Wawasee Sports Wrap – May 12
Golfers Open NLC With Tough Losses
Wawasee lost its first dual match of the season Monday night, then took two on the chin to open the Northern Lakes Conference grid Tuesday. The Warriors posted a 176 to lose to Northridge’s 162 and host Goshen’s 174 at Maplecrest.
In a tough night to play golf in cold and windy conditions, none of the three teams lit up the scoreboard. But Northridge’s Tommy Morrison and Luke Morrison both shot 39s and 42s from Jared Birr and Michael Swartzendruber were the best combo in the conference opener for all three clubs.
Goshen utilized a 38 from Michael Chupp and posted 45s from Joel Meyer and Peyton Cripe along with a 46 from Matt Truex.
Wawasee, which shot a 165 against Penn Monday evening, had Tristen Atwood lead the team with a 43, Cal Heinisch and Maclain Herr turn in 44s and Kaleb Perry toss in a 45.
“All of our guys had tough nights,” said Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone, whose club is 8-3 overall and 0-2 in the NLC. “Too many big holes again. We need to be mentally tougher and not let matches like this slip away.”
Northridge turned in a 188 JV score to best Wawasee’s 213. Cameron Adams had the only sub-50 for Wawasee at 45.
Wawasee will continue in the NLC Thursday in hosting NorthWood and Plymouth.
NorthWood Takes Wawasee Out In 12
Wawasee and NorthWood went toe-to-toe for 12 innings Tuesday night. The Panthers made a move in the twelfth and the Warriors couldn’t counter in a 3-2 NorthWood win in varsity baseball at Wawasee.
NorthWood and Wawasee each had nine hits, but neither team scored a run after the third inning. Wawasee got its two runs in the second inning on RBI singles from Aaron Voirol and Kurtis Liston. Voirol was 3-for-4 on the day and drew a walk while Liston had two singles and a stolen base in the game.
Drew Wright added a pair of singles and a walk for the Warriors.
Lucas Garza was the tough luck loser for the Warriors, pitching the twelfth inning, giving up the earned run and recording one strikeout.
The NorthWood JV fared much better on offense against Wawasee, posting 15 runs in a 15-8 final over Wawasee.
Wawasee falls to 7-9 overall in varsity baseball and 2-7 in the NLC with a whopper of a challenge Wednesday. The Northridge Raiders sit at 8-1 overall in the NLC and will host Wawasee at 5 p.m.
Controversy Marrs NorthWood Upset
In what could be an earmark softball win for the NorthWood softball program will be tainted with controversy.
The Panthers won the ballgame, 2-1, Tuesday evening at Stauffer Park but four Wawasee runs were scribbled off the board on a pair of controversial calls.
Wawasee thought it had scratched a run across in the fourth when Paige Hlutke slid home on a bunt attempt, but a late tag attempt was granted by the umpire, erasing what looked to be the game’s first run.
The larger of the two calls, however, was a three-run homer that was wiped off the board on an interference call in the sixth. Allissa Flores hit the homer, and circled the bases to a waiting team at home plate. After touching home and celebrating, Flores was ruled to have struck the umpire with her bat on her back swing. Rather than calling the play immediately dead, the delayed call sent both runners back to base, to which Panther pitcher Taylor Troxel worked out of the inning without further damage.
Troxel would allow eight hits and the tying run in the seventh when Madi Wilson drove in the equalizer with a single. But NorthWood rallied in the bottom of the seventh when Claire McGuire walked and came around to score on an eventual passed ball. NorthWood scored its first run in the sixth on an error, allowing Lexi Bergman to score.
Meghan Fretz took the loss, allowing just one hit, no earned runs, three walks and 10 strikeouts. Fretz has still only allowed one earned run in seven games.
NorthWood won the JV game 5-4. No stats were made available.
The loss was the first for Wawasee in the Northern Lakes Conference, leaving the Warriors 8-1 in the NLC and 15-4 overall. The bright side for Wawasee is Northridge was no-hit by Rae Ann Miller and Concord Tuesday to pick up its second NLC loss, leaving Wawasee one game up in the standings ahead of a huge matchup Wednesday between Wawasee and Northridge in Syracuse.