Cougars finish county sweep with 11-0 win over Clovers

BAINBRIDGE – Kyndal Brewer threw a five-inning no-hitter and the North Putnam Cougar softball team kept the Putnam County Paddle for the summer by defeating the Cloverdale Clovers 11-0 on Thursday night at Cougar field.

The senior pitcher threw five innings allowing only one base runner on an error and the Cougars used two five-run innings to pick up the victory and improve to 14-6 on the season and 5-3 in the Western Indiana Conference. Cloverdale dropped to 4-12 and 1-6 in WIC action.

“We can proudly say we swept Putnam County. Next up is Montgomery County as we have Crawfordsville and Southmont on Monday and already got North Montgomery. That is good feeling,” North Putnam head coach Kerry Roussey said.

The Cougars got off to an early lead in the first inning as Brilye Schmitz was hit by a pitch and came home on a double by Emma Williams. That was the first of three doubles on the night by Williams and North led 1-0 after an inning of play.

The two teams were scoreless in the second inning, but North broke out in the third. Schmitz got things going with a hot line drive that nicked the glove of Cloverdale’s shortstop but reached base and scored on a Brewer double. Williams hit a ball to left that was misplayed for another double for the senior catcher that scored Brewer.

Karyssa Miller then doubled home both Miller and Kylie Rust. Miller would then score on a Cloverdale error. North would have a 6-0 lead after three innings.

“They (North) are a good team and this is their year. But we made too many errors. We just don’t make all the routine plays. Our coaching staff was talking about that we are getting in position to make the play, just not making them,” Cloverdale head coach Jamie Steffy said.

Cloverdale got their only base runner in the top of the fourth as Paisley Meyerrose reached on a Cougar error with two outs, but Brewer got the next batter to ground the ball back to her as she helped herself by throwing out the runner.

The Cougars then put the game away in the bottom of the inning. Schmitz used the long ball as she drilled a two-run shot to left early in the inning and then another Clover error combined with Williams’ third double of the night set up Miller’s RBI single and Lexi Daigle’s RBI single to pick up another five-run inning and set the score at 11-0 heading into the fifth inning.

Brewer then set the Clovers down order for the fourth time on the night to end the contest after five innings.

“She (Brewer) is one of the best in the state, especially in 2A. She keeps us in a lot of ballgames,” Roussey said.

Cloverdale’s Callee Smith pitched all four innings for the Clovers and despite the score impressed coach Steffy with her no-walk performance. The freshman was hurt by some misplays and errors but kept the ball around the plate.

“Callee pitched well. She did what we needed her to do, but we just didn’t make enough plays behind her,” Steffy said.

North was led offensively by Williams with three doubles. Miller had three RBIs and Schmitz had a pair of hits and three runs, including the home run.

“It was good to get the win. We want to be playing good ball going into the tournament,” Roussey said.

Cloverdale 000 00 — 0 0 2

North Putnam 105 5X — 11 12 1

WP – Brewer 5.0

LP – Smith 4.0

2B – Williams 3, Miller, Brewer (NP)

HR – Schmitz (NP)

RBI – Miller 3, Schmitz 2, Williams 2, L. Daigle, H. Daigle, Brewer (NP)