Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NAPPANEE - With a prevailing southwesterly wind gusting at times up to 40 mph, one might have wondered if there would be a Helen Hunt sighting at Monday's Wawasee-Northwood baseball game.
Elements and all, Wawasee surprised NorthWood with, as Wawasee manager John Blunk called it, "small ball." Wawasee used its "short game" to beat NorthWood 5-3 Monday.
Wawasee was able to patch together three runs in its half of the sixth by any means necessary, that is to say other than getting the ball out of the infield.
With NorthWood holding a precarious lead as winds swirled around Panther Field, the Warriors used an almost forgotten commodity, the bunt.Ê
Wawasee used two sacrifices, a walk, a hit batsman, an error and a wild pitch to grab the lead for good.
After Drew Gradle reached first on a safety squeeze when NorthWood failed to cover first, Brent Doty executed to perfection the suicide squeeze, scoring the fleet-footed Brian Milligan. A wild pitch by tough-luck loser Nate Brown scoring Gradle was the difference in Wawasee ending its five-game losing streak.
ÊBlunk emphasized the importance on small ball by saying, "Any time we can get someone to third with less than two outs, we usually can get him in."Ê
What Blunk left out was the "by any means necessary" part.Ê
ÊNot to be overshadowed in the selfless team effort was the fine pitching effort of senior lefty Gradle.
Gradle allowed a scant four hits and only one earned run in going the distance to earn the win. A testimony to the pitching effort was relayed by Blunk, "Drew pitched well for us. Gradle struck out nine Panthers.
Gradle eschewed Blunk's "small ball" in Wawasee's half of the fourth by lifting a right-centerfield shot up and into the jet stream, clearing the fence for a solo home run, giving the Warriors a temporary 2-1 lead.
NorthWood was able to regain the lead at 3-2 in its half of the fifth, thanks in part to a run-scoring single off the bat of Anthony Sanders.
But NorthWood only touched Gradle for a double over the last two innings in seeing its conference hopes blow away with the precarious mid-spring breezes.
Wawasee, meanwhile, achieved a new high-water mark over the last three years by earning its eighth win of the year. Wawasee had only seven wins each of the past two seasons.
ÊThe Warriors earned their second victory in the always tough NLC.Ê
Knowing the intensity each conference game brings, Blunk defended the much under-appreciated NLC by saying, "In this conference, if you don't come to play, you'll get your butts kicked."
Yesterday afternoon, the Warriors applied their foot to the posterior of NorthWood.Ê
When asked of the importance of winning at a not-so-fun-place-to play, Blunk said, "This is a start heading into the sectional."
These two teams may face again as they play in the same sectional.
Wawasee can only hope its season is not swept away with the winds.
