In a highly anticipated and long awaited rematch of last year's quarterfinal game when Warsaw lost to Fair Grove, 6-1, the two met again on Saturday in the championship of the Buffalo Softball Invitational where the Ladycats flipped the script and toppled the Lady Eagles with a lopsided 12-0 shutout to take first place for the second consecutive year.
Warsaw (10-1) opened the scoring in the top of the second inning thanks to a leadoff double by Bri Fellers and back-to-back singles by Jaylen McCullick and Sara Miller to put Warsaw up, 2-0.
That score remained until the top of the fifth when the Ladycats went on a 2-out rally, led off with a single by Brylee Brewster. Three more singles off the bats of Fellers, McCullick and Miller drove in 3 runs to make it 5-0.
Like she did the entire game, Brewster held the Lady Eagles (7-5) at bay in the bottom of the inning and Warsaw tacked on 1 more run in the top of the sixth to make it 6-0.
The Ladycats put the game out of reach in the top of the seventh when they scored 6 runs on 7 hits. A double by Miller led off the inning and she advanced to 3rd on an errant throw. Autum Walton grounded out but scored Miller. Mady Reimund followed with a single of her own and came around to score on a double by Haylee Cobb. Singles from Adison Sherrill, Tanna Howe, Brewster and Fellers all led to runs to give the Ladycats the 12-0 final.
Sherrill, Brewster, Fellers and Miller all had 3 hits for Warsaw while 2 apiece were added by Howe and McCullick.
Brewster threw the 7 inning complete game for the win. She gave up 0 runs on 5 hits and struck out 9 for the Ladycats.
Coming into the weekend, Warsaw held down the #3 spot in the Class 2 poll while Fair Grove, at 5-4 (then) was ranked #9.
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The Ladycats trip to the championship game was hard-earned when they had to come from behind to beat Buffalo, 3-2 in their semifinal.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth frame, and with 2 outs, Warsaw's Adison Sherrill reached first base when she was hit by a pitch, bringing Tanna Howe to the plate. Working a 2-0 count, Howe's next pitch was a called strike on a questionable check swing. With the count at 2-1, Howe saw the next pitch and blasted it over the centerfield fence for a 2-run homerun to erupt the Warsaw dugout and put the Ladycats in front, 3-2.
Brylee Brewster took the reigns from there in the top of the sixth. She issued a leadoff walk but got a strikeout for out number one, induced a groundout for out number two and got an easy popout for out number three to seal the win.
Howe paced the Warsaw offense with 2 hits in 3 at-bats. She also drove in all 3 runs for the Ladycats (9-1). Haylee Cobb, Sherrill, Brewster and Bri Fellers all had hits for the Ladycats as well.
Brewster notched the win in the circle. She went 6 innings and surrendered 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 10.
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In their first game of the day, Haylee Cobb drove in 4 runs on 4 hits to lead Warsaw past the Spokane Lady Owls in a 19-0 shellacking.
Warsaw got 3 runs in the bottom of the first when Cobb led off the bottom of the inning with a single. With 1 out, Tanna Howe singled to score Cobb. Elizabeth Winters drew a walk in her at-bat and a Carly Price scored them both.
The Ladycats (8-1) big inning came in the second when they plated 16 runs. Cobb, Howe, Jaylen McCullick, Sara Miller, Winters, Price, Autum Walton and Grace Drake all had RBI's. Cobb had 3 singles and McCullick had 2 in the inning while Howe's 1 hit in the inning was a 2-run homerun that cleared the leftfield fence easily.
Bri Fellers picked up the win in the circle by hurling 3 innings of no-hit softball while fanning 6 Spokane batters.
