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Steffy pitches Eagles by Cougars
The South Putnam Eagle softball team put together a complete game in all phases Tuesday evening during an 11-0 victory over county rival North Putnam.
The Eagles pounded out 12 hits, committed only one error and freshman Alex Steffy threw a two-hit shutout to give South a 3-3 record and 1-0 in Western Indiana Conference play. North fell to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in WIC play.
“I thought, obviously, that this was the most complete game that we have played. We pitched the ball well, we hit the ball well, we fielded the ball well in this game,” South Putnam head coach Jamie Steffy said.
South broke open a scoreless game with six runs in the bottom of the third inning. The top of South’s lineup strung together five straight hits to open the inning before the Cougars could record an out. Helen Eaglin led off with a single followed by another single by Drew Bratcher.
Alex Steffy helped her own cause with a run-scoring double. Grace Carr and Brionna Egold then hit back-to-back singles and the Eagles led 4-0 before the Cougars were able to record an out.
Egold then scored on a wild pitch and Bree Mahoney-Sutherland hit a home run to center field to give the Eagles a 6-0 lead heading into the fourth.
“We thought we could be a versatile team. We have a lot girls who can do a lot of things. Today, we really hit the ball well. The weather was better, the girls felt good and we were able to a lot of things right tonight,” Steffy said.
South kept the pressure on in the fourth inning. The Eagles scored another five runs with Alex Steffy picking up her second double of the game. The Eagles batted through their lineup for the second straight inning to give themselves an 11-0 lead heading into the fifth inning.
“We have really struggled the last couple of games. We didn’t hit the ball or field the ball well enough. We didn’t make the plays and they (South) did,” North Putnam head coach Jarrod Duff said.
The Cougars couldn’t capitalize on the only Eagle error of the game in the top of the fifth as the Eagles held them scoreless again and picked up the victory.
“Tonight was about us not being patient enough. We were out in front of the ball, not trusting our hands, and we never made any adjustment,” Duff said.
The Cougars were only able to pick up two hits on the evening and advanced a runner to third just once. South’s Steffy faced only 18 batters as she allowed just the two hits and didn’t walk a batter to pick up her first career victory.
Eaglin, Alex Steffy, Egold, and Mahoney-Sutherland all came through with a multi-hit game and the defense was superb as the only error committed was late in the game.
“We told the girls this after the game. We are 3-3 and when we have more than four errors, we are 0-3. When we have less than four errors we are 3-0,” Steffy said.
The Eagles will travel to Edgewood on Thursday night to take on the Mustangs with the Putnam County Tournament coming up on Saturday.
“The coaching staff will have to evaluate what the issues are and we will have to work on those things and get ready for Rockville on Thursday,” Duff said.
The Cougars will try and get back on track on Thursday night at Rockville in their last game before Saturday’s county tournament.
North Putnam 000 00 — 0 2 5
South Putnam 006 5x — 11 11 1
WP – A. Steffy. LP – LaPierre
2B – A. Steffy (2) SP, O. Haste NP
HR – Mahoney-Sutherland