Warsaw Softball: Tigers Top Warriors In Wild One
WARSAW — Wednesday’s Northern Lakes Conference softball contest between host Warsaw and visiting Wawasee began with a bit of drama as severe weather swept in fast, and lightning delayed the game before it even started.
It got wilder from there, and the finish was even more dramatic.
With the game knotted at 6-all headed into the bottom of the sixth, Warsaw took back a tenuous, 7-6 lead when Emali Grose scored on a Katie Anderson single. With two on and two out, Lindsay Bradley was first called out for putting her body into the strike zone to be intentionally hit by a pitch, but the call at the plate was reversed by the base umpire, Bradley instead drew a walk to load the bases, and sister Saylor Bradley cleared the bags with a hard-hit grounder into right to give the Lady Tigers an eventual 10-6 victory.
“The umpire had said that she stuck her knee out, and it hit her in the knee. He called her out for the ball hitting her. They checked with the other umpire and determined that the ball did not hit her,” explained Warsaw coach Kevin Dishman of the game-changing call with Bradley at the plate.
Wawasee coach Mike Barger challenged the officials on the ruling, and he insisted that whether or not the pitch actually hit Bradley, it still should’ve been a strike and an out.
“I’ve never had an official take a game away from my young kids, and that’s the only reason I went out there arguing. To be honest with you if I got tossed it wasn’t going to matter to me at that point because I can’t watch somebody take something away from a kid when they’re out there battling,” he said.
“He’s telling me it didn’t hit her. That’s not what he called. He called that she intentionally put her knee into the strike zone. It’s a strike. It’s a new rule — you can’t put it in the strike zone. And it’s a game-changer. Seven-six, it’s a different game.”
The Tigers jumped on top early with a run in the bottom of the first, then pushed their lead to 3-0 with a two-run shot by Grose in the second, one of three homers at Wednesday’s game. Wawasee got on the board with a run in the top of the third, but Warsaw answered back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to push its lead to 6-2. A solo homer by Maddie Mottern in the fourth cut that advantage to 6-3, but the Tigers again struck back with an RBI single by Isabelle Dittmar in their half of the inning.
Wawasee put up its first crooked number against Warsaw starter Courtney Chookie in the fifth, then reliever Olivia Stuck held on through a scoreless fifth for Warsaw, and Beth Flannery knotted it up with a pinch hit, two-run shot to knot it at 6-6.
“Just like I called it. Call me up to the Big Leagues,” laughed Barger of Flannery’s big hit. “I went into the box, got the runner on. I had in my mind, I’m going to pinch hit, and I’m going to ask: One swing of the bat, and this game could be tied. She could strike out. Not sure, but I knew that I had the opportunity with a kid like Beth, as well as she’s hit this year, and it turned out I was right this time. It’s not every day you can just say ‘Hey, I called that one out.’”
Anderson finished a 3-for-3 night with her RBI single for the go-ahead, the controversial call reversal left the door open for Warsaw to plate three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Chookie held on through the top of the seventh to give Warsaw its second nail-biting NLC win of the week following an 8-7 victory over Elkhart Memorial Monday.
“We fought back again. That’s two nights in a row for us at home,” said Dishman. “We’ve struggled more at home than anywhere else; I don’t know why that is.
“A couple good games under our belts this week. We have a chance to win the week, and that’s what we’re shooting for.”
Chookie gave up 10 hits and three earned runs, striking out three with no walks going the distance in the circle for her team. Stuck took the loss, surrendering six runs on seven hits while striking out five after relieving fellow freshman Kiaundra Olson, who allowed four runs on four hits over two innings in the start for Wawasee.
Anderson led Warsaw at the plate with three hits for three runs scored and an RBI. Lindsay Bradley finished 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI, and Dittmar and Saylor Bradley collected two hits apiece for the Tigers, who registered 11 hits to Wawasee’s 10 Wednesday.
Mottern, Danielle Jenkins and Graceanne Kerlin all finished with multiple hits for Wawasee, and Flannery and Delaney Hare batted in two runs each.
Warsaw improves to 7-8 overall and 5-3 in NLC play. The Tigers travel to Goshen Friday. Warsaw lost 11-9 to Goshen at home in its NLC opener back on April 18.
“We owe Goshen one,” Dishman said. “We don’t feel we played our best game against Goshen. We had too many errors that night, and I think we owe them.”
Wawasee dips to 5-9, meanwhile, with a 2-5 conference mark. The Warriors play a doubleheader at Elkhart Memorial Friday as the first NLC contest between the two was postponed in April.
“Conference is out of the question, I know that, but I want to finish strong in the conference, take our momentum straight into the sectional and beat people,” Barger said.
“This team believes in themselves, and it’s coming. I thought it would come faster, so now I’m sitting back a little bit more and being more patient with them. But I told them the other day ‘When May hits, it’s all bets off. We’ve got to go now.’ So that’s where we are.”
In Wednesday’s JV contest, Wawasee got the better of Warsaw by a high-scoring 21-12 margin.
Casey Drake finished with three RBIs to lead the JV Warriors at the plate, and Ciandra Ervin got the win in the circle.