EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Wabash Valley softball team earned a split in two games played Friday here at the Midwest Juco Bash.
The Lady Warriors outslugged North Iowa Area, 13-10, in the opener before dropping a 9-0 decision to Three Rivers, Missouri.
Jade Montgomery's team plays two more times at Deaconess Sports Park on Saturday, both games against nationally ranked NJCAA Division II opponents: No. 14 Danville Area (7-5) at 12-noon, followed by third-ranked Des Moines Area, Iowa (9-2) at 2 p.m.
Here is a recap of Friday's action:
Wabash Valley 13, North Iowa Area 10
"Some wins aren't the prettiest wins, but the big thing is we kept fighting," said Montgomery after the high-scoring victory over a team ranked 15th in Division II.
"The key was being scrappy and being able to move runners, which we did a really good job of. When we got somebody on, we found a way of scoring them."
In the end, it was 2 1/3 innings of shutdown relief pitching by sophomore Kyrsten White that made the difference. She came on in relief of starting pitcher Demi Wolfe in the fifth inning after North Iowa Area (12-2) had scored six runs to close to within one, 11-10. White blanked the Trojans the rest of the way.
The Lady Warriors "found a way to stop the bleeding," Montgomery said. "Sometimes that is hard to do."
WVC then added single runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to cushion its' lead. Abby Schreiner grounded to short, scoring Kinsly Heichelbech to make it 12-10 in the fifth. An RBI base hit in the sixth by Emma Robinson that scored Kinley Edwards accounted for the final of 13-10.
North Iowa Area scored three runs in the top of the first, but the Lady Warriors matched them in the home half, on an RBI hit by Gracee Sullivan, and two sacrifice flies, from Abbi Mocaby and Jayley Akers.
Wabash Valley (4-11) scored again in the second inning to go ahead for good in the game, 4-3, on an RBI single off the bat of Kamille Johnson.
The big explosion came in the third inning, when the Lady Warriors plated six runs to extend the lead to 10-3. Sullivan and Mocaby both scored on wild pitches to get it started. Then came a one-run single by Taylor Wilke, a hard ground ball by Heichelbech that scored two on an error, and another passed ball that allowed Johnson to score.
In the fourth, North Iowa Area scored once to cut the deficit to 10-4, but WVC countered with an RBI single by Marisa Lane to make it 11-4.
Sullivan had a 3-for-4 day at the plate to lead the 13-hit Warrior attack. Mocaby, Lane, and Johnson each had two hits.
Three Rivers 9, Wabash Valley 0
The Lady Warriors were held to only three hits in the five-inning nitecap. Three Rivers (10-5) scored three runs in the first, one in the third, and five more in the fifth inning.
Sullivan, Lane, and Edwards collected the hits.
Montgomery felt her team "was still holding on to that Game One win and we cannot do that. It was a great team win and great team effort, but when that first game is over, it is over, and we have to get ready to play again."