Hitless Sullivan wins WIC title

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Sullivan emerged as the improbable winner of the Western Indiana Conference baseball championship year, after defeating Indian Creek 4-0 on Tuesday in a game where the Golden Arrows were held hitless by Braves’ pitchers.

In other games, Northview won third place by defeating Edgewood 6-3 and the games determining the rest of the placings all were one-run contests.

West Vigo captured fifth place by defeating Cascade 4-3, Owen Valley captured seventh place by edging South Putnam 8-7, North Putnam claimed ninth place by getting past Cloverdale 4-3 in eight innings and Greencastle won 11th place by beating Brown County 7-6.

Here is a look at games involving Putnam County teams:

• Owen Valley 8, South Putnam 7 — South Putnam jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, but the Patriots came fighting back and got the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Kody Britton had a double and a single with one run scored, while Dylan Wood hit a solo home run and scored another run. Wood went the distance on the mound, allowing six hits and six earned runs while striking out four batters and walking two.

South Putnam 313 000 0 — 7 6 3

Owen Valley 122 201 x — 8 6 4

• North Putnam 4, Cloverdale 3 (eight innings) — Jack Kendall pitched a complete game six-hitter with 14 strikeouts and the Cougars pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat their county rivals.

Duke Duff had a double, two singles and scored as run to pace the Cougars at the plate. Evan Davies, Kolten Thorson and Kendall each had an RBI for North Putnam, while Max Haste scored two runs and Kaine Benge crossed the plate once.

Joey Martin had a double and a single for the Clovers, while Tyce Jackson had a triple, two RBI and two runs scored.

Cloverdale 001 000 20 — 3 6 2

North Putnam 101 010 01 — 4 9 4

WP — Kendall.

• Greencastle 7, Brown County 6 — Nick Costin had two singles, four RBI and two runs scored to pace the Tiger Cubs at the plate, including the game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh inning that plated Trey Wood.

Wood scored three runs for the Tiger Cubs, while Alex Costin and Gus Manion each added an RBI. Abe Wade, Jackie Scanland and Manion combined on the pitching victory.

“The positive is we got the win, but overall we really did not play a very good game,” Greencastle coach Ben Wells said. “Our pitching was really not as consistent or crisp as it had been in the last four games and we made some really big mistakes in the field.”

Wells thought his team missed some key opportunities at the plate in the first three innings of the game that could have put the game out of reach.

“We just could not put the ball in play consistently, and we squandered chances that we really should have taken advantage of,” he said. “The one bright spot at the plate was Nick Costin. Nick had great approaches and came up big in two spots.”

Besides the game-winning hit, Wells noted that Costin had a two-run single in the third inning that helped the Tiger Cubs to take a 6-3 lead after three innings.

“Overall the big thing is we got the win,” he said. “I am very proud of the resiliency of this team. Even though we did not play our best game, we stayed in it and kept fighting. It is definitely something that we have improved on, and the one thing about this team that I love — we constantly grind and find a way to compete.”

Brown County 003 300 0 — 6 4 4

Greencastle 123 000 1 — 7 4 4

WP — Manion.

Softball

• Cloverdale 13, Greencastle 2 — Playing for the third time in five days, the Clovers led 4-2 after three innings but controlled the rest of the game to record the win.

Lauren Meek was the winning pitcher in relief, improving her record to 13-3 as the Clovers improved to 18-4 overall. Macie Couch pitched the first three innings.

Baylee Hamilton hit a home run, single and four RBI to pace the Clovers, while Makenzie Allen had two singles and two RBI, Tori Combs had two singles and Hannah Long added a single and a double.

“This was a good, solid win for the Clovers,” Cloverdale coach Jim Spencer said. “We continued to make solid contact at the plate and after the first inning settled into a really good defensive night, especially with the outfield play of Tori Combs and Makenzie Allen.”

Cloverdale                    130 241 2 — 13 13 3

Greencastle                  200 000 0 —  2 6 6

WP — Meek (13-3)

• South Putnam 14, Eminence 4 — South Putnam scored nine runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to close out the win and improve its record to 7-12.

“I am real proud of the girls,” South Putnam coach Jamie Steffy said. “We played a pretty good ball game.”

Drew Bratcher had a triple, double and a single with five RBI and two runs scored, while Alex Bratcher added three singles and three RBI. Winning pitcher Grace Carr added a double and three RBI, while Helen Eaglin, Regan Keller and Briana Robinson each added an RBI.

“Due to all the game rainouts we have had we were finally able to have two back-to-back days of much needed outside practice,” Steffy noted. “ I thought the good things we did in those practices it really showed in our game.”

Eminence 000 13 — 4 2 3

South Putnam 201 29 — 14 8 0

WP — Carr

• North Putnam 13, North Montgomery 0 – At Linden, Chloe LaPierre pitched a no-hitter with eight strikeouts as the Cougars routed the Chargers.

LaPierre added a double and scored two runs, while Bronwyn Spencer and Mia Runnells each had a single, double, two RBI and two runs, Emma Haste had a single, double and an RBI, Baylee Osburn had a single and two RBI, Jada Stump had a single and two RBI and Skylar Clifford had two RBI.

North Putnam 462 01 – 13 12 0

North Montgomery 000 00 – 0 0 4

WP -- LaPierre

Sectionals

• Softball, baseball tourneys set – Pairings for next week’s IHSAA tourneys are:

Softball

Class 2A Cascade

Monday – South Putnam vs. South Vermillion, 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday – North Putnam vs. Monrovia, 5:30 p.m.; Southmont vs. Cloverdale, 7 p.m.

Wednesday – Cascade vs. South Putnam-South Vermillion, 5 p.m.; North Putnam-Monrovia winner vs. Southmont-Cascade winner, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday – Wednesday winners in championship

Class 3A Indian Creek

Monday – Danville vs. Indian Creek, 5:30 p.m.; Indianapolis Washington vs. Greencastle, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday – Danville-Indian Creek winner vs. Indianapolis Washington-Greencastle winner, 5:30 p.m.; Beech Grove vs. Indianapolis Northwest, 7:30 p.m

Thursday – Tuesday’s winners in championship game

Baseball

Class 2A South Vermillion

Wednesday — Cloverdale vs Southmont, 5:30.

Thursday — South Vermillion vs Monrovia, 5:30; South Putnam vs Rockville, 7:30.

May 29 — North Putnam vs Cloverdale-Southmont winner, 11 a.m.; South Vermillion-Monrovia winner vs.

South Putnam-Rockville winner, 1 p.m.; Monday afternoon winners in championship game, 6:30 p.m.

Class 3A, Danville

Wednesday — Indian Creek vs. Greencastle, 5:30 p.m.; Indianapolis Washington vs. Danville

May 29 — Wednesday winners in semifinals, 10 a.m.; Indianapolis Northwest vs. Beech Grove, noon; Monday afternoon winners in championship game, 7 p.m.

Golf

• Greencastle 154, Owen Valley 168 — On a very windy day at Rolling Meadows, Jake Bennett and Blaise Hasty tied for medalist honors with 36s as the Tiger Cubs got back on the winning track.

Kyle Tesmer added a 40, while Jaxon Parmley had a 42, Conner Taylor had a 48 and Brett Sosebee had a 49.

“The Tiger Cubs put together four very good scores to defeat the Patriots,” Greencastle coach Steve Paquin said. “We shot one of the best scores of the season at Rolling Meadows Golf Course.”

Paquin was impressed with how his team handled the tough conditions.

“It was a very windy day and the course was dry, hard and fast,” he said. “The conditions didn’t seem to bother the Cubs as their shots were right on target.”

Paquin also thought his team’s putting was improved for a majority of the squad.

“Some are still struggling to make a consistent stroke and hole the putt in no more than two strokes,” he said. “It is a problem for most young golfers, but with practice improvement will take place.”

The Cubs play at Crawfordsville on Monday.

• South Putnam 212, North Putnam 236 — South Putnam’s Tyler Hicks led the Eagles with a 44 as South Putnam topped the Cougars and lost to Danville in a triangular match.

Ryan Neumann added a 51 for South Putnam, while Jared Seidler added a 53, Levi Girton had a 64, Justin Pitts had a 66 and Thomas Fanning had a 76.

“The NP team played well and played hard but it just wasn’t enough to overcome their opponent,” Cougar coach Earl Hall said. “Nonetheless, there were some notable accomplishment by this young Cougar team and improvement continues to show through with each passing match.”

Hall noted that his team’s average score per player was 59, which was 10 shots below a recent match.

Hall added that two players showed great improvement over their first round at Twin Bridges, as Peyton Myers (shot a 57 after shooting a 78 on May 8) and Zane Mason, playing as the number one player last evening, improved on his May 8 score of 65 by shooting a 52.

“Zane dropped a 30-foot putt for his first birdie in his very young golfing career,” Hall added.

Marcus Burdine added a 56 for the Cougars and R.J. Batchelor had a 71.

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