AKRON – Warsaw freshman Grace Johnson played like a seasoned veteran Friday night. In a high school softball game at Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw’s young catcher ripped a team-high three hits, including a two-run single in the sixth inning, as the Lady Tigers won 7-5. The host Lady Vikings led 3-1 after five innings, but Warsaw tied the game in the sixth when senior Heather Cox was hit by a pitch and scored on freshman Katie Anderson’s RBI single, and junior Riley Bloemendaal walked and scored via classmate Morgan Ashtari’s sacrifice RBI. Following Ashtari’s at-bat, senior Sarah Shoemaker reached on a single, and junior Abby Glass drew a walk. Johnson then stepped to the plate against Valley sophomore pitcher Kayla Scott and delivered a two-run single that scored Anderson and Shoemaker, giving the Lady Tigers a 5-3 advantage. Warsaw pushed the advantage to 7-3 in the sixth inning before Valley scored twice in the bottom of the seventh. “That was definitely a big hit right there, we set the table for her,” Warsaw coach Kevin Dishman said of Johnson’s hit. “A little small ball got some people on, and then Grace followed through with that hit. We had some other girls get hits tonight too, but that was a big moment.” The Lady Tigers had 10 hits in the win, all singles. Along with Johnson’s three hits, junior Lauren Shaffner, Bloemendaal and Shoemaker had two hits each, and Glass had one. “We can put the bat on the ball and make things happen, and I think we proved that,” said Dishman. “The bottom of the order tonight really helped us out quite a bit, and people coming off the bench helped us out. If you put the ball in play, something good is going to happen.” Freshman Courtney Chookie worked all seven innings in the pitcher’s circle for Warsaw. She gave up eight hits, five runs and two walks, while striking out two en route to the complete-game win. Scott, who replaced senior Katie Gunter in the fifth inning, was charged with the loss after giving up six hits, five runs and two walks. She struck out one. Senior Emmalee Cohagan worked the final inning in the circle for Valley, giving up one hit and one run. “We thought we were in a good spot,” Valley coach Daryl Shoemaker said of his team’s 3-1 lead. “We knew we were going to have to get Gunter out. It was one of those nights where I thought it would be a good game to get all three of our pitchers in and get them some time every couple times through the order. “It was time to get Gunter out because they were coming up to the third time through the order on her. We needed to get Scott some innings, with the sectional coming up Monday. They picked up on Scott better than they did Gunter ... that was the chance we were taking.” Warsaw scored the game’s first run in the third inning on an RBI single by Shaffner. Valley responded with three runs in the home half of the fourth, and then made things interesting with a pair of runs in the seventh inning. Junior Amanda Shepherd led Valley with three hits, while classmate Abby Betten and Scott had two hits each and Cohagan one. “We squared up the ball is the main thing,” Shoemaker said when asked what helped his team get out to the 3-1 lead. “We had been making contact up to that point. I think we only had one strikeout leading up to that. We just kept hitting the ball. When we stay on the ball and drive it like we can, we have the potential of doing that a lot. We’ve hit the heck out of the ball all year. We talked to the girls about everybody making contact and driving the ball, and then Warsaw did the same thing to us.” The Lady Tigers are in action again tonight at 6:30 when they host Manchester for Senior Night. Valley will play NorthWood Monday in the Class 3A Fairfield Sectional.
WARSAW 7, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 5 War 001 004 2 – 7 TV 000 300 2 – 5 War – Courtney Chookie (W, 7IP, 8H, 5R, 2K, 2BB); TV – Katie Gunter (4IP, 4H, 1R, 4K, 1BB), Kayla Scott (L, 2IP, 6H, 5R, 1K, 2BB), Emmalee Cohagan (1IP, 1H, 1R, 0K, 0BB) Hit leaders: Grace Johnson (War) 3, Lauren Shaffner (War) 2, Sarah Shoemaker (War) 2, Riley Bloemendaal (War) 2, Amanda Shepherd (TV) 3, Abby Betten (TV) 2, Scott (TV) 2
