Twin Lakes Softball Semi-state: St. Joe Silences Wawasee
MONTICELLO – South Bend St. Joe played like a team that has been to semi-state six times in the past eight seasons. Faced with a pair of very sticky situations, the Indians managed to avoid both jams to eliminate Wawasee from the Twin Lakes Softball Semi-state in a 3-0 final Saturday afternoon.
St. Joe opened the gate in the top of the first, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead. Hits from Taylor Kowalski and Megan Welsh put runners on the corners, which Addison Quinn promptly singled in Kowalski for a 1-0 lead and Sydney Swartz doubled in Welsh for the second run.
Wawasee answered with back-to-back singles from Madie Wilson and Meghan Fretz in the bottom of the first, but St. Joe pitcher Lauren Sandor got Hannah Haines swinging at a pitch out of the zone to end the threat.
St. Joe left two on in the fifth, otherwise, the game sailed along mostly uneventful until the bottom of the sixth, where Wawasee had a golden opportunity float away. Ale Brito led off the inning with a walk, and after Sandor got Kayla White out, Wilson spotted a perfect bunt into the St. Joe defensive void, putting runners on the corners for Fretz.
A pair of loud foul balls by Fretz had the huge Wawasee contingent on its feet, but Sandor went after the senior slugger and beat her inside, getting Fretz to fly out to left, Brito unable to tag up. The rally ended when Welsh, a junior Division 1 prospect behind the plate, launched a missile to second that cut down Wilson trying to steal.
Wawasee went quietly in the seventh, ending the longest postseason run in program history.
“At this stage it’s do or die, and you just never know if it’s going to be your day and were we going to live to fight another one,” said Wawasee head coach Mike Barger. “Today we just ended up on the short end of the stick.”
Wawasee, which had punished the ball at the plate all postseason, managed just five hits in what became a pretty good pitcher’s duel. Sandor finished with 11 strikeouts and the shutout, sending St. Joe to tonight’s championship game against Kankakee Valley.
“That was huge to get out of the first inning without them scoring, especially after we scored the two,” said St. Joe coach Earl Keith. “Our senior leaders have been through this before, and our younger kids don’t know any better. We just got down to it and made our opportunities count. Glad we were able to get out of this one alive.”
The run for Wawasee ends at 25-4 overall, winners of the Northern Lakes Conference – undefeated for the first time in program history – as well as postseason titles at Lakeland and Fort Wayne Concordia. The senior class, perhaps the largest in program history at nine, leaves with three NLC titles, two sectional titles and a whole host of individual records. Barger, who addressed a sea of tears following the loss, knows his work is cut out for him in the offseason.
“We’ve got 18 shoes to fill,” Barger said. “I’m sure there will be some watery eyes, I’ll tell them thank you and then we have to get the summer stuff started.
“I’ve got a big freshman class coming in and basically it’s back to the drawing board and start to rebuild. Get back to this stage again.”
Kankakee Valley needed a big-time rally in game one, going hitless until the seventh, but managing to plate the tying run in its last at-bat and then driving in the winning run in the eighth to beat Bellmont 2-1.
Sarah Starr drove in the tying run after the Kougars loaded the bases on Bellmont ace Macy Montgomery, who was untouchable through six but mortal in the seventh. Valley then got its leadoff on in the eighth, then had Emma Maple double in the winning run, sending the Kougars to the final. Bellmont bows out after a 20-2 campaign.
Kankakee Valley, tied 1-1 in the seventh inning against St. Joe, managed to plate three runs to upset the Indians 4-1 in the evening championship game. The Kougars (22-8) advance to the Class 3-A State Championship next weekend at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis to face New Palestine, which hammered Evansville Memorial 10-1 in the southern semi-state.