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Eagles cruise to second straight over Cloverdale
Class 2A No. 1 South Putnam's defense of its back-to-back softball titles got off to about as good a start as anyone in red and blue could have hoped for.
The Eagles moved to 2-0 on the season Tuesday night after defeating county rivals Cloverdale 15-0 in five innings of play.
Senior Kelsey Whitaker hit a home run in the bottom of the first, her second in as many games, to give the Eagles an early lead.
Runs piled up quickly in the second as the hosts put up 11 runs in the frame.
Ashlee Gibson and Jenna Jones drove in three runs, Kenzie Trisler and Brooke Cundiff knocked in a pair apiece and freshman Katie Hewitt singled in another run as South Putnam tallied 11 hits to match its run output.
Senior Mattie Varvel sacrificed in a run in the bottom of the third while Gibson knocked in her fourth run of the game with a single later in the inning and Hewitt rounded off the scoring an inning later with a single.
Cloverdale's offense, which scored four times on Monday, only mustered three hits off Varvel, who gave up five walks and struck out five in five innings.
South Putnam head coach Chris Jones said that even he was surprised by the offensive firepower the squad had shown in the opening two days.
"We're hitting the ball hard and putting the ball in play," Jones said. "We're putting pressure on the defense and we're having good at-bats early.
"Defensively, we struggled to settle down in the first game getting accustomed to some different things. Tonight, we made some really big plays that prevented them from scoring.
"Janet Crafton made a nice play to throw a runner out at home," Jones noted. "Jenna Jones picked up a key double play and Brooke Cundiff made a great leaping grab to end the game.
"We'd like to be able to keep the offense going, but as long as we're hitting the ball and playing solid and sharp defense, good things will continue to happen."
Cloverdale head coach Brian Knapp said that while playing the defending state champs was a tall task, seeing a squad of that caliber would be good for the squad.
"I hope they picked up on a lot of things because South Putnam is a very well disciplined team," Knapp said. "Coach Chris (Jones) has had a solid team for several years and has another one again this year.
"We're struggling with pitching right now. It's a weak spot on the team but we didn't bring along bats to try and make up for it today.
"We've got a lot to do. We have not had a lot of field time and have not practiced for a week and a half, so practice will be critical the next couple of days," Knapp said.
Knapp added that while the defense was better Tuesday, there was still plenty of work to be done ahead of games against Clay City Friday and Owen Valley Saturday.
"We did cut down on errors tonight," Knapp said. "We had nine last night but only five today. That's a definitely a plus from these games.
"The bats did not come alive tonight after we had some success early last night. We had a chance to score but a runner I sent got thrown out at home. That's the way we want to play, though.
"We want the defense to get better but we need time on the diamond," Knapp said. "We've been on the field at home three times, including last night's game.
"We've had little time to practice and have already shuffled around players to make up for illnesses in the squad. We're a young squad but they'll come along and get better as the season goes."
South Putnam will jump right into the fire Friday night when they compete in the Braves Bash Tournament in Terre Haute, squaring off first against Class 4A No. 7 Roncalli.
With a second game against Terre Haute South the following morning and more to play that day, Jones said the squad had to be sharp heading into the weekend.
"This is a big week for us going into the tournament in Terre Haute," Jones said. "We're going to have to get better at fine-tuning some base running and defensive cut offs.
"We haven't had a lot of situation hitting like bunting because of our bats early this season but we'll need to show that and perform it in upcoming games.
"Everybody is working on sacrificing for the team, making the plays on defense and continuing to put pressure on the opponents."
At South Putnam
Cloverdale 000 00 -- 0 3 5
South Putnam1(11)2 1X -- 15 17 1
WP -- Varvel (1-0)
HR -- Whitaker (2)