Wawasee Softball Team Suffers First Loss Of Season
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
BENTON – With solid pitching for both teams and the wind blowing in, both coaches thought the Wawasee at Fairfield softball game would come down to who made the first mistake. Wawasee was guilty of it in the bottom of the sixth, when Fairfield scored twice en route to a 3-2 win Monday. Early on it looked like the Lady Warriors might remain unbeaten. Danielle Gunkel led off the second inning with a single and advanced to second base when a pitch got away from the Lady Falcon catcher. Gunkel scored on a one-out single by Meghan Fretz, who advanced on a bunt and scored on Paige Hlutke’s single. Fairfield pitcher Lairen Miller shut the door on Wawasee after that, retiring 14 of the last 15 batters she faced. Meanwhile, Wawasee’s Amber Lemberg didn’t allow a hit in the first four innings, She gave up a walk in the second and hit a batter in the third, but that was it for Fairfield. In the fifth, Lemberg began to struggle with her control, falling behind in the count to most hitters. Fairfield parlayed a pair of singles and a pair of walks for a run in the inning. The decisive home half of the sixth began with a leadoff double by D.J. Martz, the only extra base hit for either team and the only Fairfield base hit to leave the infield. After a sacrifice advanced Martz to third, she scored on Jeanean Schwartz’s comebacker to the circle. Martz attempted to return to third, and scored when a throw in the rundown was mishandled. Schwartz advanced to second during the rundown, and scored the game winner when Mickayla Wallace grounded softly to Lemberg, but the throw to first got away. “I thought it would come down the team that made the least amount of errors,” Fairfield head coach John Skibbe said. “Lairen (Miller) struggled in that one inning where they scored a couple runs. They hit the ball hard and we made the error on the one bunt. But we took advantage of a couple errors they made at the end of the game. That really was the difference in the game. “Our bottom of the lineup was very key to our rally,” Skibbe added. “D,J. and Danica (Mast) got things going in the sixth, but when we wanted to play small ball, they stepped up. It is so important to put pressure on their defense, and I think our whole lineup did that at times tonight.” Wawasee head coach Jared Knipper agreed his team blinked first. “Whenever you play Fairfield, whoever makes the first mistake is probably going to lose, and we made it tonight. They played clean and we made a couple of mishaps. They didn’t hit the ball very hard and I thought we hit the ball extremely hard.” The loss drops Wawasee to 3-1. Now that spring break is over, the team will play almost as often as it practices. They return to action at 5 p.m. tonight when they travel to Columbia City. “I think we needed that week off to get a couple of girls healthy,” Knipper said. “We’re not at full strength right now with (Kylee) Rostochak out for a couple weeks. I think she makes a big difference in this game in that middle part of the lineup.”
FAIRFIELD 3, WAWASEE 2 W 020 000 0 – 2 4 2 F 000 012 x – 3 3 1 Wawasee – Lemberg (L, 6IP, 3R, 3ER, 3H, 3BB, 6K) Fairfield – L. Miller (W, 7IP, 2R, 2ER, 4H, 2BB, 5K) 2B – Martz (FF) Records: Wawasee 3-1, Fairfield 1-0
