NorthWood pitcher Drew Minnich fires home against Wawasee Friday afternoon. (Photo by Mike Deak)

Baseball

NorthWood used the big inning to put away Wawasee Friday afternoon, 7-2, in Northern Lakes Conference baseball.

The Panthers plated three runs in the third and four more an inning later to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Wawasee broke through with its two runs in the top of the seventh.

Drew Minnich was solid on the hill for the Panthers, earning the victory after four innings of shutout ball in his first turn on the mound. Minnich also led the offense with three hits, one of which was a two-bagger.

Of Wawasee’s four hits, Spencer Prescott continued to swing a hot bat, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Jairus Boyer and Gavin Barker each had RBIs for Wawasee.

Carter Woody took the loss, hanging six runs in three innings.

NorthWood moves to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference. Wawasee drops to 4-5 and 1-2.

Softball

Meghan Fretz fired a one-hitter Friday night, shutting down NorthWood in a 7-0 Wawasee win in Syracuse.

Fretz gave up just a single to Summer Stillson in the sixth and allowed just three walks in the gem. The fireballer had 14 strikeouts in her second shutout of the season.

Fretz and Faith Swihart both had two-run doubles for the Lady Warriors, which also had Ale Brito add an RBI double and Hannah Haines and Leah deSomer each add RBIs. Brito also walked twice and Madie Wilson had a hit and two runs scored.

Wawasee dominated the JV game, winning 10-0. Madison Mottern and Grace Allen had three hits apiece to lead the Lady Warriors.

NorthWood drops to 3-5 overall and 0-3 in the Northern Lakes Conference, looking forward to hosting Elkhart Central on Saturday. Wawasee moves to 9-1 and 3-0, with its Wawasee Invite on Saturday where it will play Rochester and either Whitko or South Bend Clay.

Girls Tennis

NorthWood continued to roll on in tennis action, smoking Jimtown 5-0 in a quick match Friday afternoon at NorthWood.

All five courts won in straight sets, three of which were 6-3, 6-1 including Reagan Miller and Hannah Walter in singles play and Jama Rice and Kennedy Wiens in doubles.

Alex Jesse won 6-1, 6-0 at one singles and Betsy Nunemaker and Amanda Rhoade rolled 6-1, 6-1 at two doubles.

NorthWood won nine of the 10 JV courts. Katie Troyer, Gretchen Adams, Natalie Gerber, Keri Rohr and Caroline Mullet all won singles courts, as did doubles pairings of Chloe Reyes and Ashlyn Romersberger, Kate Vorhis and Lauren Mikel, Riley Graber and Olivia Feller, and Ingrid Andersen and Olivia Craven.

NorthWood is 8-0 overall in varsity play and will visit Northridge Monday in a key Northern Lakes Conference matchup.