WABASH – Expectations were high for the Manchester softball team going into its first-round Class 2A sectional game against No. 7 North Miami, but they were grounded quickly. In their regular season matchup with the North Miami Lady Warriors (27-0), the Manchester Lady Squires (10-14) only lost 3-2 in Denver on May 2. However, in the Wabash Sectional at Honeywell Park, the Lady Warriors scored eight in the top of the first inning and went on to win 12-0 in five innings. “Being undefeated, I’m thinking, ‘If we jump on them early maybe they’ll get tight,’” Manchester coach Todd Volk said. “But when you come up to bat and you’re down 8-0, they’re not going to be tight. That’s a pretty relaxing situation.” Coming out like gangbusters, the Lady Warriors didn’t allow the Lady Squires a shimmer of hope, knocking the ball around the park and capitalizing on Manchester miscues. “It was basically done in the top of the first,” Volk said. “It was just one thing after another. There were a lot of hits and there were errors in there. They just jumped all over us.” The eight-run deficit is definitely not what the Lady Squires wanted against North Miami freshman pitcher Josie Wood, who entered with a 0.28 ERA. “If you’ve got that, it really makes other things a little easier,” Volk said about North Miami’s pitching. “There’s some chinks in the defense if you can expose them. But when they jump out 8-0, it takes our small ball away. Things that we like to run.” Wood struck out eight Lady Squires, as senior Hannah Little and junior Chloe Leifer had the only Manchester hits. North Miami advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal against Oak Hill, while Manchester ends its season. “That’s not the way we’ve played the last two weeks,” Volk said. “That’s why I feel bad for them. We made so many errors. It’s just one of those things.”
NORTH MIAMI 12, MANCHESTER 0 (5 innings) (Wabash Sectional, 1st Rd) NM 803 01 – 12 9 0 M 000 00 – 0 2 7 Josie Wood (W, 5IP, 0R, 2H, 8K, 0BB) and Jackie Paul; Sydney Jordan (L, 4IP, 11R, 8H, 2K), Kayla Flack (5, 1IP, 1R, 1ER, 2K, 1BB) and Nina Smith 2B – Wood (NM) Records: NM 27-0, Manchester 10-14
