COLUMBIA CITY - Wawasee's varsity softball team was oh-so close to a sectional championship Thursday, but the West Noble Chargers found a way to steal it.
Sitting four outs away from the Sectional 21 championship, the Warriors (15-11) saw the Chargers (21-9) rally to score a run in the bottom of the sixth, then another in the seventh, winning their first-ever title by a 2-1 count at Morsches Park in Columbia City."We've been working at this," West Noble coach Jared Knipper said. "We knew this was our goal. Now that we've gotten here, we have to build upon it."
Through five and two-thirds innings, it didn't look as if that first title would be heading back to Ligonier.
Down 1-0, the Chargers opened the bottom of the sixth inning with two-straight groundouts, but senior Tessa Smith then drew a walk from Wawasee freshman pitcher Gabi Routson.
Following the two-out walk, junior Jami Alexander hit a blooper that fell just under sophomore Aubrey Mroz's glove at second base. With runners at first and second, junior Sarah Hall lined a ball to center field, scoring Smith from second, knotting the score at 1-1.
"They did what we couldn't do early in the game," Wawasee coach Cory Schutz said. "We had runners on second and third in each of the first couple of innings - we just didn't get the hits we needed. They got the big hit when they needed it."
While West Noble was getting the timely hit, Wawasee left 10 runners on base, eight in scoring position over the course of the game.
The one time Wawasee did score a runner in scoring position was in the top of the fourth, when a two-out hit by sophomore Mattia Rostochak scored freshman courtesy runner Taylor Garrison, who had come on to run for Mroz, from third base.
However, the trend of leaving the proverbial "ducks on the pond" continued in the top of the seventh, as Routson reached on an error with one out.
After Routson reached on a Chargers' error, she was later called out at second on a fielder's choice by sophomore Jonna Wiggs. Wiggs later moved to second on a wild pitch, and sophomore Ashley Truman walked, leaving runners at first and second with two outs.
But just when things were looking up for the Warriors, they did what they had done in six of the seven innings, when a groundout ended the inning with a runner standing at second or third base.
In the last half-inning, West Noble's Elisha Handshoe, a Western Michigan University-signee, started things off by getting hit in the hand by a Routson pitch.
After being bunted over by senior Brittany Moser, Chargers senior Jordan Ritchie ripped a ball to center field, scoring Handshoe, and ending the game.
"We definitely wanted to get the top of our order up there," Knipper said of the bottom of the seventh inning. "Not that the other girls can't hit, but the top is where our confidence is, where our spark is. When Handshoe gets on base, good things usually happen. She got on, we bunted her over and Jordan got the big hit."
On top of getting the big hit, Ritchie also got the win inside the circle, going all seven innings.
