Lady Tigers Get Offensive With GoshenThe Warsaw softball team ended a busy week on a high note. Beginning the week a 5-4 loss at Elkhart Memorial, the Warsaw Lady Tigers then fell 10-3 at Columbia City Tuesday, defeated Wawasee 4-3 Wednesday and lost 13-3 at home to Carroll Thursday. In the fifth game in five nights, the girls posted an 11-1 six-inning victory over Goshen Friday evening at the Tigers Athletic Complex. “They’re young and learning, but we had a pretty good week,” Warsaw coach Jim Speicher said. “Even though we lost to Carroll and Columbia City, I think it’s our best week of softball. We played four to five solid innings at Columbia City and fell apart, and Carroll’s just a good ball club. And at Memorial, we lost with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, so we could have had a victory there too. So, we have had a pretty good week as far as growth.” Against Goshen (4-15, 1-7 Northern Lakes Conference), the Lady Tigers (5-10, 5-3 NLC) were facing a team it had defeated 9-0 in Goshen on April 17. However, in that game, Speicher had his daughter, junior Kaleigh Speicher, in the game, but didn’t Friday, as she left school with an illness. Playing without his best hitter and pitcher, Speicher turned to junior Whitney Sleeth, a transfer from Tippecanoe Valley. “Whitney Sleeth has pitched a few games, but hasn’t pitched back-to-back games for us,” Speicher said. “She threw last night against Carroll and was coming back tonight, so I really didn’t know what to expect from her. She did a very nice job for us.” In six innings, Sleeth kept the Lady Redskins’ bats quiet, giving up just one run, which wasn’t earned, and allowing three hits. “She threw a lot of strikes and did what she needed to do,” Speicher said. As the Goshen offense sputtered, Warsaw’s did not, recording 14 hits, five of which were for extra bases. Warsaw’s biggest bat belonged to sophomore Karly Jones, who went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a home run, driving in four runs. Sophomore Taylor Stiver was also strong, going 2 for 3 with two RBIs and sophomore Sidney Hernandez finished the game 2 for 3, including a double and a two-run single in the first inning. “We had some good at-bats,” Speicher said of his lineup, in which eight of the nine players got at least one hit. “We were putting the ball in play, and they made some mistakes. But for the most part, I thought we had a real good approach at the plate. We hit some ‘at-em’ balls and we also hit some balls that fell in. Up-and-down the lineup, I thought we put the ball in play better than we have been.” Warsaw will have couple days to catch its breath before returning to NLC play Monday at home against Plymouth. WARSAW 11, GOSHEN 1 (6 innings) G 010 000 – 1 3 3 W 331 031 – 11 14 2 Whitney Sleeth (W, 1-2, 6IP, 1R, 0ER, 3H, 2K, 2BB) and Kayla Snider; Taylor Caouette (L, 5IP, 11R, 8ER, 13H, 1K, 5BB, 1HR) and Jessica DeStefano 2B – Taylor Stiver (W), Karly Jones (W) 2, Sidney Hernandez (W), Emily Mullett (G) HR – Jones (W) Records: Warsaw 5-10 (5-3 NLC), Goshen 4-15 (1-7 NLC JV – Goshen 14, Warsaw 8
