Wawasee Sports Wrap: May 9
Softball
Wawasee head coach Mike Barger ran out of answers, and options.
Finding his softball club up 9-0 in the fourth inning at Northridge Wednesday afternoon, it was a good view from the penthouse. What transpired in the final three innings left Barger and his club absolutely baffled.
Northridge scored three runs each in the fourth and fifth innings, then dropped a 15 spot in the sixth to dime Wawasee in a 21-11 shocker.
Wawasee was riding high, in position to dime the top team in the Northern Lakes Conference, and was in the midst of a career-high six RBIs from Delaney Hare, who was one of three players with three hits on the night. Ava Rush and Bethany Flannery also had three hits, Rush scoring three runs as did Danielle Jenkins. Rush and Madison Mottern both homered in the game.
Wawasee still led 11-6 in the sixth, but Jalyn Smith hit a two-run homer to start the carousel. With the game tied at 11 and two outs in the inning, Northridge would rattle off five straight hits, then a hit batsman, and capped the blitzkrieg with a grand slam from Makena Knepp then a two-run walk-off homer from Sara Troyer.
Knepp would drive in six while Allison Hostetler had four hits and three RBIs, and teammates Ashley Beckler and Smith also drove in three.
In all, the game saw 36 hits but just two walks and only one error.
“We were up 9-0 and then the wheels fell off,” Barger said following the game. “We couldn’t buy an out. I looked down at the bullpen signaling for a lefty, tapping my arm, and no one came out. I was ready to pitch (parent) Amy Kuhn.
“That sixth inning, they hit the cover off the ball. Everything was line drives. And then that place was a wind tunnel, wind blowing out 75 miles per hour.”
Northridge got the win it needed to stay on top of the NLC, sitting at 10-1 in conference play and 13-4 overall. Concord also won Wednesday night and also sits at 10-1 with three games to go.
Wawasee, which held multi-run leads on Northridge in both games this season, drops to 4-7 in the NLC and 7-12 overall.
Northridge’s JV clobbered Wawasee in a 18-2 final.
The JV’s game Thursday against Elkhart Central has been cancelled and will not be made up. The Wawasee-Central game at Wawasee is a varsity-only contest Thursday afternoon.
Baseball
Northridge kept the heat on Wawasee to forge a split in the season series with a 12-3 win in Syracuse.
The Raiders piled up 13 hits, scoring four runs in the second and adding at least a run in four of the final five innings. Cody Bible led Ridge with three RBIs while Nick Logan had three hits and two RBIs.
Ridge made the offense stand up for Davis Enfield, who gave up just two hits and three runs in four innings of work to secure the win.
Blake Norris had one of his least effective outings of the year for Wawasee, giving up six earned while allowing five hits and four walks in 3.1 innings.
Jeremiah Bess and Zak Linnemeier each had RBIs for the Warriors, which managed just five hits in the game.
Wawasee’s JV came out on top in a 5-4 final over the Raiders.
Wawasee (8-11, 4-7 NLC) will visit Bill Nixon Field Friday for a date with Plymouth.