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MENTONE -ÊRain clouds loomed over the Tippecanoe Valley High School softball field as the Wawasee bus pulled into the parking lot. When the Warriors started back home, they left with a 16-1 victory.
Wawasee came out ready to play from the start as Dusty Krull jumpstarted the Warrior offensive attack with a single. After Megan King and Tara Hymer each walked with one out to load the bases, Candace Beer hit a fielder's choice to drive in Krull and King to give Wawasee a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.
"It is always good when you can string together some hits and score runs," said Wawasee head coach James O'Dell.
Brooke Fisher started the game for Valley much like Krull did for Wawasee, with a single. She advanced to second base on a Tabitha Pratt sacrifice, and Vicki Steen reached first on a walk. The Vikings had runners on first and second with one out, but they were unable to capitalize and failed to score in the inning.
The Warrior second inning began much like the first as Kim Morgan hit a single. She advanced to second on a sacrifice by Kim Likens and third on a passed ball. Amber Ramseyer reached first on an error that allowed Morgan to score. A double by Krull scored Ramseyer, and Sara Frantz grounded out to first to send Krull across the plate. After the top of the second, Wawasee held a 5-0 lead.
The game then reamained scoreless until the top of the fourth, when Wawasee scored four runs on three hits, three walks, and one error.
Going into the bottom of the fourth Valley was down 9-0, but the Vikings refused to give in. Sabrina Newsome hit a one-out single to start the Valley offensive rally. After advancing to second on a passed ball, Alyssa VanCleave hit a sacrifice bunt to move Newsome to third. Newsome then scored Valley's only run of the inning and the game on a throwing error by Wawasee's catcher.
Wawasee exploded in the fifth inning to score seven runs on just two hits. The Valley pitching staff struggled in the inning, allowing just two hits but giving up seven bases on balls. The two Warrior hits came from Frantz and Beer.
Wawasee finished the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth and won the game on the 10-run rule, 16-1.
King went the distance for the Warriors, pitching five innings while allowing only two hits and giving up just two walks.
"We like to try to get our pitchers to go a whole game," said O'Dell. "Megan did a good job tonight."
The Valley pitchers did not fare quite as well, however. Tara Baker and Newsome combined for nine hits, 13 walks, and one strikeout.
"This was just one of those nights where our pitchers looked good while they were warming up, but struggled when they got on the field," said Valley assistant coach Chrissy Niedbalski. "Tara Baker had only given up two walks when they started to hit her so we took her out. It just wasn't Sabrina's (Newsome) night, she really struggled out there so we put Tara back in to finish out the game."
Both coaches plan to use the game as a tool for the rest of the season.
"We hit the ball well," said O'Dell. "We hit it hard, but I would like to see us play better overall."
"Our girls are coming along," said Niedbalski. "They're young and some are inexperienced. We need to get our confidence back. We're 0-5 and our confidence is down right now so it is definitely something we need to work on."
Wawasee is now 2-5 and travels to Elkhart Memorial tonight while Valley falls to 0-5 and hosts Wabash Saturday.
