BENTON — That looked better.

Following an underwhelming 4-1 win over West Noble in the opening round Monday night, the Wawasee softball team returned to form for a 12-1 win over NorthWood in the semifinals of the IHSAA Class 3-A Softball Sectional 21 at Fairfield.

The two Northern Lakes Conference foes have had an interesting relationship the past two years as NorthWood has been a thorn in Wawasee’s side. The Panthers knocked off Wawasee once last season in a stunner and handed the Warriors their only loss in conference play this season. But, this time, Wawasee was not going to leave things up to chance.

In what some could call a bold strategy, the Panthers started Alexis Klotz, a change-of-pace pitcher, in the circle in an attempt to throw Wawasee off at the plate. Things did not quite go as planned.

Klotz lasted two-thirds of an inning before the ball was given to Taylor Troxel with the bases loaded and a 3-0 deficit. Amber Lemberg was the first batter Troxel had the privilege of facing. The junior got on base with an error in left field, which allowed two more runs to score. Wawasee had its bats working early and took the 5-0 lead into the bottom of the first.

NorthWood was able to get one run back as Summer Stillson scored on an RBI from Troxel. The two teams remained in a stalemate for the next three innings. The tight play for those three innings is more along the lines of what Wawasee skipper Jared Knipper expected from the program that has come to give his team fits in recent meetings.

“In the three years that I’ve been here, they’ve been our biggest challenge,” Knipper said of NorthWood. “Game in and game out, they’ve been tough. It’s nice to get a big win against them, they fight until the end. I never really feel comfortable until that last out happens.

“She (NorthWood coach Mandy DeMien) is going to lose nine kids to graduation and it’s a great group of kids. They have respect for our kids, we respect them. I wish our fans had more respect for them (NorthWood) tonight, those kids deserved a lot more respect than they got. That’s a good program and there’s going to be a lot of tears in that dugout with this loss.”

Meghan Fretz was wielding for the Warriors and pitched the entire game, recording six strikeouts and surrendering just three hits. At the plate Fretz was 1-3 and had a team-high three RBIs.

Wawasee scored its final seven runs collectively in the last three innings, including four in the sixth. Offensively Wawasee was led by Kylee Rosotchak who was 3-5, scored two runs and had an RBI. Madie Wilson and Cristina DeLaFuente also scored a pair of runs for the Warriors while Hannah Haines led all players with three runs scored.

Wawasee (24-5) will move on to play Fairfield (17-6), who defeated Lakeland 10-0 in the evening’s second semifinal, in the sectional title game. The two powerhouse programs have met in sectional play each of the past two years.

Wawasee took a 5-2 semifinal win over the Falcons in 2014 on its way to a sectional title. In 2015 Fairfield started its sectional title trip with a 3-0 semifinal win over the Warriors. Fairfield also defeated Wawasee 9-2 in Syracuse earlier this season.

Wawasee currently sits ranked No. 6 in Class 3-A while Fairfield is No. 9.

“We know our game,” Knipper said when asked about Thursday’s game. “Like you saw tonight, we know if we can get a lead that we can play defense to get us out of situations. We need to score more runs than our opponents, it’s that simple. As long as we don’t mistakes then we should do well. Just find a way to win.”

When asked who will be getting the ball for Wawasee on Thursday night, Amber Lemberg or Meghan Fretz, Knipper didn’t show his hand.

“We have confidence in both of these girls right now,” Knipper stated. “They both stay in the strikezone, they both are pitching very well right now. As long as we don’t make mistakes, we’ll be fine.”

Fairfield and Wawasee will battle for the title Thursday at Falcon Field with first pitch slated for 6 p.m.