Vikings edge North Putnam 1-0 in WIC battle

Friday, May 20, 2016
Jackson Kendall slides into second base safely after hitting a second-inning double against West Vigo on Wednesday evening.

North Putnam and West Vigo collided on Wednesday evening in high school baseball for fifth place in the Western Indiana Conference standings, with the Vikings riding a lone fourth-inning run to a 1-0 victory, but it was hardly an easy road for them as North Putnam left a runner in scoring position four times without coming up with the big hit.

West Vigo got its fourth-inning run as freshman catcher Jake Lautenschlager singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by sophomore third baseman Chance Cooper.

Cooper was left stranded on third after a passed ball and stolen base, but Viking pitcher Grant Kirby had the only run he would need.

Kirby, using a combination of off-speed pitches, held the Cougars to just three hits -- but that doesn't mean he never found himself in trouble.

Duke Duff walked with one out in the bottom of the first and stole second, but was left there after a flyout and a groundout ended the inning.

Jackson Kendall doubled to lead off the second inning and went to third on an infield hit by Max Haste, but was unable to be brought home.

In the sixth inning, Duff walked again, was sacrificed to second by Kyler Jeter and went to third on a flyout by Brayden White before a groundout ended the inning.

The Cougars had yet another chance in the seventh, as Haste reached on an error. Courtesy runner Brad Hodges was sacrificed to second and went to third on a wild pitch, but two straight strikeouts on called third strikes ended the game.

Kirby went the distance for West Vigo, walking just one and striking out six.

White was the tough-luck losing pitcher, allowing just the one run and five hits. He walked three and struck out eight.

West Vigo 000 100 0 -- 1 5 2

North Putnam 000 000 0 -- 0 3 2

WP -- Kirby. LP -- White. 2B -- Kendall.

Tennis

* Tiger Cubs make finals -- Greencastle defeated South Putnam 5-0 on Thursday in the semifinals of the Northview girls' sectional.

Greencastle will play Northview at 5 p.m. today in the championship match.

Northview defeated Owen Valley 3-2 in Thursday's other semifinal match.

Singles -- 1 .Bailey Zapp (G) won 7-5, 6-1; 2. Rachel Chadd (G) won 6-0, 6-0; 3. Madison Trout (G) won 6-0, 6-0

Doubles -- 1. Lily Spencer-Lydia Trout (G) won 6-1, 6-2; 2. Madeline Graham-Nicole Newgent won 6-2, 6-0

Track and field

* Atwood finishes fourth -- Cloverdale's Sam Atwood placed fourth in the Terre Haute North girls' sectional in the pole vault.

Atwood's final height was 9-6. The competition was finished on Wednesday due to unsafe conditions on Tuesday night.

The winning vault was 10-0 by Laura Groenbech of Terre Haute South.

Golf

* Greencastle 173, Owen Valley 204 -- Jonah Stevens of Greencastle shot a 40 to earn medalist honors as the Tiger Cubs easily defeated the Patriots.

Greencastle coach Steve Paquin was glad his team finally had a good day in terms of weather.

"Good weather was a welcome sight for the golfers," he said. "We struggled playing the ball down getting ready for sectional."

Paquin noted that Stevens had his lowest nine-hole score of the year, and hole No. 7 was a particularly difficult one for his team.

"As a team we had 51 shots for 6 players to a par of 30 for 6 players, which is 21 shots over par as a team," he said. "Other than that hole we played fairly well. The next two weeks of practice will determine whether this team will peak and be ready for sectionals."

Greencastle (173) -- Jonah Stevens 40, Jake Buis 43, Jake Bennett 45, Blaise Hasty 45, Jaxon Parmley 49, Josh Bomgardner 61

Owen Valley (204) -- Rosenberger 48, Emmert 49, Swafford 51, Johnson 56, Brinson 60, Stoner 61

Next match -- Greencastle plays on May 26 at Forest Park in Brazil against Northview and South Vermillion at 4:30.

* Cascade 161, North Putnam 165 -- North Putnam's Austin Judy had a team-best 37 for runnerup medalist honors at Old Hickory, but coach Shawn Alspaugh felt his team "struggled" through the match.

"We didn't take advantage our home course advantage," he said. "We had a couple of big numbers on what should be scoring holes, and didn't convert on the chances we did have. It's always tough to lose a close match like this and look back at all the missed opportunities throughout the round."

Alspaugh was proud of Judy's play, noting he started with two bogeys, but battled back to finish +1.

"If Jackson Franchville wouldn't have hit a 35-foot birdie putt on the last hole, Austin would have tied for medalist," he said. "We'll try to use this round as a learning tool and get back to the practice range so we can keep getting better and be ready come sectional time."

North Putnam (165) -- Austin Judy 37, Jake Holtze 41, Logan Grim 43, Preston Porter 44, Alex Ruble 48, Marcus Burdine 63

Cascade (161) -- Jackson Franchville 36, Chaney Donovan 48, Garrett Compliment 40, MIchael Flanigan 37, Dawson Berg 57, Colin McMahon 55

* Martinsville 178, Cloverdale 187 -- Kylar Galloway had a 42 and Chase Snyder had a 44 for the Clovers, but Martinsville's depth proved to be the difference.

"We had another day of missed opportunities," Cloverdale coach Doug Wokoun said. "As has been the case through much of the season, we can't avoid two or three holes that just destroy a round.

"It is very disappointing to play well for much of the round and let it get away. It was doubly disappointing because we had really great weather and a course in very good condition."

Wokoun thought Galloway had a good round, except for the par five holes, and Snyder played well until the final hole.

"They both continue to do a lot of things very well and are so close to breaking through with an outstanding round," Wokoun said. "Wellington struggled at times, but also had some really good holes. Nichols had a couple of bad breaks and let that end up dictating his round."

Like most coaches this time of year, Wokoun knows his team needs to work hard to correct its problems with the sectional looming a couple of weeks away.

"All of our issues are fixable, but we just need to demonstrate some perseverance and determination," he said. "At this point in the season, we just need to make some decisions about who we are and how dedicated we are to fixing problems."

Martinsville (178) -- Mason Ferguson 39, Luke Ferguson 43, Isaac Johnson 48, Ross Patrick 48, Korden Sichting 51, Trance Behling 56

Cloverdale (187) -- Kylar Galloway 42, Chase Snyder 44, Zarek Wellington 51, Zach Nichols 52, Drew Boyette 55, Jason Miller 67

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  • good article-how about including the local team's

    won-lost records?

    -- Posted by nphs92 on Fri, May 20, 2016, at 12:10 PM
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