Pilgrims Use Big Inning For Win

Plymouth an 8-0 lead through three innings to breeze past Wawasee, 9-2, Friday evening in Syracuse in varsity baseball.

The Pilgrims jumped out front early, scoring six runs in the second inning and adding a pair in the third to overwhelm starting pitcher Sam Rookstool and Wawasee. Rookstool wasn’t helped in the field, as four of the eight runs were unearned, part of a trio of Wawasee errors.

Drew Wright was the offensive star for Wawasee, going 2-for-2 with a double and RBI. Wright also drew a walk. Nate Prescott added a double and RBI for the Warriors.

Wawasee falls to 7-12 overall. Friday’s contest was the fourth consecutive game in four days for the Warriors in the Northern Lakes Conference, and all four contests came up ‘L’s dropping Wawasee to 2-10 in conference play.

Plymouth and Wawasee got into a scoring contest in the JV game, with Plymouth coming out ahead, 13-10, Friday. Jarius Boyer had three hits and a run while Jacob Garcia, Rhett Coblentz, Gavin Bontrager and Rylan Kuhn each had two hits for Wawasee. The five Warriors combined to score seven of Wawasee’s runs. The Warriors are 5-10 overall.

Wawasee will visit Ligonier for a date with West Noble Saturday.

Softball Jumps All Over Plymouth

Danielle Gunkel pitched her finest game as a starter, allowing just three Plymouth hits in her first career shutout, 13-0, Friday in Blueberry Festival country.

Gunkel, who is still mending from a shoulder injury, walked none and struck out two. The junior helped her own cause with a hit, RBI and two runs scored on offense.

Wawasee hammered out 12 hits and all nine starters had at least a hit or run scored. Paige Hlutke had a triple and scored twice, Allissa Flores had two hits and two RBIs, and Kylee Rostochak scored three runs.

The win pushes Wawasee to 17-5 overall and 10-2 in the NLC, maintaining a first-place tie with Northridge and Concord, both winners Friday in conference action.

Megan Bray ripped a triple and Lexi Young had a key single as Wawasee got past Plymouth in the JV game, 7-3. The Lady Warriors improve its junior record to 9-8 this season with the win.

After four straight NLC games in four days, Wawasee will take the weekend off before visiting Goshen Monday.