Cougars roll past Bulldogs in five

BAINBRIDGE – The North Putnam Cougar softball team was not flashy, but they were solid and dominating in a 12-2 five-inning victory over the visiting Monrovia Bulldogs on Friday night.

The Cougars put the ball in play at the plate and fielded the ball excellently, backing up quality pitching performances from Karyssa Miller and Kyndal Brewer to improve to 3-1 on the season. Monrovia fell to 0-1 early in the year.

The Cougars jumped out to a commanding lead early in the game piling up eight runs in the first two innings while allowing only one base runner in that same stretch of time. The Cougars did not allow a Bulldog to reach base on an error and limited their chances all night long by not making mistakes. The limiting of mistakes is key according to the Cougars’ coach.

“That (few mistakes) has been our forte. We just play solid and are not making a lot of mistakes,” North Putnam head coach Kerry Roussey said.

Miller dominated the Bulldogs in the first inning by striking out all three of the Monrovia hitters, then the hosts took advantage of two Bulldog errors in the first inning. Ashlynn Stacks reached on an error and Brylie Schmitz singled before Kyndal Brewer smacked a triple and then scored on a wild pitch to take a quick 3-0 lead.

Miller then relied on her defense as Monrovia was able to put the ball into play, but other than a two-out single, the Cougar infield converted three ground ball outs and shut out the Bulldogs again. The bottom half of the inning saw the Cougars use their bats and their batting eyes to pick up five runs.

Lexi Daigle singled to open the inning and Hailee Daigle and Stacks walked. Schmitz singled in a run and Emma Williams drove in two runs as did Miller with singles as North compiled a five-run inning with aggressive at bats and base running.

“We want to be aggressive. We still have to get a couple of bats going a little better, but offensively we were pretty good,” Roussey said.

Monrovia finally found the plate with a couple of runs. Lailah Mowery singled and scored on a hit by Ashley Lewis. Lewis would steal home and cut into the lead with a two-run third inning, but North would get half of that back in the bottom of the inning. Lexi Daigle would walk and come around to score on another Bulldog error. North would head to the fourth inning with a 9-2 lead.

The Cougars made a pitching change to Brewer and she was as effective as Miller had been in only allowing one hit and two walks over the last two innings. North only allowed three walks in the game and the pitchers throwing strikes is key for the Cougars.

“We threw the ball well, but we have all year. I think we only had two or three walks for the season coming into this game,” Roussey said.

The Cougars put the nail in the coffin in the fifth inning using small ball. The Daigle girls led off the sixth inning with each getting a bunt single. Stacks drove them home with a single and then would score on a wild pitch to reach the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth inning.

North Putnam had several contributors on the offensive side. Schmitz had two hits, an RBI and two runs scored, while Lexi Daigle also had a multi-hit game with three runs scored. Brewer had the big triple and a pair of RBIs. Stacks, Williams, and Miller also had multiple RBIs on the night.

“We changed it up later and bunted and played aggressively. We did that pretty well, we may do a lot of that on the season,” Roussey said.

The Cougars have a quick turnaround as the play a double header Saturday starting at 10 a.m. at Clinton Prairie and McCutcheon.

Monrovia 002 00 — 2 5 5

North Putnam 351 03 — 12 9 2

WP – Miller 3, Brewer 2

LP – Payne 2, Mattocks 3

3B – Brewer (NP)

RBI – Lewis (MHS), Stacks 2, Schmitz, Brewer 2, Williams 2, Miller 2 (NP)