SYRACUSE – After a rough Tuesday night for both the Wawasee and Northridge softball programs, the head coaches for both clubs wanted to see how their teams would respond. For Bo O’Dell, his Northridge team looked like the more resilient club as the Raiders walked into Wawasee’s diamond and took a 5-2 win Wednesday evening.

Northridge, no-hit by Rae Ann Miller and Concord Tuesday, didn’t look like a lost team at the plate against Meghan Fretz and Wawasee. Northridge put the leadoff runner on base in each of the first five innings and scored three of them. Sarah Kane knocked in the first two runs for the Lady Raiders, one in the first on a two-out single and another in the fourth on a two-out double.

The Raiders managed two more runners on base in the fourth to create another big two-out hit, this time from Sara Troyer as she mashed a triple into the left-center gap. Ridge was up 4-0 at that point and the air was completely out of the Wawasee balloon.

“It actually helped us,” O’Dell said of getting two games back-to-back. “Last night helped us with tonight. We had more success tonight with what we were trying to accomplish. We were able to lay off more pitches that were high, attack the outside corner and put the ball in play more.”

Wawasee, which lost its first Northern Lakes Conference game of the season Tuesday in disappointing fashion at NorthWood, couldn’t figure out Ridge pitcher Sami Deisler and her array of offspeed pitches. The freshman kept Wawasee off balance just enough that 11 hits only produced a lone two-run single in the sixth by Ale Brito.

The Lady Warriors left eight runners on base, four of which were in scoring position with less than two outs. Northridge left fielder Jordan Yoder also made a great throw to gun down Paige Hlutke at home to end a Wawasee threat in the fifth.

Deisler’s line had 11 hits allowed but no walks and she struck out four while Fretz allowed seven hits, walked three, fanned three and three of the five runs were earned.

“She baffled us the first time we played them,” Knipper said of Deisler. “We couldn’t hit her until we scored four in the sixth on her a couple weeks ago. Same thing tonight, we score two in the sixth. I don’t have an answer for it. We chased a lot of bad pitches. I know the speed is a factor, but once we dialed it in, we hit her. It was too little, too late.”

The win for Northridge puts the Raiders at the top of the Northern Lakes Conference grid at 8-2, tied with Wawasee and Concord, which beat Elkhart Memorial Wednesday to also move to 8-2. With four games to go for each club in the NLC, both coaches are looking at life differently.

“We now control our own destiny because those guys have to play each other still,” O’Dell said. “We just can’t have any hiccups. The second time through is always harder than the first time through. That’s what happened with the teams yesterday. It’s hard to beat a quality team twice.”

Added Knipper, whose club hosts Memorial Thursday and finishes its NLC grid next Wednesday at home against Concord, “We’ve proven we can beat these teams, we did it the first time through. We are really banged up, but that’s not an excuse. This is a nice dose of adversity for these kids. There isn’t a lot of prep with the schedule like it is. Just go out and play ball. There isn’t a lot of adjustments to be made.”

A pair of five-run frames in the second and third innings boosted Wawasee to a 13-9 win in the JV game against Northridge. Brooke Pauwels and Kayleigh Rhodes each had three hits and three RBIs for the Lady Warriors. Grace Beard doubled, tripled and drove in four to lead the Raiders.