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CLAY CITY SOFTBALL SECTIONAL: Clovers reach sectional final with wins over Bloomfield, Shakamak
CLAY CITY – A season’s worth of tough love from the WIC helped Cloverdale reach a sectional final Thursday after wins over Bloomfield Tuesday and Shakamak Wednesday in the IHSAA Softball Class A Sectional No. 57.
Against the Cardinals, the Clovers played error-free defense to avenge an early 7-2 defeat with an 8-4 win in the second game of the sectional.
Cloverdale followed its first sectional win since 2014 with a 10-3 win over the Lakers Wednesday to set up a date in the sectional final against the host Eels.
“We’re very happy with our defensive effort (Tuesday),” Cloverdale head coach Jamie Steffy said about the win over Bloomfield. “It was our first game all year with zero errors.
“We have spent a lot of practice time working on our defense this year. We keep emphasizing to the girls we are 7-1 when we commit three errors or less. Good things happen to us when we can field the softball and make routine plays. Tonight, we did that.”
After giving up a home run to Lila Koontz in the top of the first inning, Cloverdale tied the game at 1-1 with a squeeze bunt by Andrea Nees to plate Erin Johnson.
Paisley Meyerrose gave the Clovers the lead for good in the third after a two-run home run while Keeli Price plated two runs in the fourth with a single.
Bloomfield pulled both runs back in the bottom of the fourth as singles by Koontz and Eleonora Berretta plated a run each to make it a 5-3 game.
Price drove in her third run of the game with a single in the sixth with a Nees sac fly and a single from Haley Caulkins adding insurance runs heading into the seventh inning.
Koontz kept the Cardinal dream alive with a double to plate her third run of the game but a groundout in the next at-bat saw Cloverdale pick up its first sectional win since defeating Covenant Christian 15-3 on May 27, 2014.
“We were focused and confident coming into the game,” Steffy said. “We didn’t panic when (Bloomfield) made its run at us.
“Most importantly, the improvement from the work in practice we have put in this entire season defensively showed when they had bases loaded, no one out and they did not push any runs across. Our defensive play was a big, big positive for our team.”
On Wednesday, the Clovers shot out to a 9-0 lead after four innings and cruised into the sectional final with a win over Shakamak.
“We got off to another good start offensively and played solid defensively,” Steffy said about the win over Shakamak. “We only had two errors (Wednesday), which raises our season record to 8-1 when we have three errors or less.
“Good things continue to happen for us when we make routine defensive plays.”
Caulkins got the ball rolling with a double in the second inning with a sac bunt and an Abi Welton single bringing in the first run of the game.
An error and a Johnson double made it 2-0 before Meyerrose singled to plate two more runs and make it 4-0 after two innings.
A Callie Smith single brought in Nees to start the third inning while an error off the bat of Welton saw another run come in and a squeeze bunt from Payton Watkins got a third run in to make it 7-0.
Cloverdale tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a Caulkins double to sit comfortably ahead 9-0.
The Lakers responded in the fifth as Jama Ewers walked and scored on a Campbell Holler triple.
Johnson added the 10th run with a triple in the top of the seventh and while Shakamak got two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Camryn Byrne sac fly and error off the bat of Abbi Gilbert, the third out came in the next at-bat to end the game.
“We have just continued to improve this season and all the work we have put into our practices is really paying off for us now,” Steffy said. “Our regular season conference and non-conference schedule is just flat-out brutal and the hardest around for a Class A team.
“But even when we struggled against all those 3A, 4A and ranked teams we were playing, we kept our focus on getting better and playing our best softball when the sectional comes around which we are. We stayed the course and we get to play for a championship.”
Bloomfield 100 020 1 — 4 6 4
Cloverdale 102 203 X — 8 9 0
WP — Caulkins 7 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 4 BB, 7 K
LP — Koontz 6 IP, 9 H, 8 R (4 ER), BB, 4 K
HR — Koontz; Meyerrose
2B — Koontz
RBI — Koontz (3), Berretta; Price (3), Meyerrose (2), Nees (2), Caulkins
Cloverdale 043 200 1 — 10 9 2
Shakamak 000 010 2 — 3 4 4
WP — Caulkins 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 5 BB, 3 K
LP — Varner 1 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R (ER), K
3B — Johnson; Holler
2B — Caulkins (2), Johnson, Price
RBI — Caulkins (2), Johnson, Smith, Welton, Watkins; Holler, Byrne