2022 Delaware County softball tournament: Yorktown bests Wapahani 6-1 in championship

GASTON, Ind. — Without the early-morning work of Wes-Del's staff, there might not have been Delaware County softball tournament play on Saturday.

SCAI Class 3A No. 3 Yorktown (12-1) and Wapahani (8-8) met in the championship, a rematch of the 2021 final, after defeating 1A No. 10 Cowan (9-5) and Wes-Del (9-7) in the semifinals, respectively. The Tigers won 6-1, their fourth county title in the last five years (not counting the cancelled 2020 season), but the tournament was nearly postponed due to heavy rains on Thursday and Friday.

After delaying the first semifinal game from a 10 a.m. start to noon, a crew of Warriors workers arrived at the field around 7:30 a.m. to salvage a playable diamond from the puddle-ridden park.

The outfield was soaked and puddles formed at each base, yet a combined effort from head coach Andy Swift, athletic director Kye Denney, assistant coach Chad Love and parent Joe Hirst did the trick. Swift used a spike drag on the field and they absorbed over five gallons of water from the field with a shop vac, as well as other preparations that took about three hours to complete.

The diamond looked normal by game time, and abundant sunshine only helped field conditions as the tournament progressed. There was also the wrinkle that because Wes-Del's prom was on Saturday, the championship would've been moved to Monday had the Warriors won their semifinal game.

Wapahani thwarted that possibility by winning 7-1, followed by a 10-0 victory by Yorktown over Cowan. Here's a recap of each game:

Round 1 of softball tournament: Wes-Del, Yorktown advance to semifinals

Championship: Yorktown 6, Wapahani 1

Yorktown dominated Wapahani 16-2 in last year's final, and it seemed this game would follow the same script after the first two innings when the Tigers led 6-0.

Rather than pitch senior Katie Bray, who has thrown nearly 95% of Wapahani's innings over the last two seasons and looked strong in the semifinals, the Raiders started sophomore Kya VanNote (eight innings pitched in 2022) in the championship.

The Tigers didn't consistently make hard contact against VanNote, yet continuously put pressure on Wapahani's defense in the early innings and took advantage of mistakes. Sophomore Caitlin LaFerney, pitching with a lead, did well to strand Raider runners on base and not surrender any momentum. She finished with just one earned run, five hits and six strikeouts in five innings of work.

COUNTY GOLF: Yorktown boys golf wins 4th straight Delaware County title; Delta medalist wins playoff

Tigers senior Macie Dowd led the early offensive outburst, notching a hit and three RBI's. Bray then relieved VanNote in the second inning and continued her strong day in the circle, holding the formidable Yorktown lineup scoreless for the rest of the contest.

Aside from an RBI-single by Wapahani junior Lauren Luce in the fourth inning, both squads were quiet offensively in the final five innings. The teams combined for just nine hits and four walks, a surprising outcome after both groups looked sharp at the plate in the semifinals.

With Bray keeping the Raiders' deficit at five runs, Yorktown senior Alanah Jones pitched the final two innings to ice the game. She struck out all six batters and concluded her three-game tournament performance with zero runs allowed in eight innings of work.

Yorktown junior Lexy Morris tallied a double, a walk, and two runs scored, and sophomore Ava McNally had one hit and one RBI.

Semifinals: Wapahani 7, Wes-Del 1

Note: Full statistics were not available on MaxPreps at the time of publish.

In a rematch of an earlier season matchup, which Wapahani won 14-9, the Raiders once again topped Wes-Del, this time 7-1.

The game was scoreless for the first two innings and just 1-0 Warriors through the third. Wapahani senior Lala Lee then hit a leadoff triple in the fourth inning, sparking a 4-run frame for the Raiders that Wes-Del would never recover from.

Bray pitched a gem for Wapahani, allowing little hard contact, and the team's defense made less mistakes than Wes-Del's. Warriors senior Kenzie Stark had her team's only RBI while pitching all seven innings in the circle.

Semifinals: Yorktown 10, Cowan 0

In the most anticipated matchup of the tournament, Yorktown's late surge forced a 10-0 run rule victory over Cowan. Jones had a career day, allowing just one hit with eight strikeouts in five innings in the circle while adding two triples, four RBI's and a walk-off home run.

Blackhawks junior Tatum Rickert pitched well, with only two of her 10 runs allowed being earned. Cowan's defense made uncharacteristic mistakes in the first couple innings, finishing with six errors that put the team in a deficit it couldn't recover from.

Yorktown sophomore Ava McNally added two RBI's, and Cowan junior Aryonna Bynum tallied her team's lone hit.

Gus Martin is a sports reporter at The Star Press. Follow him on Twitter @GusMartin_SP, and contact him at gmartin@gannett.com or 765-729-4742.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Results of 2022 Delaware County softball tournament semifinals, finals