Lakeland Softball Sectional: Warriors, Chargers Advance
LAGRANGE – Revisionist historians got their wish Monday night. With wins by Wawasee and West Noble in the first round of the Lakeland Softball Sectional, past and present will collide in the semi-finals.
Wawasee 5, Lakeland 2
Wawasee cruised along for five innings in the opening game of the sectional, only to find the ending a little bumpy. The proverbial favorites of the sectional, Class 3-A No. 4 Wawasee grabbed an early lead and rode it to victory over a pesky Lakeland side.
Meghan Fretz ripped a two-run homer in the first inning, and Beth Flannery hit her first career home run in the fourth, putting Wawasee up 4-0. Kayla White added an RBI single in the third, and after Flannery doubled off the wall in the sixth, a Lakeland error allowed the fifth run to come around.
Fretz was also motoring around the strike zone, striking out nine through five innings until Lakeland finally struck in the sixth. A bang-bang play at first off the bat of Kylee Palmer was ruled safe, the first hit Fretz gave up in the game. Fretz would run into trouble, loading the bases before giving way to Amber Lemberg, who gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Elise Edwards and Christa Parham. Lemberg would limit the damage, getting Jennifer West to line out to Fretz at first, ending Lakeland’s only real threat.
“These two (Fretz and Lemberg) are the workhorses,” said Wawasee head coach Mike Barger. “I don’t like to bring Lemberg in from first base because I don’t feel that she is completely ready. But she comes out in the seventh and she looks more crisp.”
Ale Brito was one of Wawasee’s heroes at the top of the lineup, going 4-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored.
Lakeland wraps up its season 7-18.
West Noble 9, NorthWood 4
At one point of the game, a NorthWood assistant coach urged his team to ‘forget about what we did to them in the regular season.’ A 9-3 NorthWood win over West Noble in April mattered very little as the Chargers pulled off the mild upset in the nightcap.
NorthWood got the hit it needed in the fifth, an RBI single from Gracie Clark to tie the game at 4-4. West Noble, however, strung together two answers, the final a stinging blow that sent the Chargers to the semi-finals. An error set up West Noble’s go ahead run, brought in on a suicide squeeze executed by Ashley Strombeck. Makenna Taylor added another run on an RBI single.
Kaylie Warble put the game out of reach in the sixth with a three-run homer to left field. Warble and Strombeck each had three RBIs and Olivia Reidenbach added a pair of runs driven in.
“We haven’t responded well when we are down, haven’t all season,” said NorthWood head coach Mandy DeMien. “We play much better when we score first, and then not getting that, set us back. We did fight back, but then West Noble got a couple runs back and we were in trouble again.”
Of note for the Panthers was the conclusion of the stellar career of second baseman Summer Stillson, who leaves as the most decorated Panther softball player ever, holding 17 season and career records but was just 0-2 with two walks as West Noble managed to keep the table setter off the scoreboard.
“I’ve known Summer a long time, she used to come to Bethel camps when I was a player there,” said DeMien. “Being able to coach her the last four years has been tremendous. She knows the game better than anyone on our team. It’s going to be a huge loss for us, she started for me for four years. Those will be tough shoes to fill.”
NorthWood concludes its season 11-15.
Tuesday’s semi-finals are now set, with Wawasee (22-3) and West Noble (5-15) matched up in game one in a pairing that has Barger facing his old club. Wawasee knocked West Noble out of the tournament in Barger’s final game with the Chargers last year. Game two has defending sectional champion Fairfield (9-10) facing Tippecanoe Valley (10-14). The championship game is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, weather permitting during the week.
“We’re going to come in, shake the rust off and get back on that field like we are supposed to and get after them again,” Barger said. “I won’t lose sleep. I know (West Noble) too well. I’ll sit down, grab my big 44 ounce pop and go through the books and go to sleep about 11:30, because that’s what I do.”