BOURBON - A cold Thursday afternoon postponed Triton's home game against Wawasee until Friday, but after a 22-7 loss, the home team may have rather cancelled the game altogether.
The Wawasee Lady Warriors softball team scored eight runs in the second inning and another 10 in the sixth, leading to the blowout and leaving it at 6-2 on the year, while the Triton Lady Trojans fell to 1-2.
"We've got to get better," Triton coach Steve McBride.
Following the eight-run second, Wawasee tacked on another in the third, but allowed Triton to score five in the bottom of the third, cutting the lead to 9-5.
"Sometimes, we don't have a killer instinct, defensively," Wawasee coach Cory Schutz said. "Offensively, we stay pretty focused and keep things going. But defensively, I think we kind of lose where we're supposed to be. We don't have the intensity on defense that we need to have all the time."
The offensive intensity reared its head in the sixth in the form of junior Jonna Wiggs.
Wiggs only saw two pitches in the inning, but the first led to a leadoff home run and the second scored three runs after she went deep again in her second at-bat of the frame.
"Jonna's a good hitter and she's going to hit a lot of line drives," Schutz said of Wiggs, who finished 2 for 5 with five RBIs. "Both of (home runs) were line-drive hits, really. They weren't the big, towering home run kind of hits."
Wawasee junior Ashley Truman also showcased some power, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and five RBIs.
Senior leadoff hitter Crystal DeLaFuente had a nice evening, going 3 for 5, scoring three runs and stealing two bases.
Even with the high number of runs, Wawasee only had 13 hits, as Triton sophomore pitcher Katie McPherson struggled, walking 10 in her six innings of work.
"She's been a lot steadier," McBride said about McPherson. "We're the kind of team, that we have to keep the ball around the strike zone. People are going to hit us. We've got to keep the ball in the zone, hit the ball and play some defense."
Triton's defense gave McPherson no help, committing eight errors, while the offense generated just three hits.
"We gave them too many baserunners through walks and errors," McBride said. "It happens."
Wawasee sophomore Gabi Routson got the win, pitching three innings and giving up five runs, four earned. Junior Aubrey Mroz relieved Routson to begin the fourth, pitching three innings and giving up two runs, one earned, while striking out six and not allowing a hit.
While the game wasn't the cleanest, Wawasee did get to go back home with the win.
"It took us a couple of innings to get on the board, but we do need to clean up defensively," Schutz said. "We've talked about that since Day 1. You make mistakes against good teams, and they're going to win. It's as simple as that."
Wawasee hosts Fairfield Monday at 5 p.m. Monday, and the Trojans get right back in action today, hosting an 11 a.m. doubleheader against Argos.
