 Northern Lakes Conference) plated two runs, but the Lady Tigers (3-6, 3-1 NLC) responded with three more in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by a two-run homer by junior Kaleigh Speicher. “I like our moxy at times,” Warsaw coach Jim Speicher said. “They got their runs, and what do we do? We answer with three runs. We've done that a couple times in games. Earlier in the season, we'd be buried, but would come back from a nine runs down and make it a one-run game.” The Lady Tigers scored their six runs on 11 hits, which was a welcome sign to Speicher, who saw his team struggle at the plate in a doubleheader loss against Valparaiso Saturday, 15-3 and 4-2. “We were in a little bit of a rut this weekend,” he said. “In the doubleheader against Valpo, we only had (nine) hits. I thought we came out a little flat tonight. It was a weird game. We had a couple 'at-em' balls that they caught and we had a couple bloop hits that fell in, then we also got some key hits. Overall, I don't think we hit the ball very well.” Facing NorthWood freshman Taylor Troxel, Warsaw generated just three hits through the first four innings, getting a second-inning run by senior Kayla Snider, who reached on an error, stole two bases then scored on a passed ball. The offense picked up a bit in the bottom of the fifth, when the first three batters reached and senior Ashton Warren scored junior Ashley Ousley on a single and sophomore Karly Jones later plated a run on an error. The fifth-inning surge seemed to have put the Lady Tigers comfortably in front, but NorthWood's two in the top of sixth, coming off four hits, changed that feeling. The inning was Kaleigh Speicher's worst of the night, as she went six innings, giving up the two runs and striking out six. “She's been hitting her spot the past three or four games,” Speicher said of his daughter and No. 1 pitcher. Following the rough inning, Ousley hit a one-out double for Warsaw then scored on a hit by Jones. Jones then was able to jog from first to home plate following a deep home run by Speicher, which cleared the right-center field fence, putting the game out of reach. “It was nice that we were able to roll that lineup around again,” Speicher said about the top of his order coming up to bat in the bottom off the sixth. “One through four (hitters) have been pretty consistent for us, as far as getting on base and getting some key hits.” Plating five runs in their last two innings, Speicher is optimistic those bats stay hot when Class 4A No. 8 Northridge comes to the TAC Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. “Hopefully those two innings opened this things up because we're going to see one of the best pitchers in the conference Wednesday (in Northridge junior Haley Nixon),” Speicher said. “We're going to need to have good at-bats. “I see Northridge as the cream of the crop in the conference, and I see us comparable to Concord,” he added. “We'll have to get well-pitched games, but we're going to need to get some runs against teams like Memorial, Concord, Wawasee and us, in what I see as the next tier. On any given night, you have to have all three facets going, and I hope our hitting comes around."
