Hunter grand slam sends Greencastle to sectional final over South Putnam

Tuesday, May 24, 2022
With a swing of the bat, Emma Hunter sent Greencastle into the South Vermillion sectional final, finishing off South Putnam with a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to cap a 14-10 win. The Tiger Cubs will face the host Wildcats in the sectional final Thursday.
Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

CLINTON – The saying about ending ‘with a bang’ can be taken in many different contexts but usually indicates a highly successful venture.

Tuesday’s IHSAA Softball Class 2A Sectional No. 44 semifinal between Greencastle and South Putnam ended with a both a metaphorical and literal bang as Emma Hunter’s walk off grand slam crashed off a metal barn behind the left field fence, a resounding hit with a resounding sound as the Tiger Cubs won 14-10 over the Eagles.

“It’s not at all how we drew it up but we’ll take it,” Greencastle head coach Amy Coons said about the win. “We’re usually not a comeback team but lately we’ve been a little better at that.

“Today, we had to have a little conversation around the third inning about staying up and being up and they never came back down after that.”

“(Errors) have been the M.O. of our year,” South Putnam head coach Mark Hamilton said. “Ten runs should win you a game.

“When you give up outs, you give up runs. When you look back at many of our losses, that’s the story of the game.”:

Getting to such a dramatic conclusion took some doing as Greencastle started the game with a 1-0 lead when Hunter doubled home Sidney Lantzy in the bottom of the first.

South Putnam led for the next two innings, however, as Jaicee Jackson started the second with a walk, followed by a Savannah Workman single and a Chloe Pistelli double that brought in Jackson for a 1-0 lead.

Workman scored on a passed ball while Pistelli scored on a sac bunt and error to make it 3-1.

“Savannah was huge for us tonight,” Hamilton said. “She hadn’t played for us since the second game of the season and as a DH tonight, she was huge with the bat, going 3-for-4.”

The Eagles added a run in the fourth after Pistelli stole third and scored when Raigan Chavez’s throw to the bag was askew.

Trailing 4-1, the Tiger Cub bats, normally hot in the first few innings, sprang to life in the bottom of the fourth.

Hunter doubled for a second time in the game while singles from Emma West and Makenzie Epley loaded the bases.

Haley Iseman doubled to clear the bases and tie the game at 4-4 before Chavez singled and, with two outs, Lantzy tripled to plate two runs for a 6-4 lead.

Sabrina Leonard pulled a run back with a solo home run in the top of the fifth but gave the run back after allowing a trio of singles in the bottom half of the inning as Greencastle led 7-5.

A parade of singles in the bottom of the sixth followed as Lantzy, Elise Lausee, Hunter, West and Epley recorded a hit each, the latter two driving in three runs, to make it a 10-5 game.

“We’ve hit really well off of Sabrina this year,’ Coons said about the offense. “She’s a great pitcher but we seem to get her down and once we got through, after playing a little tense, we were loose in the box and everyone was having fun, feeding off each other’s energy,”

The game state looked even worse for South Putnam when Joslyn Pilcher was injured to lead off the seventh after an errant throw led to interference on the base paths and had to leave the game.

Danae Cline followed with a single and Leonard drew a walk to load the bases off Iseman, who had taken over in the circle in the sixth inning after five strong innings from Evelyn Briones.

Ariel Dooley singled to push a run in and kept the bases loaded for Jackson, who singled home a second run with a third run coming in on a throwing error.

Workman tied the game with a double as South Putnam looked to keep things rolling despite Briones coming back in for Iseman in the circle.

Pistelli was hit by a pitch to put two runners on but Briones was able to avoid any further damage, leaving the score tied at 10-10.

Briones hit a one-out single to get the seventh going while Lantzy avoided a foul out and singled, as would Lausee to load the bases for Hunter.

The junior proceeded to crush the first offering from Leonard deep over the left field fence with the only sound louder than the connection of ball and bat and an erupting Tiger Cub dugout the sound of the ball slamming off the barn beyond the left field fence.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen that inning,” Coons said. “When I walked up to her and looked her straight in the face, I told her the winning run was on third and all I needed was contact.

“She hit the building. I didn’t think that was going to happen but it worked.”

South Putnam ends the season 9-15 with a 4-6 record in WIC play.

“They’re young, aside from Sabrina and Chloe, and we’ll be getting a couple of freshmen next year that will help.

“Hopefully this puts a fire in the girls to come back and improve over the summer, fall and winter, not just in March.”

Due to persistent rain on Thursday, Greencastle will face South Vermillion in the championship game of IHSAA Softball Class 2A Sectional No. 44 Monday at noon, looking for the school’s first softball title since 1998.

“I don’t know the last time Greencastle was in a softball sectional final,” Coons said, the last finals visit coming in 2016 when the Tiger Cubs were still in Class 3A. “This was our goal, to win the county and get to the sectional championship and here we are.”

South Putnam 030 110 5 — 10 13 0

Greencastle 100 513 4 — 14 20 4

WP — Briones 6 IP, 8 H. 5 R (ER), 2 BB, HBP, 6 K

LP — Leonard 6 1/3 IP, 20 H, 14 R, 2 BB, 8 K

GS — Hunter

HR — Leonard

3B – Lantzy

2B —Dooley, Workman, Dooley, Chloe Pistelli; Hunter (2), Lantzy, Iseman

RBI — Jackson (2), Workman (2), Leonard, Dooley, Chloe Pistelli; Hunter (5), Iseman (4), Lantzy (2), Epley (2), West