Wawasee Baseball: Panthers Cruise To Semifinal Victory
LAGRANGE — After a surprising upset in Wednesday’s sectional opener, the Wawasee baseball team was hoping to give its fans an equally impressive encore when it faced NorthWood in Friday’s semifinal. While the Warriors proved they were better than being just another one-and-done team, they couldn’t avoid going two-and-out. The Panthers scored a 13-0 win in five innings in the first of two games in semifinal action of the IHSAA Class 3-A Sectional 21 Baseball Tournament at Lakeland.
Wawasee looked as if it would find some magic again as the game opened up with Rieder Hunley turning the first pitch into a single. But Hunley, along with Lucas Garza, would be stranded in the top of the first, that was a theme that never ended for the Warriors.
In the bottom half of the inning, the three-time defending sectional champion Panthers reminded the Warriors why you can’t miss out on scoring chances. NorthWood plated three runners in the inning on RBIs from Vincent Herschberger (two) and Drake Gongwer (one).
Wawasee went down in order in the second while the Panthers went back to work. This time it was RBIs from Brant Mast and Chad Sellers that gave NorthWood a 5-0 advantage.
Wawasee looked to cut the lead down in the third but instead left the bases loaded. With yet another opportunity missed on offense NorthWood went for the knockout punch in the bottom half of the frame. Back-to-back homers from Tanner Cleveland and Mast highlighted a four-run inning for the Panthers. NorthWood hit two more homers in the bottom of the fourth as part of another four-run frame. The long balls this time came from Cleveland, his second, and Gongwer.
NorthWood had 16 hits as a team compared to Wawasee’s three. The Panthers were led by Cleveland who was 4-4 and had three RBIs.
While the Warriors were excited to be back on the field after an upset over Tippecanoe Valley on Wednesday, the excitement was no match for the experience of the Panthers, who will play for a fourth-straight sectional title Monday against Fairfield.
“That’s a good team,” Wawasee head coach Brent Doty said of NorthWood. “Our guys battled though. We played solid defensively, even against some tough odds. We got down early but continued to battle. I’m proud of my guys, the young guys definitely but I feel for my seniors. It’s tough for them to be done, but they’re going to go one to bigger and better things.
“Those seniors helped to lay a foundation this year for a very young team. They’ve been here since I’ve taken over and I think good things are on the horizon. But, right now I’m just proud of our seniors and what they’ve done for us the past few years, just unfortunate we can’t send them out with a championship.”
Hunley, Jamie Slabaugh and Chase Rookstool each had one hit for the Warriors.
Wawasee closes its season with a record of 8-20-1.