Wawasee’s Cristina DeLaFuente slides in under the tag attempt of Bremen’s Brooke Fitch after doubling in the first inning Friday night. Bremen would win the game 6-3. (Photos by Mike Deak)

BREMEN – For Wawasee head coach Jared Knipper and his softball team, Friday night’s 6-3 loss at Bremen certainly wasn’t how he wanted his club going into the Class 3-A sectional tournament. Sliding in on three-game skid.

Wawasee pitcher Meghan Fretz delivers to Bremen.

“We are playing the best competition we have seen all year,” Knipper said of consecutive nights at Northridge, at Concord and Friday night at Bremen. “They are all playing at their highest level, and for whatever reason, we aren’t playing at our highest level. That’s really the difference of these past couple nights.”

Bremen used RBI doubles in the third inning by Micaela Box and Shelby Zellmer to take a 3-2 lead, and broke a three-all tie in the fifth on an RBI hit from Zellmer. Emily Molden added a double and triple as well as two runs scored for the Lady Lions, which move to 20-7 on the season.

Shannon Arndt got the win for Bremen, working six innings and not allowing an earned run. Wawasee scored on an error in the first, an RBI single from Cristina DeLaFuente in the third and a passed ball in the fifth. Chelsea Huppert picked up the save with a perfect seventh.

Meghan Fretz was dealt the loss, working just three innings giving up five hits, three runs and striking out just one. Lemberg gave up four hits and three runs in relief.

Bremen left fielder Rachael Czarnecki hauls in a pop fly against Wawasee.

Wawasee (17-10 overall) will look forward to the Fairfield Sectional, where it will face Tippecanoe Valley Wednesday, the only team in the seven-team grid Wawasee has not played this season. Wawasee is 4-2 against the sectional field.

“We really just need to keep going out and playing ball,” Knipper suggested about trying to reverse fortunes against Valley. “We’re making mistakes in the field we shouldn’t be making. I think we just need to relax a little and play like we did when we were rolling a couple weeks ago.”

The Wawasee junior varsity posted its ninth shutout of the season in a 10-0, five-inning win against Bremen. Hannah Haines tossed a three-hitter and struck out 10 and drove in two to help her own cause. Leah deSomer crushed a homer and Kayla White had three hits, three RBIs and two stolen bases for the potent Wawasee attack, which mashed 16 hits against the Lady Lions.

The Lady Warrior JV (23-0) will host its Wawasee Invitational Saturday in hopes of closing out its season undefeated.