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Greencastle strikes early to knock out Cloverdale
CLINTON – Hit hard and hit fast.
That’s been the crux of Greencastle’s softball campaign during the 2022 season, one in which the Tiger Cubs have averaged more runs in the first two innings than at any other part of the game.
Monday was another winning example as a five-run first inning would be enough to open IHSAA Softball Class 2A Sectional No. 44 with a win over Cloverdale 10-2.
“We came out hitting which is what we knew we needed to do,” Greencastle head coach Amy Coons said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit at the plate lately; today we put the ball in play and was aggressive on the base paths, sometimes too aggressive.”
“Greencastle did a good job of scoring more runs than we did,” Cloverdale head coach Jim Spencer said. “They took advantage of our mistakes defensively, base running and at the plate.
“We made way too many mistakes defensively and pair for most of them. You have to give away less runs than your opponent and we couldn’t get the upper hand on them.”
Sidney Lantzy opened the game with a double and Elise Lausee was hit by a pitch, both runners working the base paths to score unassisted for a 2-0 lead.
Emma Hunter drew a walk and Makenzie Epley doubled to put Cloverdale starter Abby Welton in more danger and Haley Iseman’s triple was enough to force an early pitching change with the Clovers down 4-0.
Hailey Caulkins came in and was able to limit the damage but not before a wild pitch allowed Iseman to score before turning around to take the circle with a 5-0 lead.
Iseman was not quite in control early, however, issuing three walks in-a-row and allowing Kaylee Johnson to score on a wild pitch before getting a fielder’s choice and strikeout to avoid any further trouble.
After a quick second inning, the Tiger Cubs looked to be in business in the third inning after two singles and a hit batsman but Caulkins got a strikeout and two attempts at taking home ended in failure as Cloverdale kept the score at 5-1.
A one out single and double from Erin Johnson and Keeli Price set up Caulkins for a sac fly that brought a second run in for Cloverdale but a ground out kept the scoring to just one run for the Clovers.
“Haley did a great job of picking herself up when things weren’t going her way,” Coons said about the freshman pitcher. “She walked a few batters, got behind in some counts and those things used to rattle her a little bit but now she’s showing she can work out of those spots just as well as we know she can.”
After a scoreless fourth, Greencastle added to its lead with three runs in the fifth.
Emma Est singled and Epley doubled to start the inning before Raigan Chavez laid down a sac bunt that plated a run and Allie Beaman singled home a second run.
Evelyn Briones reached on an error and Lantzy laced a single that plated a third run to make it 8-2.
Veronica Carter led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and Kaylee Johnson walked but Iseman buckled down, getting a pair of fly outs and a fielder’s choice to keep the Cloverdale bats quiet.
The Tiger Cubs added two insurance runs in the seventh after Briones singled home Iseman and Lantzy tripled to bring Briones home before Iseman closed out the complete game win to advance to Tuesday’s sectional semifinal.
Cloverdale’s season ends at 1-13 with a 0-9 mark in WIC play, a challenging year with the events that preceded the opening game and a roster that had little margin for error with Spencer noting the team couldn’t get everyone firing at the same time.
“We struggled throughout the season for consistency with 10 people,” Spencer said. “Three or four would play well in a game then three or four others would play well the next night.
“The season got off to a tough start for us and we never got the ball rolling. We hope we’ve built a little bit this year and things will improve but there’s several things that have to improve before things move up in terms of wins and losses.”
Greencastle will face another county opponent Tuesday as the team takes on South Putnam.
The first two meetings in the 2022 season were both wins for the Tiger Cubs, a 15-9 win in the Putnam County Championship final and a 6-2 win in conference play.
Getting a third win over the Eagles this season would require another solid hitting performance according to Coons.
“Especially in sectional time, against county teams, anything can happen,” Coons said. “We don’t take anything for granted.
“We have beaten (South Putnam) twice but they have a lot of good hitters and their pitcher is very good. We have to come out and hit the ball just like we did today.”
Greencastle 500 030 2 — 10 11 1
Cloverdale 101 000 0 — 2 5 1
WP — Iseman 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 6 K
LP — Welton 1/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, BB, HBP
3B — Lantzy, Iseman
2B — Epley (2), Lantzy; Price
RBI — Lantzy (2), Iseman (2), Chavez, Beaman, Briones; Caulkins