The bats are heating up at the right time for Saint Joseph softball

SOUTH BEND — An Achilles Heel for Saint Joseph softball this season has been offensive consistency, especially against good teams. A relatively young Huskies team has struggled in its bigger games at the plate, costing them in some instances.

Maybe this past week was a turning point for them, though.

Saint Joe (22-5) capped off an impressive sectional run by beating Mishawaka, 8-0, in the Class 4A, Sectional 3 championship tilt Friday night. The Huskies finished with 30 total runs in three games at Potawatomi Park, beating Plymouth, 13-6, in the quarterfinals Tuesday and Adams, 9-0, in Wednesday’s semifinal contest.

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“It’s just a great situation because it lets us know that we can do it,” Saint Joseph coach Earl Keith said about his team’s offensive performance across the sectional. “We played like that at the beginning of the year, and I’d say four out of 10 games there in the middle, we did nothing. Those were the games we lost, so it kind of goes hand-in-hand. Even when you have great pitching, you still have to score a couple of runs.”

It does also help having an elite pitcher like junior Berkley Zache, who can get out of seemingly any jam she’s in.

The game was still in doubt in the bottom of the third with the Huskies only ahead, 3-0. Mishawaka’s bottom three hitters found a way to get on base to start the frame, with a bunt single from Cassandra Connell loading them up with no outs.

Facing the stiffest part of the Cavemen lineup, Zache locked in, striking out the next two hitters she faced before getting Karmen Frazier to pop out to end the threat.

On the first pitch of the fourth inning, Saint Joe freshman Payton Wulf smacked a solo home run over the left-centerfield fence, completely seizing all the momentum for her team.

“That was huge,” Keith said. “We talked about right after they didn’t score with the bases loaded and nobody out that this could be a momentum killer for them if we jump out here and score a couple of runs.”

Mishawaka coach Keith Miller knew how important that swing was from potentially tying the game to down 4-0.

“When you’ve got the bases loaded there, you have to scratch something across, and we just didn’t,” Miller said.

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Wulf finished with three RBI, as a sacrifice fly in the first inning and a single in the fifth scored Riley Zache both times.

“That’s why she’s hitting behind Berkley now, to give a little bit of protection to her and Riley,” said Keith of Wulf’s spot in the batting order. “It’s worked out really well.”

Bitter ending for Mishawaka

It was a tough pill to swallow for the Cavemen, who entered the game on a 21-game winning streak. After starting the season 3-4, they finished with a 24-5 mark. They won the Northern Lakes Conference by four games, hardly breaking a sweat in those contests as well.

“This team was very close,” Miller said. “Six seniors that kind of were their own type of leaders. It wasn’t about the rah-rah, it was lead by example — come in, go to work, put in the time. When the chips were down, a lot of times we would lean on them for stepping up in a big position. … Great group of kids. Couldn’t be any prouder of them.”

Up next for Saint Joseph: a familiar foe

Saint Joseph’s win, coupled with Penn’s 12-1 victory over Elkhart in the Sectional 4 final Friday, sets up a mega showdown between the two in the one-game regional final Tuesday night at Penn. The Kingsmen won the regular season contest, 8-2, but the Huskies didn’t pitch Berkley Zache on purpose, trying to limit the number of times the Penn batters would see her in-person.

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The two teams faced off in the regional last year, with Penn beating the Zache-led Huskies, 3-0. The Kingsmen went onto win the Class 4A title two weekends later. It should be a capacity crowd on hand Tuesday for the rematch.

“We just wanted to give ourselves the best chance because last year, we threw (Berkley) against them twice and they got her the second time,” Keith said. “I thought, ‘Well, maybe I ought to try and get smarter here and do something different.’ That was totally a coaching decision, and now, we’ll see what happens.”

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Saint Joseph softball claims sectional crown with win over Mishawaka