NorthWood head coach Mandy DeMien (right) high fives Linnzie Richner before the Panthers take the field midway through Monday’s 11-1 win over Tippecanoe Valley. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

BENTON — Just like that, everything changed.

A competitive contest between NorthWood and Tippecanoe Valley in the opening round of the IHSAA Class 3-A Softball Sectional at Fairfield turned ugly on a dime Monday night. The Panthers scored seven runs in the fifth inning to short-game the Vikings 11-1.

“Yeah, it was the home run,” confirmed Valley skipper Daryl Shoemaker in his opening statement following the loss. “It just shifted everything. Up until that point, we thought everything was looking really good. Even the girls said that everything changed after that home run.”

Holding a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth with two runners on, NorthWood’s Alexis Klotz stepped to the plate and hammered a three-run moon shot. It was the beginning of a huge inning for the Panthers in which they would earn a walk-off win by way of the 10-run rule.

Valley had put itself in good positions all night long but could never capitalize. The breaking point, Klotz’s homer, was bound to happen as Valley’s starting pitcher was running out of gas fast.

“Gunter’s arm was dead,” Shoemaker said of his starting pitcher, Katie Gunter. “She was having issues during warmups, she couldn’t feel her arm. She couldn’t tell where the ball was going. We weren’t sure what we’d get out of her tonight.”

Gunter did all she could to hold NorthWood at bay, the senior went four and one-third innings before finally cracking.

NorthWood scored in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings. The Panthers had RBIs from four different players and were running the bases with authority. Klotz led the Panthers with four RBIs. Summer Stillson had two triples and three RBIs. Arika Flickinger had two RBIs while Emily Schrock had one.

Valley’s lone run came in the top of the second inning as Sydney Howard crossed home on an RBI from Raechel Torpy. The Vikings left 10 runners on base in the game, including walking away empty handed after loading the bases in the fourth.

Despite the unfortunate ending, Shoemaker said it was one of the best game’s his team has played all season, given the circumstances. Shoemaker, who just completed his second season as Valley’s head coach, is excited for what’s to come in his program.

“The future is bright,” Shoemaker stated. “We have a good freshman class and another good group coming in behind them. We’re getting more attention from the youth leagues again, people are getting excited. We already had one camp and are looking at doing another one. I think people see that this is getting exciting and that we are starting to have some consistency.”

Valley finishes the season at 7-16. NorthWood (16-10) moves on to play Wawasee in Tuesday’s first semifinal. The Panthers were the only team to hand Wawasee a loss in the Northern Lakes Conference’s double round robin this season. Fairfield will play Lakeland in the second semifinal, the Falcons won the regular season contest 4-0.