And then there was one

Saturday, May 29, 2010

After bowing out of the sectional to the Cascade Cadets last season, South Putnam attacked the 2010 season with a singular goal in mind -- reach the finals. And tonight, the Eagles will be playing for exactly that.

South Putnam has earned their trip to the finals after defeating the host Tri-West Bruins 11-2 in the first round and North Putnam 5-0 in the semifinal. They will face the team that knocked them out last season -- Cascade. A team who has allowed only three runs entering the finals.

Starting pitcher Brooke Boetjer has been on first. In her two games, she's recorded 17 strikeouts, two walks and just three hits. She's done almost as much damage at the plate, collecting two doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBIs.

As a team, South Putnam committed three errors in its opener against Tri-West, but rebounded and went error free in Thursday's contest against North Putnam.

They have also put up the most runs in the Tri-West sectional with 16, followed closely by their opponent with 13.

Following the game on Thursday, head coach Chris Jones made it clear the team was focusing one game at a time. No looking forward and no looking back.

Speaking of focus, Jones said it's something the team has worked on all season and something the team is getting a good grasp on heading into the sectional final.

"You can't be intense all the time -- it's impossible," Jones said Thursday. "And they've learned, and we've talked about it a lot, you focus when it's time to focus and you can relax and have fun when it's not."

South Putnam will face Cascade in tonight's Class 2A Tri-West Softball Sectional at 7 p.m. Saturday is calling for a high of 86 and partly sunny.