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Clovers kick off sectional softball play today
Action begins today in Indiana high school softball sectionals around the state.
Among Putnam County teams, Greencastle will not begin play until Tuesday in the Class 3A Indian Creek sectional.
The remaining county teams will all be playing in the Class 2A sectional at South Vermillion, with Cloverdale opening the tourney today.
Cloverdale
The good news is that the Clovers are 11-6-1, and coach Jim Spencer says they are playing their best softball of the year right now.
The bad news is that the Clovers drew the pre-tournament favorite in Western Indiana Conference champion Cascade.
"We drew the best team and best pitcher [Alisa Burch] in our sectional," Spencer said. "They defeated us [8-2] during the season and we were never in the game. Cascade took advantage of every situation at the plate and on the bases and forced us into a very poor performance.
"Hopefully, we have improved enough since the first game to give ourselves a chance to win," he added. "We are good enough to win, we just can't let Cascade dictate every play throughout the game."
Burch has a 7-2 pitching record with a 2.09 ERA. She has struck out 66 batters in 67 innings.
Like many teams, Spencer thought the Clovers were limited in their ability to improve by the numerous rainouts and rescheduled games, which also limited outdoor practice time.
"We really struggled with progressing," he said. "We were only able to play 18 games and we could not get any consistency at the plate or in the field. We really did not see much improvement until the last two weeks."
Lauren Meek has an 11-6 pitching record, with 63 strikeouts and a 4.89 ERA.
At the plate, Cincinnati Christian signee Kim Winders leads the Clovers with a .477 average. She has 31 hits, 26 RBI and has hit three home runs.
Other top hitters for the Clovers are Kelsey Helterbrand (.465 avg., 33 hits, 18 RBI), Lauren Meek (.431 avg.,22 hits), Tori Combs (.405 average) and Kiley Shedron (.377 average).
South Putnam
The Eagles have used a strong hitting attack to take a 12-11-1 record into the sectional.
"Our girls have really bought in to our team motto this season "All in, All the Time," coach Jamie Steffy said. "We have gotten better every day both with our individual and team skills, but more importantly the girls have really enjoyed playing softball again at South Putnam."
Steffy noted his team has utilized far more than the nine players in the starting lineup to pull out victories this season, and has been carried by its strong offense.
"We have scored over 200 runs this season, and we feel that with our offense we are never out of any game," he said. "From the leadoff batter, to the number nine batter or any girl we bring off the bench, these girls can hit the ball. We have really stressed all season about putting the ball in play some way. If you can do that it puts pressure on the defense and forces them to make plays consistently."
Steffy took over the head coaching position just three days before practice started, and is pleased with the response he has gotten from his players.
"I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to be able to coach and to buy in to the aggressive style of play that we want to play," he said. "These girls are an awesome group to be around and coach."
Steffy feels his team is ready to show in the sectional the improvements that have been made this year.
"We have talked all season about getting better every day and playing our best softball come sectional time," he said. "North Putnam is a very good team, and the first time we played them it was a close game that we had to come from behind to win. We know that they will play very hard and are a tough team to prepare for.
"We have a good game plan going and now it's about executing it."
North Putnam
The Cougars lost starting pitcher Reilly Tucker to injury a couple of weeks ago.
They played South Putnam a tough game on April 25, losing 4-3. South Putnam led 2-0 after four innings before the Cougars scored three times in the top of the fifth to take a one-run lead.
South Putnam came back to win with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Greencastle
The Tiger Cubs closed out the regular season by defeating North Putnam 10-4 and losing 6-4 to South Putnam.
They did not play Indian Creek in the regular season.
Softball sectionals
Class 2A
South Vermillion sectional
Today
Cascade (15-4) vs. Cloverdale (11-6-1), 5 p.m.
Tuesday
North Putnam (5-14) vs. South Putnam (12-11-1), 5 p.m.
Southmont (16-8) vs. Monrovia (8-10-1), 7 p.m.
Wednesday
South Vermillion (12-5) vs. Cascade-Cloverdale winner, 5 p.m.
North Putnam-South Putnam winner vs. Southmont-Monrovia winner, 7 p.m.
May 26
Wednesday winners in championship, 7 p.m.
Class 3A
Indian Creek sectional
Today
Indianapolis Northwest vs. Indianapolis Washington, 5:30 p.m.
Beech Grove (7-12) vs. Danville (17-7), 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Monday's winners meet in semifinals, 5:30 p.m.
Greencastle (4-11) vs. Indian Creek (9-13), 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Tuesday's winners in championship, 6 p.m.