Wawasee Sports Wrap – April 25
NorthWood Breaks Through In Softball Upset
It had been a while since NorthWood celebrated a Northern Lakes Conference win against Wawasee. For the senior class at NorthWood, they were in elementary school the last time it happened, until Friday night. Allie Mattingly had two hits and two RBIs to pace the host Lady Panthers to a 3-1 win over Wawasee at Stauffer Park. The win broke a 13-game winning streak held by Wawasee over their neighbors to the west, dating back to April 20, 2007, when NorthWood beat Wawasee 3-2 in 10 innings.
Claire McGuire added an RBI and run scored and Emily Schrock also scored a run for the Lady Panthers, which move to 1-2 in the NLC. Taylor Troxel earned the win, holding a potent Wawasee offense to just four hits and struck out two.
Danielle Gunkel drove in Wawasee’s only run in the seventh, plating Kylee Rostochak who kept her hit streak alive at 31 games with a base hit in the game.
Cristina DeLaFuente had two stolen bases for the Lady Warriors, which fall to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the NLC.
NorthWood scored all three of its runs in the second inning off Gunkel, who lasted just three innings in the circle, giving up the four hits and walking three. Amber Lemberg pitched four innings of perfect relief, striking out seven.
The Wawasee junior varsity crushed NorthWood, 13-0, led at the plate by Kayleigh Rhodes and Nicole Streby and in the circle by Hannah Haines, who struck out 12. Wawasee is 7-0 on the farm.
Wawasee will face 3-A No. 8 Rochester and either South Bend Clay or Whitko in Saturday’s Wawasee Softball Invite.
Panthers Hound Warriors
NorthWood collected just six hits, but made a pair of Wawasee errors and inconsistent pitching hold up in an 11-2 win at Wawasee Friday evening.
The Warriors (3-5, 0-3 NLC) continued to scuffle in conference play, losing its 15th straight game in the grid. Wawasee held a 2-1 lead after scoring both of its runs in the third, but gave up runs in the final four innings, a killer four-spot in the sixth.
Andrew Milligan took the loss, giving up four runs and walking four in the outing.
The Wawasee JV jumped all over NorthWood, scoring nine runs in the first two innings then posting another seven in the fourth to end an 18-5 contest. Harrison Shortill and Lucas Garza both homered for the Warriors, now 5-1 on the season.
The Wawasee varsity will take on Lowell and South Bend Riley Saturday in the truncated Wawasee Invite.
Westview Too Much For Tennis
Katy Ashpole had the only win for Wawasee Friday night in a 4-1 result with visiting Westview in a game made up from earlier in the month.
Ashpole defeated Charlotte Jones in the one singles match 6-4, 6-1, improving on a rally win just a night ago against Manchester.
Wawasee’s one doubles team of Erin Wiktorowski and Aubrey Schmeltz showed progress in a three and four loss to Katelyn Miller and Chanda Strong.
Westview rolled the other three courts, with Miranda Kresse winning one and love against Jada Antonides and Savannah Rang going one and one against Jaclyn Miller in singles play while Tessa Zimmerly and Megan Steider blanked Jazlen Gehlhausen and Natalie Fretz on the two doubles court.
Wawasee won three of the five JV courts, with Chelsea Carolus, Charity Parker and Marte Tverra all taking singles wins.
Northridge is next on the slate for Wawasee (1-4 overall), a home match Tuesday afternoon.