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Clovers dominate county competition
The big innings in the softball games told the story for the Clovers at the Putnam County softball tournament at Greencastle Saturday.
Cloverdale came away victorious after handling South Putnam and Greencastle by double digits.
The Clovers defeated the Eagles in the opening round behind some strong defense, taking the win 13-1. Greencastle's softball team toughed out a close one with North Putnam winning 4-1.
Cloverdale however continued its resilient defense in the championship game and held the Tiger Cubs scoreless winning 11-0. The county championship is the third for the Clovers' lone senior Kimmy Winders who said she loved the way her team stayed focused throughout the day.
"I'm so proud," Winders said. "We stayed up the whole time even in the South Putnam game when they had runners on. They scored one, we stayed calm and we definitely stayed focused the whole time. It was awesome."
The Clover softball team got off to a hot start in the tournament. The Clovers went nine-for-nine in the first inning as the entire lineup earned a hit and made it home to go up 9-0 over the Eagles. Six RBIs were recorded for CHS with doubles from Skylar Price and Lauren Meek.
"Today we had some balls that had eyes," Cloverdale coach Jim Spencer said. "They were hitting spots and we were able to put some runs together early. If you score early and you can jump on people in the first inning, it changes the way you pitch and the way you field things. So we were fortunate in both innings to get off to a good start."
After that big inning it became a game of defense for four innings. Meek kept the big hitters of South Putnam at bay and it wasn't until Helen Eaglin got on base with a double that the Eagles could score.
"I thought we hit the ball hard but it was kind of like the Edgewood game on Thursday," South Putnam coach Jamie Steffy said. "We got down early and against Edgewood we stranded 14 baserunners. We got some good hits (Saturday) they were just right at people. It wasn't of the lack of effort."
After Eaglin got on second, she was scored on the very next pitch by Logan Hawkins who also recorded a double.
That was all Cloverdale allowed though and CHS added four more runs in the sixth to enforce the ten-run rule.
"I know my girls," Steffy said. "They always show up and they play hard. They're having a lot of fun. We talk about never getting too high on wins or too low on losses. Softball is a season with a lot of games. Already after the Cloverdale game the girls were talking about things we had to do against Monrovia. It's a really resilient bunch."
The Greencastle softball team managed the first scores of its game with North Putnam after having a tough time getting and keeping runners on the bases. Brynne Shuee got things started with a homer in the third for Greencastle's first run.
After that Grace Paul picked up a single that scored Kenlee Johnson who walked to first and then got to third via some passed balls. GHS tacked on another run in the fourth when Skyler Hensley scored on a sacrifice fly from Shuee.
"I think we started to season off pretty rough because we weren't hitting," Tiger Cub coach Tabitha Briones said. "The best part about winning against North was seeing my girls finally hit the ball. North is a good team and they played well. We were just finally hitting some holes and not right to the people."
Hesley gave up only one run pitching to the Cougars and it came in the fifth when Skylar Clifford of North Putnam scored thanks to Jada Stump and her RBI to right field.
"Last game when we played them it was early in the year," Cougar interim coach Chase Hiland said. "We hit the Hensley girl pretty hard and put up six runs. We didn't do that today. She's a good pitcher. She's going to make you pay if you don't get the bat off the shoulder."
Greencastle however got out of the inning with runners on base and held NPHS to a three-up and three-down sixth inning after scoring the game's final run.
"Today the hits weren't falling in," Hiland said. "We've hit the heck out of the ball this week but today just wasn't our day and that happens in softball. That's what I told them after the game."
Hensley nailed a double to deep right field and Julia Mundy brought her home with a double of her own.
The championship match was all Cloverdale and a lot of defense. In the five-inning game, Greencastle only saw more than five batters once as CHS held it scoreless.
"Lauren is doing a good job," Spencer said. "Today she was hitting her spots and she threw some good pitches up there. She let the defense help her out. When she is hitting her spots it helps our defense to know a little more about what to expect. All of them together gave us the chance to have a couple of wins."
Meek said during the games she was able to keep the batters guessing and that was the difference pitching against two teams with plenty of sluggers.
"Especially the curveball and the change up, keeping people off balance," Meek said. "I was just doing my job and not walking people. Coach said 'don't walk anybody and just let the defense do the job'. So I tried to do that."
Greencastle hit fly balls that moved the runners in the third and some wild pitches in the fourth got some Tiger Cubs runners in scoring position but Cloverdale always got out of the inning with nothing hurt.
A major part in both wins besides Meek's pitching was the play of CHS second basemen Dinah Bunch. Bunch was a defensive wall that stopped a lot of grounders in both games that could've turned into dangerous baserunners.
"I thought the player of the game was Dinah Bunch," Steffy said. "I thought she made some outstanding plays there at second base. We had some hard hits that we thought would be base hits. I thought Cloverdale played really well but she stood out. She took away quite a few hits that we had."
Of course it wasn't just defense. Every Clover that batted recorded at least one hit as balls were finding the gaps and baserunners were moving all game. Six clovers scored with Mackenzie Allen, Kimmy Winders and Makayla Westell scoring twice and Helterbrand scoring three times with the help of her solo shot over the centerfield fence.
"It felt great," Helterbrand said. "It was nice to hit my third home run. I was just glad to hit off Greencastle to help win county. It was three and one count. Having that second pitch down the middle felt great."
2016 Putnam County Softball Tournament
At Greencastle
Game one
Cloverdale 900 004 -- 13 14 0
S. Putnam 000 010 -- 1 2 1
WP: Meek
Game Two
Greencastle 002 101 0 -- 4 7 0
N. Putnam 000 010 0 -- 1 6 2
WP: Hensley
Championship
Cloverdale 300 62 -- 11 14 2
Greencastle 000 00 -- 0 3 3
WP: Meek