Wawasee’s Paige Hlutke rips an RBI single during a five-run fourth inning of Wawasee’s 10-7 win at Warsaw Monday night. (Photo by Mike Deak)

WARSAW — It was a tale of two seasons in Warsaw. At first, a Warsaw reign that looked as though the night would be short. Then, a Wawasee firestorm that stunned the hosts.

A 4-0 Warsaw lead quickly evaporated into a huge response from Wawasee, scoring 10 uninterrupted runs in an eventual 10-7 victory in Northern Lakes Conference softball.

Alli Ousley led a revival for Wawasee, working six innings of relief and adding a key two-run double that was part of a five-run fourth. While the hit was big, her work inside the chalked circle kept Wawasee alive.

Taking the ball from starter Kylie Norris after Norris threw 12 straight balls to load the bases in the second, Ousley left the bags full by tossing a pair of strikeouts and then enducing a harmless groundout to end the Warsaw threat. In the six innings of relief, Ousley had four strikeouts and gave up three earnies. But the second inning was the glaring notation for her head coach.

“Ousley threw fantastic,” began Wawasee head coach Hans Griepentrog. “We put her in a tough position with the bases loaded and no outs, but she fought out of that with no runs. She just threw strikes and that’s what we needed from her.”

A pair of key sequences also allowed Wawasee to build its lead. After Paige Hlutke followed Ousley’s double with an RBI single of her own in the fourth, Victoria Warren lofted a seeing-eye single to right for a pair of RBIs, giving Wawasee a 5-4 lead.

In the sixth inning, Ashlynn Fisher cracked her first varsity homerun, a two-run job, and Ousley later drove home another run on a single.

Ousley and Hlutke were both three-for-four, Ousley driving in three runs.

“The funny thing about Fisher’s at bat was that on the first two pitches I was calling for bunts,” Griepentrog offered. “So she proved me wrong that she has some power. So I appreciate that out of her. We just hit the ball well all around.”

Warsaw initially brought the thunder, starting the game with five productive at bats, resulting in a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Kaleigh Speicher and Taylor Stiver both had RBI singles in the frame.

With the way Speicher was also dealing in the circle, those runs looked more than ample. Seven strikeouts in the first three innings had Wawasee off balance and lost in the batter’s box. But Wawasee finally came around to figuring out Speicher, and several mental mistakes behind her didn’t help.

While Speicher didn’t look as bad as the 13-hit, 10-run outing would elude, she only struck out two batters after the third inning.

“The key for us was having the bases loaded and we go strikeout, strikeout, groundout to end it,” said Warsaw head coach Jim Speicher of the second. “I thought that was a real momentum shift for them. If we put a few more on them, then we probably get on them mentally.”

The Lady Tigers would tack on its final offensive output in the bottom of the sixth when Kayla Snider crushed a three-run bomb into the right-center field bleachers. The Tigers officially bowed out in the seventh when Ousley, who else, knocked down a liner off the bat of Ashley Ousley and made the head’s up play, flipping the ball from her belly to Norris at second for the force.

Coach Speicher, who was already frustrated with the turn of events in the game, stood at third base staring at second base in disbelief as Wawasee celebrated the NLC-opening win.

“We are not playing all three facets of the game real well right now,” coach Speicher said. “We are not getting very good pitching and not getting very good defense. We have scored 10 runs in one game (an 11-10 loss to East Noble on April 9) and seven runs tonight, and we haven’t gotten a victory out of it. We have to improve on those two facets.”

The Wawasee JV pounded out 16 hits and won its third run-rule game in three tries this season, a 16-6 winner in six innings at Warsaw. Alexis Graber and Allissa Flores each had four hits and Graber scored four times to lead the Lady Warriors.

Wawasee (2-2, 1-0 NLC) will take to the diamond again Wednesday at Memorial while Warsaw (0-3, 0-1 NLC) will look to regroup Wednesday at Goshen.