Cougars clinch lone WCC championship

North Putnam junior Beau Green pitches in a home game earlier this season. Green picked up the win on Friday against Monrovia to help the Cougars secure sole possession of the West Central Conference championship. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam put in some extra work Friday night and it paid off with the West Central Conference high school baseball championship.

The Cougars worked on the diamond for an hour after the latest spring shower, then jumped on visiting Monrovia for eight runs in the first two inning en route to an 11-1 in a six-inning, 10-run rule victory.

North Putnam stands 15-3 overall and a clinching 9-1 WCC record going into the Putnam County Tournament at Greencastle High School on Saturday. North plays Greencastle in the second game.

"It's a big thing, not only as a senior, but for this whole team to win the conference. It was one of our team goals all year long and it's great to win it outright," North Putnam senior Jake Haste said.

The Cougars had everything working. Winning pitcher Beau Green held the Cougars to just three hits with the support of a solid defense. Green struck out only two batters and walked three, but the Cougars played error-free defense behind him.

"I thought (the Cougars) played well defensively. Beau pitched well," North Putnam coach Phil Webster said.

Offensively, North pounded out nine hits, led by Haste, who was 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run and four RBI. Senior Michael Herrmann went 2-for-3 at bat. Brody Perrine and Kaleb Belcher each had one hit.

"This is a good baseball team and it needs to be respected for how well they play the game," Webster said.

The Cougars, who lost a 5-3 game in extra innings at Monrovia early this week, wasted no time in taking the lead. NPHS scored four runs in the first inning on four hits by Herrmann, Kyler Badten, Haste and Belcher, while the Bulldogs helped with three errors and two balks by the pitcher.

NPHS made it 8-0 with four more runs in the second inning. Green received a walk to lead off the inning, moved to second on a passed ball and to third on a single by Perrine. With one out, Badten singled to score Green and Haste stepped to the plate with two runners on base.

Haste drove his third home run of the season over the right-center field fence, to make it 8-0.

"I guess I got lucky with a jet-stream hit on one of them, but I just saw the ball well tonight," Haste said.

The Cougars added two runs in the fourth without a hit. Perrine, Herrmann and Badten received consecutive walks. Perrine scored on a wild pitch. Herrmann was picked off first base and Badten scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Kyler Jeter.

Singles by Herrmann and Haste in the sixth inning wrapped up the mercy rule win.

The Cougars have the county tournament on Saturday, then a non-conference schedule leading into the sectional.

At North Putnam
Monrovia..........................001 000 -- 1 3 3 4
North Putnam...................440 021 -- 11 9 0 7