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Early homers help Clovers beat Cougars
ROACHDALE--It was a windy night at North Putnam High School for a Tuesday night softball game with the Cougars hosting the Cloverdale Clovers. A game that looked like the Cougars might win fell to the Clovers 10-8.
"The wind here tonight causes anything in the air to go over the fence," Spencer said. "But even the balls that went over tonight were smoked. They might have gone over any night. They were all hit hard."
Four homeruns in all were hit with two going to each team and both of the Cougars' going to senior Morgan Albers.
With two outs in the top of the first inning the Clovers started their damage with Kelsey Helterbrand hitting a double and scoring on two past balls and Kimmy Winders walked and eventually scored on a Kiley Shedron single. Next up to the plate was sophomore Makayla Westell, who hit a two-run homer to give the Clovers a 4-0 lead.
"We just tried to focus on what we were trying to hit," Clovers' coach Jim Spencer said. "We were trying to focus on a hitting zone. We were fortunate enough to hit the ball early. North Putnam just did a great job hitting the ball. They kept coming back and put all those runs on the board. We were lucky enough to put all those runs on the board in the last inning."
The Cougars responded with a run of their own and Albers hit the first of her two homeruns in the third. Winders had hit a homerun in the top half of the third and the Cougars trailed 5-2.
In the fifth and sixth innings the Cougars did their damage. Albers doubled and scored and junior Alexis Sims walked and scored before the Cougars broke out four more in the sixth.
"In the first few innings we were swinging at a lot of high stuff," Cougar coach Benny Ault said. "Then we went back to the basic stuff and started swinging level."
Albers hit a three-run home run driving in Bronwyn Spencer and TyeAnn Strow. Mia Runnells later scored.
"They (North Putnam) kept getting runners on in front of their big hitters," Spencer said. "In the sixth inning when we let some runners get on in front of Morgan Albers, I just felt like she was going to hit another homerun if we gave her something to hit. We got into a full count and had to throw her a fast ball and she got all of it."
Cloverdale had fallen down 8-5 into the top of the seventh. They had one final opportunity to have a good batting series and they prevailed.
Sophomore pitcher Lauren Meek struck out to start the inning, but Helterbrand singled and was drove in by a double from Winders as a result of the next two batters.
Cloverdale recorded a second out in the Shedron at-bat and was still down two, but three straight base hits including two doubles and five straight base runners overall was too much for the Cougars.
Cloverdale had taken a three-run lead away from the Cougars and turned it into a two-run deficit.
"It's just fortunate," Spencer said. "You got to combine preparation with opportunity and sometimes it works out for you and sometimes it don't. We knew what we had at the plate and we knew what we wanted them to do. Sometimes they all rip line drives and sometimes they strike out. It just happened that they all hit line drives."
"Like I've said before, in the first inning and the last inning we had two outs and they (Clovers) scored all of their runs," Ault said. "It's like it's our motto this year. It's a little heart-breaking and frustrating at times. Then they fight back, so that's nice. We're not far from where we need to be."
After a lead-off single by Cougar Sierra Spencer the next three batters all recorded outs. The final batter, Lauren Johnston, flied out to right field to end the game.
The Cougars' next game will be Wednesday at North Montgomery and the Clovers' next game will be Thursday at Edgewood.
At North Putnam
Cloverdale 401 000 5--10
North Putnam 101 024 0--8
WP: Meek (C) LP: Surber (NP)
HR: NP Albers (2), C Winders, C Westell.