COLUMBIA CITY - Two area softball teams had their seasons come to a close Monday at the Class 3A sectional 21 at Morsches Park in Columbia City.
After falling behind 4-0 in the 10 a.m. game, the Whitko Wildcats fought back in the seventh inning before losing 4-2 to the NorthWood Panthers.Later in the 2 p.m. game, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings let a 1-0 lead over the West Noble Chargers slip away in the sixth inning, resulting in a 2-1 loss.
The Wawasee Warriors, who received a first-round bye, will face NorthWood Wednesday at 5 p.m.
West Noble 2, Tippecanoe Valley 1
Entering the game as underdogs, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings (13-11) gave the West Noble Chargers (18-9) all they could handle in a 2-1 loss.
"Even getting beat 2-1, you can't ask for a better outcome to be beat by," Valley coach John Strong said. "It wasn't a blowout. We battled all the way through. We had some runners on base, and missed opportunities to get them around. (West Noble) just had their hits strung together at opportune times."
Those hits came in the sixth, when senior pitcher Jordan Ritchie got things started with a double. Following a pop-out, senior Tessa Smith and junior Jami Alexander each hit RBI singles, advancing on to second base each time with the throw from the outfield going home.
With the Chargers continually switching spaces at second base, they grabbed a 2-1 lead, and let Ritchie sit down the next six Vikings she faced to end the game.
On the day, the hard-throwing Ritchie went the distance, striking out six, but Valley junior RaeAnne Dunnuck stayed right with her, also pitching a complete game, striking out three.
"Both pitchers did a pretty decent job," Strong said.
Ritchie's toughest inning came in the first, when Valley sophomore lead-off hitter Chrissy Hillard hit a single to right field.
After stealing second base, and later moving on to third on a groundout by junior Eden Shewman, she came around to score on a RBI-fly out off the bat of junior Marlayna Strong.
"They were up, and they were ready to play today," Strong said about his team. "They were confident. We shut them down with runners on in the first inning, and kept them from scoring. That was a confidence booster before we even got up to bat."
The first-inning run was the last Valley got, even though Hillard finished the day 3 for 3.
"She had a real good game today," Strong said about Hillard. "Our No. 2 (Shewman) and 3 (Strong) hitters, they just couldn't seem to get the ball to go through today. That was probably the biggest nemesis we faced. They're both batting around .460 for the year, so you kind of expect them to do something."
The entire Valley team may be expected to do something next year, returning all of its starters, and losing just two girls off the bench.
West Noble will now face Columbia City in Wednesday's 5 p.m. game, with the winner advancing on to the 6 p.m. championship Thursday.
WEST NOBLE 2, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 1
WN 000 002 0 - 2 7 0
TV 100 00 0 - 1 5 2
Ritchie (W, 7IP, 1R, 1ER, 5H, 6K) and Moser; Dunnuck (L, 7IP, 2R, 2ER, 7H, 3K, 3BB) and Strong
2B - Ritchie (WN), Miller (TV)
3B - Handshoe (WN)
Records: West Noble 19-9, Valley 13-12
NorthWood 4, Whitko 2
The Whitko Wildcats never seemed to get into a flow during the opening game of the Columbia City Sectional, losing 4-2 to the NorthWood Panthers.
"I think the nerves got the best of us today," Whitko coach Jamilyn PeGan said. "(NorthWood pitcher Courtney Bemiller) pitched a heck of a game, but we just weren't as aggressive as we have been in past games."
NorthWood's sophomore pitcher gave up just three hits and struck out nine, while the only two runs surrendered were unearned in the seventh inning.
"Courtney pitched a great game," NorthWood coach Ryan Mattern said. "This was her first year of pitching varsity for us, but she struck out a lot of their batters. She really did a good job. They were a very aggressive team, so they were trying to swing at the first pitch. Later in the game, she started throwing change-ups to try to get them out in front, and it worked."
An example of Whitko's aggressiveness was in the bottom of the sixth inning, when trailing 2-0, the top of PeGan's lineup saw just three pitches in a one, two, three inning.
"I would have like to have seen them swing at better pitches with level swings," PeGan said. "I think it was just anxiousness and nerves. We weren't real confident in the box today."
Whitko's best shot at advancing in the sectional came thanks to some tightness by the Panthers.
With the Wildcats trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, two NorthWood errors gave Whitko life, as the Wildcats cut the deficit to 4-1 with one out and runners at second and third. Whitko scored another run on an RBI-ground out, but Bemiller then enduced another groundball, which her defense fielded cleanly, putting an end to the Wildcat rally.
"We made it way too competitive," Mattern said. "I was hoping for the shutout. We always seem to have one bad inning a game. Fortunately, today, it was in the seventh inning and it didn't get too far out of hand."
A bright spot in the loss was freshman pitcher Karissa Olinske, who entered the game in the second inning and pitched 5-2/3 innings, giving up two runs and four hits, while she struck out six. At the plate, Olinkse accounted for two of the Wildcats' three hits.
"She's been an all-around player this year," PeGan said of Olinske. "She came in when my shortstop got hurt, and she played three weeks as an awesome shortstop, but didn't get a lot of pitching time. Then, she came right back to the mound as strong as ever. Her bat, she battles up there and gets the bat on it."
NorthWood now moves to the 5 p.m. game Wednesday to face the Wawasee Warriors, who had a first-round bye.
The two Northern Lakes Conference teams have already squared off twice this year, with Wawasee winning 17-1 at home and 4-0 later in the year in Nappanee.
"They say it's hard to beat a team three times in one season," Mattern said. "I'm going to hope that holds true. It's going to be a battle. We're going to have to play our best softball if we're going to get past them."
NORTHWOOD 4, WHITKO 2
N 020 001 1 - 4 7 2
W 000 000 2 - 2 3 2
Bemiller (W, 7IP, 2R, 0ER, 3H, 9K, 1BB, 1HB) and Schrock; Kay. Arnold (L, 1-1/3IP, 2R, 2ER, 3H), Olinske (2, 5-2/3IP, 2R, 2ER, 4H, 6K, 1BB, 1HB) and Day
