Northridge star pitcher Haley Nixon prepares to let it fly Wednesday night versus Warsaw.

MIDDLEBURY – The Northridge softball team had a grand old time at the ballpark Wednesday night.

Sweet swinging slugger Brianne O’Dell made sure of that for the Raiders.

O’Dell blasted not one, but two grand slam home runs to pace her talented team past Warsaw 24-2 in Northern Lakes Conference action.

O’Dell, one of eight seniors for the Class 4-A No. 10 Raiders, finished the contest with four hits and 10 RBI in the five-inning rout.

The Raiders, who lost in the Class 4-A semi state semifinals in 2013, improve to 10-1 overall and 5-0 in the NLC with their ninth straight win.

Northridge has now won 39 straight NLC games since a loss to Goshen and star pitcher Natalie Newell during the 2009 season.

Warsaw dropped its fourth consecutive contest to fall to 3-8 overall and 3-2 in league play.

Warsaw pitcher Whitney Sleeth collects herself in the circle.

“They showed tonight who’s the cream of the crop in the NLC,” said Warsaw coach Jim Speicher of the Raiders. “I tip my hat to them. They smacked the ball all over the park. They hit the ball like that with Nixon pitching and they are going to win.”

“We are not good in two of three facets of the game (pitching and defense). You have no chance when that’s the case. You can’t give any team, especially a very good one like Northridge, five or six outs in an inning and we did that. It snowballed. Everyone is frustrated right now for us.”

Northridge, which finished 26-2 a year ago, bounced back from a close call in a 12-11 win at Wawasee Monday.

The Raiders, who have now outscored their five NLC foes by a combined total of 67-14, clicked on all cylinders.

Star pitcher Haley Nixon went the first four innings to win another one for the Raiders. The senior right-hander allowed just two hits, while striking out seven and walking one. Nixon, who was 53-4 the past two seasons with 361 strikeouts, has signed to pitch at Indiana Wesleyan next season.

Nixon is now 8-1 on the season with 67 strikeouts in 60 innings of work in the circle.

Northridge played small ball right away to take control. A single by leadoff hitter Mikayla Deisler, followed by a fine bunt by Hannah Kistler that was mishandled by Warsaw set the tone. No. 3 hitter O’Dell then smacked a two-run double to highlight a three-run first inning.

Taylor Sleeth readies on defense for the Tigers.

The Raiders scored six more times in the second to make it 9-0. Jordan Yoder had a two-run double in the frame. The third inning saw six more runs for the hosts, highlighted by O’Dell’s bases-clearing blast to center.

Warsaw scored both of its runs in the fifth fame. Senior Kaleigh Speicher launched a solo homer over the centerfield fence for the first run.

Northridge scored nine runs in the home half of the fourth. Kistler led off the frame with a solo homer and O’Dell capped it with her second grand slam, this time over the right field fence.

“Her job as the No. 3 hitter is to drive in runs and she was up at the right time tonight,” said Northridge coach Bo O’Dell of the incredible performance by his shortstop and daughter Brianne. “This is probably the best swings we’ve had this year.

“I have the utmost respect for coach Speicher and his program. All programs go through cycles and we will too next season with eight seniors leaving and learning to play without Haley pitching.

“It starts with pitching and we have that with Haley. I wanted to see intensity tonight. Monday was just one of those games. We just need to learn to finish games and play a full game regardless. We need to get in a better spot mentally than we are right now.”

Warsaw hosts Concord and Northridge plays at Elkhart Memorial in NLC action Friday.

Sidney Hernandez of Warsaw eyes a pitch.