PREP ROUNDUP: Eagle softball opens with 10-9 victory over CC

The South Putnam Eagle softball team opened its season with an exciting 10-9 come-from -behind victory over the visiting Covenant Christian Warriors.

South used resiliency, hot bats and solid fielding to pick up the victory.

Drew Steffy stroked a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh that plated Brionna Egold to give the Eagles the win and drop the Warriors to 0-4.

“I thought there were a lot more pluses than minus tonight. We really played solidly,” South Putnam head coach Jamie Steffy said.

Covenant broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning as it was able to push across three runs. Grace Bowman had the key hit on a two-run single to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead.

South rallied in the bottom half of the inning. The Eagles took the lead as they put together three hits, three walks in the inning. Bree Mahoney-Sutherland had a two-run single to key the rally.

South was able to extend its lead to 6-3 after four innings as Egold and Mahoney-Sutherland each picked up an RBI in the inning.

Covenant cut into the lead in the fifth inning. The Warriors pieced together three singles to pick up two runs, but still trailed the Eagles going into the bottom of the inning. Drew Bratcher then smashed a solo home run to left field and boosted the South lead to 7-5 after five innings.

Covenant took control in the top half of the sixth inning as the Warriors scored four runs on just a couple of hits as they took advantage of three South errors in the inning. Covenant led 9-7 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

The sixth inning was an anomaly for the defensively solid Eagles. South only had four errors on the night, with three of them coming in that sixth inning.

“Defensively our confidence was really high. We ran out there knowing we could make plays. We made a lot of plays tonight,” Steffy said.

The Eagles rallied right away in the bottom of the sixth. The ywere able to score two runs to tie the game as they took advantage of a Warrior error and two walks. Chloe Custis had both of the RBI in the inning and the teams went to the seventh inning tied 9-all.

The Eagles shut down the Warriors in the top half of the seventh. Fighting darkness, the Eagles got an infield single by Egold, then a single by Mahoney-Sutherland setting up Steffy’s game-winning hit.

“For as young as we are we didn’t panic when we got down. I know these girls have played in a lot of pressure situations in travel ball and I knew we wouldn’t let it bother us,” Steffy said.

The Eagles will travel to Cloverdale tonight.

Covenant Christian 003 204 0 — 9

South Putnam 004 212 1 — 10

WP — Carr, LP — Bond

2B — Beaulieu (CC), D. Steffy (SP)

HR — Bratcher (SP)

In other softball:

• Edgewood 10, Greencastle 0 — At Ellettsville, Mustang freshman Trinity Robertson pitched a perfect game.

• Indian Creek 5, Cloverdale 3 — At Trafalgar, the Braves won their second game of the season.

• Cougars rained out — A scheduled game between Tri-West and North Putnam was rained out.

Baseball

• Indian Creek 12, Cloverdale 0 — At Trafalgar, the Braves picked up the shutout victory.

• South Vermillion 9, South Putnam 3 — At Clinton, the Wildcats topped the Eagles.

Track and field

• Eagles compete at Northview — At Brazil, South Putnam competed in a quadrangular meet on Thursday with Clay City and Owen Valley.

Owen Valley won the girls’ meet with 79 points, while South Putnam was third with 43.

Northview won the boys’ meet with 80 points, while South Putnam was fourth with 34.

“Overall I’m really pleased with how everyone did,” SP girls’ coach Brandon Welti said. “The mid-distance girls did a great job and were able to place really well in most of their events. Ally Nichols, Lillie Stein, Lexi Vanihel and Grace Burdge all did a great job competing in their relay and individual events, winning many of them and at least scoring in others.”

Welti noted that Caitlin Capps has been very limited in her workouts due to an injury, but performed well in the discus.

“We don’t have depth to be too competitive overall as a team, but everyone is still striving to be successful as individuals and in relays,” he said.

Nichols won the 1,600, Vanihel won the 800, while Capps was first in the discus. South Putnam also won both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays.

In the boys’ meet, Austin Rumley had the lone individual victory for the Eagles in the 800. South also won the 4x400 relay.

Girls

Team scores — Owen Valley 79, Northview 61, South Putnam 43, Clay City 42

4x800 relay — 1. South Putnam 11:01

100 hurdles — 1. Tridal (OV) :18:48

100 — 1. Siples (N) :12.91

1,600 — 1. Nichols (SP) 5:38. Burdge (SP) 5:57

4x100 relay — 1. Clay City :54.28

400 — 1. Siples (N) 1:02; 2. Stein (SP) 1:04

300 hurdles — 1. Combs (N) :53.97

800 — 1. Vanihel (SP) 2:41.71; 3. Crossman 2:53.05

200 — 1. Lachey (N) :27.71

SP — 1. Owens (OV) 31-4; 2. Capps (SP) 30-8

D — 1. Capps (SP) 91-5

LJ — 1. Meger (N) 15-2

HJ — 1. Godwin (OV) 5-1

3,200 — 1. Laswell (CC)

4x400 relay — 1. South Putnam 4:32.51

Boys

Team scores — Northview 80, Clay City 67, Owen Valley 45, South Putnam 34

4x800 relay — 1. Northview 8:49

110 hurdles — 1. Metz (N) :13.89

100 — 1. Thurmond (CC) :11.24

1,600 — 1. Chapman (N) 4:52; 3. Egold (SP) 5:08; 5. Hendrick (SP) 5:14

4x100 relay — 1. Northview :46.59

400 — 1. Heading (N) :53.09; 2. Crossman (SP) :54.32

300 hurdles — 1. Metz (N) :42.91

800 — 1. Rumley (SP) 2:13.25

200 — 1. Thurman (CC) :23.26

SP — 1. Mader (OV) 44-4

D — 1. Mader (OV) 137-1

LJ — 1. Batts (CC) 19-6; 4. Zeffel (SP) 17-3

HJ — 1. Hostetter (CC) 6-0; 5. Zeffel (SP) 5-4

3,200 — 1. Norris (NV) 10:51

4x400 relay — 1. South Putnam 5:41.