Wawasee Sports Wrap: May 14
Girls Tennis
Wawasee closed out its regular season with a 4-1 win over Whitko Monday night at Wawasee.
The matchup will be a sectional preview as the two teams will meet again Wednesday in the first round of the Warsaw Girls Tennis Sectional.
Both doubles teams for Wawasee won in convincing fashion led by a love and two win from Brianna Haessig and Molly Jones over Katherine Ousley and Izzy Raymer. Two courts down, the team of Kabrea Rostochak and Courtney Larson posted a one and two cap on Jenna Vancuren and Kinsey Myers.
The top two singles courts for Wawasee were also victorious, with Kendra Doerr beating Jackie Werstler three and two while Elizabeth Kleopfer held off Natalie Iholtz four and two. At three singles, Wildcat junior Kayla Schipper took set one, 6-0, over Kennedy Church only for the Wawasee sophomore to rally back a 6-2 second set. Schipper would then come back for a 6-1 clincher in the third.
The JV finished its regular season Monday, with Wawasee taking four of five courts from Whitko.
Tate Cowan and Abby Morehead were winners in singles play while Ava Harker and Stephanie Ruiz along with Brittney Jackson and Valerie Haessig were doubles winners.
The Warsaw Tennis Sectional begins at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with the Wawasee-Whitko set to play Columbia City Thursday in the semi-finals. Warsaw and Tippecanoe Valley will play opposite on Thursday. The championship is set for Friday, all times starting at 4:30 p.m.
Baseball
Goshen got the win it absolutely had to have in a 7-5 win over Wawasee Monday night.
The RedHawks moved to 10-3 in NLC play, setting themselves up for a showdown with NorthWood Wednesday, which also sits at 10-3 overall after its loss at Plymouth. The Pilgrims are 10-3 as well and host Northridge for a possible slice of the NLC pie with the Goshen-NorthWood.
But on Monday night, Goshen got its heat in the first two innings, scoring three in the first and four more in the second. Control issues by Wawasee starter Blake Norris, who walked four in an inning-plus, opened the door for five runs to eventually come across, and reliever Jacob Garcia had the next two batters reach before Austin Bontrager knocked in a pair with a single.
Wawasee would get a solo homer from Jairus Boyer and two RBIs from Kam Salazar as well solo RBIs from Jeremiah Bess and Jake Crousure. Wawasee would load the bases with one out in the seventh, but Phil Wertz would close the door in getting Carter Woody to strike out and Crousure to fly out to left to end it.
Tyler Colpitts got the win for Goshen, going 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and striking out seven.
Wawasee’s JV shut out Goshen 13-0.
The Warriors (8-13, 4-9 NLC) conclude NLC play Wednesday when it hosts Concord.
Softball
Breanna Boocher had a homer and Goshen piled up 10 hits to defeat Wawasee 7-5 Monday night.
Brynn Shoup-Hill, Grace Vance and Alexis Navarro all had two hits, Shoup-Hill and Navarro each tallying two RBIs apiece in the victory. Navarro added a pair of stolen bases for Goshen.
Wawasee answered Goshen’s three-run second with a four-spot in the bottom half, Bethany Flannery, Faith Swihart and Aubrey Kuhn all collecting RBIs in the inning. Flannery’s solo homer gave Wawasee a 5-3 lead, only for Goshen to hang three runs in the fourth and an insurance tally in the sixth.
Wawasee (8-13, 5-8 NLC) will look to play spoiler Wednesday when it visits Concord. The Minutemen and Northridge are both tied at 12-1 in the NLC, Northridge will take on winless Plymouth for its stake in at least a share of the title.
Boys Golf
The Northern Lakes Conference golf season is quickly winding down, and Monday saw three contenders square off at Pretty Lake Golf Course in Plymouth. Wawasee fell off the pace as it posted a 181 while host Plymouth took a 169 and NorthWood claimed the dual wins at 160.
Getting consistent low scores at the top, both Sean Hogan and Micah Pippinger each shot 38 to lead the Panthers, with Randy Coffman two back at 40. Caleb Lung had an off night at 44 from the No. 1 position, but was the fourth score for the Panthers.
Plymouth had the round of the night, a 36 from Chapman Yoder, but couldn’t match NorthWood’s consistency. Bryce Carmichael and Andrew Hines each came in at 44 and Owen Yoder was one back at 45.
Wawasee’s Zach Leedy posted a 39 and Dillon Drake came in at 41, but the scores dipped from there, with Jared Krugman at 49 and Evan Dippon at 52.
The JV card had NorthWood post a 187 to a 197 each from Wawasee and Plymouth. Wawasee’s top effort came from Victor Tayagua, who had a round of 40.
Wawasee will see another tough grouping Thursday at South Shore when Warsaw and Goshen pay visit to end the NLC round robin. The NLC Championship is Saturday at Rozella Golf Club.