Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The Warsaw softball team is one in transition. Displaced from their home field due to construction on a new football stadium at the high school, without a single senior leader, and under the guidance of first year coach Scott Freds, the Tigers have taken their lumps this year.
While that was proven Wednesday night with a 15-6 loss to Northridge, Freds characterized the Tigers' effort as the team's "best night swinging the bats."
While Warsaw had scored more runs, it was against weaker opposition and slower pitching. Northridge senior pitcher Darlene Garman proved to be a formidable foe early on, then was relieved by freshman Morgan Hackman who threw even harder than Garman.
Warsaw was down 1-0 after half an inning, but quickly responded in its first at bats. Leadoff hitter Ashley Rader walked, as did Allison Shepherd. After Star Gonzalez struck out, Ashley Shafer reached on a throwing error by Garman that brought Rader home and tied things up at 1-1.
Northridge then mounted a seven-run, two-out rally in the top of the second inning. The eight place hitter Karmen Delcamp shot a single into left field and advanced when Lindsay Bachman did the same. Aimee Gingerich and Missy Lantzer hit two more singles to drive home a run apiece and make the score 3-1. Sophmore Mandy Cripe then drove Gingerich and Lantzer home with a base-clearing triple.
Warsaw's starting pitcher, Wendy Hopper, was then replaced by Rader, who struggled for that elusive third out. Two more runs crossed the plate before Britney Scheetz lined sharply to the shortstop ending the rally.
The Tigers tried to chip away at the lead, scoring two runs in the third on two doubles by Gonzalez and freshmen infielder Brit Clark.
After the game Freds had high praise for Clark and her counterpart on the left side of the infield, Ashley Shafer, who took over at the hot corner when Rader relieved Hopper.
"Ashley came in and did a fantastic job at third and Brit Clark played hard at shortstop," said Freds. "She's just a freshman and will grow into that position very well."
While the Tigers never got any closer than seven runs the rest of the game, they did have their chances. In the bottom of the fourth, Warsaw loaded the bases for Shafer, who legged out a hit on a slow dribbler to the pitcher's mound to bring home Rader. The Tigers were unable to bring anyone else in with the bases loaded that inning.
In fact, Warsaw was never quite out of reach, leaving the bases loaded twice and a total of 13 runners on base.
While the run production may not be there yet, for Freds the contact was encouraging.
"I was proud of our team for hanging in there. They did a great job of keeping their heads up. Against faster pitching like Northridge has we scored six runs and I'm proud of that."
Without a single senior on the team and a record of 3-10 and 2-2 in the NLC after Wednesday's loss, it would seem easy for this team to get down.
"Being so young, we've gone over that getting upset isn't doing any good," said Freds. "It's been a struggle but they've been staying upbeat."
Star Gonzalez led the Tigers, going 4 for 5 with two runs and one RBI, just a homerun short of the cycle.
Erica Kurosky, who was the winning pitcher in Monday's 13-0 win against Northwood, was a late scratch in left field due to illness.
NORTHRIDGE 15, WARSAW 6
Northridge 173 011 2 - 15 16 1
Warsaw 102 111 0 - 6 9 3
Northridge AB R H RBI
Gingerich 2 3 2 1
Rogers 1 0 0 0
Lantzer 5 2 3 3
Cripe 5 2 2 2
Kindel 3 2 1 2
Scheetz 2 0 0 0
Luebke 2 0 1 0
Delcamp 4 1 2 1
Bachman 4 1 2 1
Garman 0 0 0 0
Totals 38 15 16 10
Warsaw AB R H RBI
Rader 3 3 1 0
Shepherd 3 0 0 0
Gonzalez 5 2 4 1
Shafer 3 0 1 1
Smith 4 0 1 1
Clark 4 0 1 1
Braddock 2 1 0 0
Parker 4 0 1 0
Hopper 0 0 0 0
Conley 3 0 0 0
Totals 31 6 9 4
IP H R ER BB K
Northridge
Garman (W) 4.1 5 5 4 5 4
Hackman 2.2 4 1 1 1 4
Warsaw
Hopper (L) 1.2 7 5 4 0 0
Rader 5.1 9 10 5 5 2
