Published: May 19, 2009 09:54 am      

Goshen socks Wawasee

After a sputtering start, Goshen High School’s softball ladies kicked it into high gear Monday.

Down 2-0 early, the Lady Redskins stormed back for a 10-2 Northern Lakes Conference victory over Wawasee at the Goshen College diamond.

Goshen is now 16-8 overall and 8-4 in the NLC. They visit Concord today and host NorthWood at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to close out the league portion of their schedule.

Sophomore Cassi Cook was 4-for-4 to lead the Lady Redskins offensively while sophomore right-hander Natalie Newell had another sterling pitching effort after a shaky beginning.

Wawasee took a 2-0 lead just three batters into the game as senor Taylor Goshert singled and took second on a wild pitch. Freshman Gabi Routson reached on an error and the Warriors executed a double steal with Goshert scoring.

Sophomore Jonna Wiggs followed with a double to right center, scoring Routson.

Newell shut out Wawasee the rest of the way, finishing with 16 strikeouts and two walks. The Lady Warriors had six hits, two by Wiggs.

“We just had to get ready to play mentally,” said GHS coach Scott Hutcherson. “It seems like we play our NLC rivals more aggressively.

“Natalie Newell pitched another good game and we were hitting the ball up and down the batting order. It seems like when one player starts hitting, everyone gets on the same wave length.

“We executed a couple bunts and have been doing a much better job in that area of our game. And defensively, except for the early error, we played a nice game.

“We continue trying to perfect things with sectional time only a week away. Tournament games will come down to execution.”

Goshen tied Monday’s game in the second inning with Cook slapping a single to left and sophomore Madison Hussey drawing a walk.

Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by senior Kirstie Medford. Cook scored on a wild pitch and Hussey on a sacrifice fly to center by junior Jennifer Finney.

The Redskins broke it open with four-run surges in both the fifth and sixth frames.

Senior Emily Kerns had a run-scoring double in the fifth, Cook an RBI infield hit, Newell a sacrifice fly and Hussey an RBI grounder.

Two runs scored on a Wawasee error in the sixth and Cook finished the scoring with a two-run single to right.

The game was moved from Shanklin Park where water was still standing in the girls’ diamond outfield.

Junior Varsity

Goshen rolled to a 13-0 victory at Shanklin Park with Andria Brown pitching the shutout, striking out five.

Heather Gladfelter had three singles and three RBI, Yesenia Montanez a single, triple and three RBI; Brown two singles; Erika Shaffer a single and two RBI.