Kaleigh Speicher prepares to fire a pitch for Warsaw Monday.

WARSAW – A blast and a couple of breaks.

The Warsaw softball team combined the two Monday to come up with a much-needed victory.

The opportunistic Tigers got one big swing from Kaleigh Speicher and a couple of key defensive plays to edge rival Wawasee 3-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both at the Tigers Athletic Complex.

Speicher swatted a two-run shot over the left field fence in the first frame on a windy day. The senior then made the runs stand up in the circle as the winning pitcher.

Warsaw, which had been outscored 60-28 in its first four games, improves to 1-4. The Warriors, who were coming off an impressive 8-2 win at Triton Saturday, drop to 5-2.

Wawasee threatened in their final at-bat in the seventh. The Warriors had back-to-back singles by Alexia Graber and Ale Brito to start the inning. Danielle Gunkel then hit a line shot to Warsaw shortstop Alexa Glass, who snared it and fired to second for a double play. Speicher then got No. 3 hitter Kylee Rostochak to pop out to end the game.

Alli Ousley digs in at the plate for Wawasee.

The aggressive Warriors also had a runner thrown out trying to steal second to end the sixth inning. Wawasee also lost a chance to tie the game at 2-2 in the third when a liner by standout Alli Ousley hit the second base bag and resulted in force out at second for the final out of the inning with runners on first and third at the time.

“We caught a couple of breaks today and that’s softball,” said Warsaw coach Jim Speicher. “We needed a win. Our kids have pride. I’m proud of them to keep battling and keeping a positive attitude.

“We didn’t have any meltdown innings tonight like in our first four games. We got up early tonight and were able to sustain it. We seemed a little more confident overall. I think we have a better mindset with Kaleigh in the circle.

“I thought she threw a real good game for us. She showed good poise out there and made some good pitches. She has not had many reps in practice. I thought Alexa Glass did nice job at shortstop for us after being at catcher the first four games and Kara Dishman made some nice plays at second base. I was proud of Kalie Keener, our freshman catcher. She did a nice job back there.”

Kaleigh Speicher pops one up as her Warsaw teammates look on from the Tiger dugout. Speicher hit a two-run homer in a 3-1 win over Wawasee.

The Warriors cut the lead to 2-1 with a run in the third on a pair of singles by Ale Brito and Kylee Rostochak and a bunt by Meghan Fretz. The Tigers made it 3-1 in the fourth by taking advantage of a pair of Wawasee errors. The Warriors got out of further trouble by turning a slick 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.

Wawasee, which has just one senior, lost despite outhitting the hosts 7-6.

“These teams are evenly-matched and things went their way tonight,” said Wawasee coach Jared Knipper. “That’s softball.

“The ball hits second base and costs us a run. That’s a momentum killer. We have the double play in the seventh. Those are deflating. It’s hard to bounce back from two things like that. Three or four plays go our way and we win tonight.

“We missed some signs on the bases and that hurt us. But, we will fix those things and be back. We had an off night batting too.”

Freshman Amber Lemberg winds up for the Warriors.

Junior Karly Jones had three hits for Warsaw and senior Ashley Ousley had two, including a leadoff double in the first prior to No. 3 hitter Speicher’s two-run shot.

Freshman leadoff hitter Brito had a pair of hits for the Warriors. Sophomore Cristina DeLaFuente also had two hits.

Speicher struck out two and walked three in the complete game win for the Tigers.

Freshman Amber Lemberg went the distance in the circle for the Warriors. She had five strikeouts and no walks.

Wawasee won the junior varsity game by a 24-1 final.

Warsaw hosts Goshen in NLC action Wednesday and entertains Plymouth in a league game Friday. Wawasee hosts Elkhart Memorial Wednesday and plays at NorthWood Friday in NLC contests.

Wawasee freshman leadoff hitter Ale Brito eyes an inside pitch.