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North Putnam softball wins close one at home
ROACHDALE -- The highs and lows of softball were on full display Wednesday night at North Putnam High School when the Cougar softball squad hosted North Montgomery.
An early four run lead for the hosts vanished as the Chargers took the lead in the fifth and held an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, only for the Cougars to score three runs in the half inning and hold on to win the game 9-8.
North Putnam head coach Benny Ault commended the players for taking the chances they were given.
"We moved some girls around tonight just to see what we had as it was a non-conference game," Ault said. "I wanted to get some girls some rest and other girls some experience.
"We had some girls in the lineup hitting that usually don't hit and gave them an opportunity tonight."
North Putnam moved Reilly Tucker to the pitching circle for Wednesday's game and backed the sophomore with a strong early offensive push.
The Cougars profited from six hits in the second inning to plate four runs. TyeAnn Strow started the rally with a single and was driven in on Jazzmin Laffin's triple.
A single by Claire Sims was followed by a strikeout, a double by Sabrina Surber and back-to-back singles by Bailey Ault and Sierra Spencer that gave the hosts a 4-0 lead.
North Montgomery responded with two runs in the top of the third before North Putnam added a Kayla Fish run in the bottom of the inning to hold a 5-2 lead.
The early runs dried up, however, something that Ault attributed to wanting more than base hits.
"We were hitting the ball solidly," Ault said. "When we had a big lead, a lot of our girls wanted to start hitting home runs and they started hitting pop-ups.
"We need them to stop worrying about the home runs and just get base hits."
The Chargers cut the lead down to one with two more runs in the fourth and added three more in the fifth, forcing Surber to come to the mound to end the inning.
Ault said that North Montgomery finally got to Tucker but said the Cougar pitcher recovered well late in the game.
"They started timing (Reilly) a little bit," Ault said. "She's a work in progress as a sophomore. North Montgomery got some timely hits and our defense was not expecting them.
"Reilly doesn't have as many pitches as other pitchers and she'll learn how to keep hitters off balance. They just eventually timed her up and got hits."
Morgan Albers pulled a run back in the bottom of the inning with a double that scored Laffin and trimmed the lead to 7-6.
Tucker came back in but loaded the bases without recording an out. North Putnam's defense stiffened and only gave up one run on a groundout to keep the score close at 8-6.
Ault walked to start the inning before Spencer singled and Madi Asbell doubled home the pair to tie the game and later scored to put the Cougars up for good at 9-8.
Tucker then doled out the only 1-2-3 inning of the game to seal the hosts' sixth win of the season and her first varsity pitching victory.
While the game itself was up and down, Ault said the squad kept playing and made plays at big moments, something the head coach wanted to see continue when the Cougars travel to Crawfordsville Friday.
"It's nice when you have this much talent and you want to be as fair as you can with everyone to give all the girls an opportunity," Ault said. "We tell them when opportunity comes around, they have to take it.
"We did that for the most part, especially with the bats. We didn't lose much offense tonight and all in all, the girls did a nice job tonight."
"They're excited," Ault added. "They bounced back well after two straight games. We're right where we want to be."
At North Putnam
N. Montgomery 002 231 0 -- 8 12 3
North Putnam 041 013 X -- 9 16 6
WP -- Tucker
LP -- H. Carpenter
Next Game: North Putnam (6-3, 2-1 WCC) travels to Crawfordsville Friday at 6:00 PM.