Powered by a fast start, good defense and a battle by its starting pitcher, the Warsaw softball team advanced to today’s sectional final with a 6-4 win over conference rival Northridge Friday night. The host Lady Tigers scored all six of their runs in the first two innings then staved off a late charge by the Lady Raiders. Warsaw dropped two games to Northridge during the regular season without pitcher Kaleigh Speicher appearing in either game. Speicher (12-3) pitched seven innings and struck out just one batter Friday night. But a trust in her defense and her ability to get Northridge to hit grounders helped her cause. “She’s not a strike out pitcher,” said Warsaw head coach Jim Speicher. “It wasn’t her best performance tonight but she gave a really gutsy effort. Speicher has been dealing with shoulder pain but was able to charge through. After giving up a double to Kerri Doutlick to start the bottom of the seventh inning, Speicher gave up a walk to Catarina Gage. Doutlick was thrown out by catcher Kelsey Dotson as she tried to advance on a ball that went into the dirt on a Speicher throw. Carlie Miller then grounded out and Brianne O’Dell fouled out to nix any late-inning heroics Northridge had in mind. “(Northridge) is a good team,” said Jim Speicher. “They’re a good hitting team. We made some mistakes and they made some running errors which helped us. But we also made some plays on defense to help us.” Warsaw jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning on RBI singles from Dotson and Ashley Ousley. Kaitlyn Wiley plated two runs with a single. The Lady Tigers added two more in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly from Kendra Marshall, then another RBI single by Dotson. Kaleigh Speicher battled and held Northridge to one run in the first after loading the bases. A 1-3-2 double play got Warsaw out of trouble in the second inning. The Lady Raiders’ Miller grounded out in the third inning with the bases loaded to keep Northridge from adding to its total. Northridge added two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to draw to within two at 6-4. Friday night’s game was supposed to take place Wednesday. But with the severe weather, the game had to be pushed back two days. In the other semifinal, Goshen moved past Elkhart Memorial 4-0. Coach Speicher said he was worried the delays would hinder his team after they had been hitting the ball well as of late. “We came out really quick to start the game and put up six runs,” he said. “I was worried six wasn’t going to be enough, but it was.” It will be a short turnaround for the Lady Tigers as they will now take on Goshen at noon today. Kaleigh Speicher led the Lady Tigers with three hits including a double. Dotson finished with two hits and two RBI. Alex Sanchez, Kayla Snider and Paige Wood also had hits for Warsaw. Snider saved a potential outburst from Northridge in the third inning when she did the splits to pull a ball out of the dirt on a double play ball hit Northridge’s Madison Schrock. Jim Speicher said that while his starting pitcher, who is also his daughter, has been having some shoulder pain, that if she says she’s ready to go today she’ll pitch.
