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The biggest difference between Warsaw's and Tippecanoe Valley's softball teams this season has been pitching: Warsaw's had it and Valley hasn't.
The Tigers' 10-0 home win over the Vikings Monday night, Warsaw's 10th shutout of the season, was a perfect example. In a game that improved Warsaw's record to 16-10 and dropped the Vikings to 5-18, Warsaw pitcher Michelle Liebsch struck out seven and walked one in going all six innings to pick up the win. Valley starter Tara Baker faced just the first four batters and only pitched the ball 13 times. Baker, who picked up the loss on the mound, walked the first two batters, hit the third with a pitch and walked the fourth before being replaced by senior Sabrina Newsome. In all, the Viking pitching staff walked seven and struck out one.
"I told the girls to be patient and wait for the first strike," said Warsaw coach Craig Helfrich, "but it didn't come. We'll take the walks because they produce runs. We're coming off a 9-3 conference record where we saw some really good pitching. It was hard for us to adjust. There's not a lot we can do with that many balls."
Warsaw committed one error in the field and scored its 10 runs on just four hits. Valley pounded out three hits and was victim to five errors in the field.
Errors, coupled with five walks, led to Warsaw scoring five times in the first inning as the entire Tiger starting lineup batted at least once in the first.
The Tigers went up 3-0 when Amie Poling scored on a Viking error and Jacquie Burns followed that up with a run of her own, pushing the advantage to four. To this point Warsaw had no outs and Valley retired the next two Warsaw batters, Melissa Himes and Christy Colt, but not before the Tigers put a fifth run on the board.
Valley started to put things together in the fourth inning as its first three batters, Vicki Steen, Mary Martin and Kim Carr, all reached base. But with one base runner picked off, Newsome grounding out and Amy Nellans striking out, the Vikings once again left ducks on the pond, as some coaches like to say.
"We left a lot of people on base," said Valley coach Lori Busenburg. "For the most part our defense played good but when we had runners on we couldn't bring them in."
After five innings Warsaw led 9-0. In the top of the sixth the Vikings went down 1-2-3 with O'Brien and Martin striking out and Steen grounding out. The Tigers won the game in the sixth inning on the 10-run mercy rule when first baseman Ryann Jones' double, the only extra-base hit of the game, scored the winning run, so to speak.
Valley, who had won four of its last five games before last night's loss, will play at Triton Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Warsaw, who started the season 0-4 and since gone 16-6, is scheduled to play at Marion at 4:30 p.m.
"We have more wins than we did last year and we only have one senior," said Helfrich. "Tonight (Monday) wasn't pretty but we got everyone involved. Everyone played. Marion will be a challenge for us. We'd like to end the season with three wins and go 18-10, that would be pretty good for a team with one senior."
WARSAW 10, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0
Valley ab r h rbi
Pratt ss 3 0 1 0
Jackson lf 1 0 0 0
Fisher c 2 0 0 0
Steen 2b 3 0 1 0
Martin 1b 3 0 0 0
Carr dh 2 0 1 0
Newsome 3b 2 0 0 0
Nellans cf 2 0 0 0
VanCleave rf 2 0 0 0
O'Brien 1 0 0 0
Totals 22 0 3 0
Warsaw ab r h rbi
Brown cf 2 1 0 0
Fribley dh 0 2 0 0
Poling ss 2 1 0 0
Burns 3b 2 2 0 1
Overton lf 2 2 0 1
Himes 2b 2 0 1 2
Colt c 3 0 0 0
Ellis rf 4 0 0 0
Jones 1b 3 0 1 0
Frush 1 0 0 0
Keirn 2 1 1 1
Clevenger 1 0 0 0
Kurosky 0 0 0 0
Wyatt 0 0 0 1
Hatch 1 0 0 0
Totals 24 10 4 5
Valley 000 000 - 0 3 5
Warsaw 510 211 - 10 4 1
2B - Jones.
IP H R ER BB SO
Valley
Baker, L 0 0 4 4 3 0
Newsome 6 4 6 2 7 1
Warsaw
Liebsch, W 6 3 0 0 1 7
