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Young Cougars can't overcome slow start vs Chargers
LINDEN — The youth of the North Putnam baseball team had no answers for the experience of the North Montgomery Chargers on Tuesday as the Cougars fell to the Charges 12-1 in Linden.
After securing a 14-7 season-opening win over the weekend against North Vermillion, the Cougars fell behind from the opening pitch as the first seven Charger hitters reached base with six of them connecting for base hits. After the first inning the Cougars found themselves down 6-0 and were just unable to recover.
Despite the loss Cougar coach Chris Geeser took the time to use the game as a learning experience for his young team.
“I keep telling this team early on that we’re extremely young,” Geeser said. “We lost seven seniors last year and six of those guys were everyday starters for us. North Montgomery has always been a solid program and was a lot different than North Vermilion who we played last Saturday. I don’t think we played really poorly, they (North Montgomery) just were able to hit the ball really well. We could’ve bowed our heads but competed until the very end and that’s what I was proud of.”
Junior Jayden Windmiller got the nod on the mound and in three innings surrendered 11 hits and gave up nine runs, seven of which were earned. He struck out four Charger hitters while walking one.
At the plate the Cougars struggled as well, tallying just two hits in the game. Brogan Woodall laced an RBI double in the top of third for the lone Cougar run which scored Kaden Helderman. Windmiller picked up the other hit for the Cougars (1-1).
The youth also showed in the field as the Cougars committed three errors in the loss.
The Cougars will have little time to think about the loss as they have a busy week ahead. They’ll come back to Montgomery County on Thursday for game against Southmont (2-0) before hosting Monrovia on Friday and then taking on Covington in a double-header on Saturday.
“We have to get ready to play a sectional opponent in Southmont on Thursday so it’s a quick turnaround,” Geeser said of the schedule. “I told the kids that let’s just make this our only loss of the week. We’ll make the adjustments necessary and have a better game next time out.”
North Putnam 001 00 — 1 2 3
North Montgomery 621 3X — 12 12 1
Hits: NP (Woodall, Windmiller); NM (Kirsch 2, Cole 2, Walters 2, Braun 2, Hopkins 2, Dyson, Meadows)
2B: NP (Woodall); NM (Braun)
Runs: NP (Helderman); NM (Edwards 2, Kirsch 2, Walters 2, Hopkins 2, Dyson, Braun, Hardy, Laffoon)
RBI: NP (Woodall); NM (Dyson 2, Braun 2, Meadows 2, Kirsch, Hopkins)
Pitching: NP (Windmiller LP 3IP 10H 9R 7ER 1BB 4K, Helderman 1IP 1H 3R 0ER 1BB 1K); NM (Cole WP 4IP 2H 1R 0ER 6K 2BB, Dyson 1IP OH OR OBB 1K)