Ale Brito is given a big bear hug by Wawasee assistant coach Jace Stewart after she gave the Lady Warriors a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE – Two runners in scoring position, two outs and in a one run game. A quick swing of the bat from Concord’s Maddi Jackowiak popped a ball up in foul territory. It was a routine play for Paige Hlutke, Wawasee’s catcher, captain and lone senior. For three seconds that ball floated in the air, but it seemed much longer. Could it really be that simple? Three seconds. Fans pressed against the fence waiting for her to make the play. Three seconds and the celebration could begin. Three seconds from Jackowiak’s bat to…Hlutke’s glove. They did it.

Hlutke was not going to let that opportunity go to waste. The night began with her senior ceremony then ended with her make the final out giving Wawasee its first-ever Northern Lakes Conference softball title with a 5-4 win.

“It’s amazing how far this program has come since my freshman year,” stated Hlutke, fighting back some joyful tears. “We had certain weaknesses my freshman year and now we’ve turned those weaknesses into strengths. We pick each other up and we’re playing as a team instead of individuals like we did when I was younger. That’s the greatest thing that I could ask to be a part of.”

Hlutke was Wawasee’ first base runner in Wednesday’s game, scored the game’s first run and, of course, made the final out. It was definitely a performance fitting for such a devoted senior. But, it was the play of he entire team that helped Wawasee seal the deal.

A well-executed bunt from Alissa Flores brought Hlutke home to give Wawasee a 1-0 lead n the bottom of the second. That score did not hold for long as Allyson Williams gave her team a 2-1 lead with a two-run double in the third. Madi Wilson knotted things up when she scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the third. 2-2 remained frozen on the board until the bottom of the sixth inning.

Ale Brito, who had been beating herself up for a fielding error earlier, had a huge chance at redemption and the 4’8″ sophomore responded in a big, big way. Brito crushed a two-run double, scoring Flores and Kylee Rosotchak to put her team up 4-2. Just a few pitches later Brito came home on a passed ball to give Wawasee the insurance run it desperately needed.

Starting pitcher Meghan Fretz and and Wawasee held in the top of the seventh despite Concord scoring two runs. Concord left 10 runners in scoring position for the game. Fretz was solid in the circle recording 10 strikeouts.

“You’ve got to learn to forget about things,” said Wawasee head coach Jared Knipper. “Ale got down on herself. She dropped a ball, had a few strikeouts. Some other girls got down on themselves too, we just pull them aside and tell them that we don’t care. You have to forget about things.

“She (Ale) came out and got us the big hit that we needed. She’s been pretty clutch for us in that nine spot and it was good to see her deal with the adversity and for the team to fight through it when things weren’t going their way.”

Th biggest word being thrown around before, during and after the game by the Wawasee staff and players was “fun” and how they were finally getting back to having more of it recently. Starting on Tuesday the Lady Warriors will look to defend their sectional crown and Knipper knows that having fun in the tournament will be a big part of that title defense.

“Coach (Jace) Stewart and I don’t get too high or too low with things,” Knipper said. “We try to stay even keel. That can be hard to do in games like this where you just want to go nuts but we try to maintain composure and stick to business as usual. We don’t try to change things. It’s worked, for the most part, this season and winning conference was definitely one of our goals.”

And what was the biggest key to winning that NLC title in Knipper’s mind?

“We want the girls to be good people above all else, that’s what we preach,” stated Knipper. “Be good teammates, be good students and do the right things outside of school. We want them to work extremely hard and make themselves better every day. Those are the things we preach, we don’t talk about wins and losses. We expect that if you do those things we preach that the wins will come.”

Wawasee (19-5, 12-2) will host Northern State Conference champion and Class 2-A No. 5 Bremen Friday evening at 5:00 p.m.

Wawasee’s junior varsity lost 13-4 to Concord. Nicole Cannon and Kaylee Rhodes both had a pair of hits for Wawasee.