SYRACUSE – After cruising to the finals of the Wawasee Invitational, Rochester needed its final at-bat to secure the title in a 6-5, come-from-behind win against South Bend Clay.

Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Karli Murphy stepped to the dish with two on and two out and cracked a double, bringing home the tying run. One batter later, Arin Johnson poked a base hit, and Murphy motored home, avoiding the tag attempt to give 3-A No. 8 Rochester the title.

Clay had taken a 4-1 lead after a wild pitch and error allowed three runs to come home for the Colonials.

Rochester reached the final by crushing Wawasee, 10-0, in the first semi-final. Lexy Holland wasn’t overpowering in the circle, but struck out three and held Wawasee to one hit while the defense behind her did the rest. Holland added a three-run homer while Kaelee Smith and Becky Malchow combined for five hits and four runs scored.

The game saw Wawasee’s Kylee Rostochak end her 31-game hitting streak dating back to last season after going 0-2 in the contest.

In the other semi-final, Clay’s Hannah Andrysiak and Tess Swain both homered in the fifth inning of a 9-3 Colonial win over Whitko. Krysta Taylor added an RBI triple for Clay.

Whitko had cut the margin to 7-3 in the bottom of the fifth after Whitney Marsh doubled and was brought home on an RBI hit from Shelby Martin. The Lady Wildcats blew an opportunity in the sixth, leaving two runners on trailing by that four-run margin before Clay added two runs in the seventh to put the game away.

Rachel Najdek earned the win for Clay, striking out six.

“That’s a team in South Bend Clay that you cannot make mistakes against,” said Whitko head coach Brad Clark. “They took advantage of our mistakes and capitalized. We have to figure this out, because this is something that seems to be a pattern with us. We really need to find some answers and fix some things.”

In the consolation game, Wawasee broke open the game in the third with five runs, highlighted by a two-run homer from Danielle Gunkel. Whitko pulled back into the game after Aly Nicodemus notched an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3.

Wawasee would then add single runs in the fourth and fifth before plating two in the sixth and three in the seventh.

The Lady Warriors ripped 15 hits in the second game, led by Ale Brito’s three and three RBIs. Madie Wilson, Rostochak, Gunkel and Priscilla Weikart each had two hits for the Lady Warriors. Whitko had just three hits on Meghan Fretz, who won her first career start, striking out four in the complete game. Hannah Yohe was hung with the loss for Whitko.

“This is just a pattern we have seen for us,” said Wawasee head coach Jared Knipper. “We have had a couple cold games lately where we have a bad start and fall behind and there’s no coming back from it. But when we swing the bats well, we really get going playing the game we like to play. Today we fell behind early to Rochester and there wasn’t much spark.”

Whitko falls to 2-8 on the season and will look to regroup for Monday’s game with Oak Hill.

“This is a very contagious thing with us, both positive and negative,” Clark said following the Wawasee game. “When things go well for us, we do several things well. When we don’t start off well, we hang our heads and overcompensate by trying to do to much. We just have to forget the last play and move on.”

Wawasee settles in at 7-4 overall and will take on Class 4-A No. 11 Northridge Monday.

“We kind of play better when we play better teams,” Knipper said of Monday’s matchup. “We tend to focus a little more, and play less lackadaisical. We just have to be confident against our opponent no matter who it is.”