South Putnam Eagles | Archive | April, 2008

Whitney Warren was South Putnam’s big singles winner, defeating Hannah
Wheeler 6-0 and 6-0 at No. 2 singles. At No. 3 singles, Liz Mink beat
Aubrey Gillology in straight sets 6-1 and 6-3.

The Eagles’ only loss in singles competition was at No. 1 singles were
Chelsea Clark lost to Ashlee Richardson 7-6, 4-6 and 6-3.

In doubles, Megan Klotz and Samantha Callahan won at No. 2 doubles
defeating Mary Keller and Rachel Power 6-0 7-5. At No. 1 doubles,
Cassie Davis and Megan Criss stumbled after a strong start and lost to
Jenna Whaller and Aubri Rush 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

“Varsity played well,” South Putnam head coach Johnnie Briones
said. “Chelsea Clark had a slow start and was down 0-5 in the first
set. I was proud of how she battled back.

“No. 1 doubles started out well, then struggled the rest of the
way. I know they will bounce back against Turkey Run,” Briones said.

In junior varsity action, South won 6-3.

South Putnam will host Turkey Run at 4:30 p.m. today.

At South Putnam

South Putnam 3, South Vermillion 2

Singles — Richardson (S) def. Clark (SP) 7-6, 4-6, 6-3; Warren
(SP) def. Wheeler (S) 6-0, 6-0. Mink (SP) def. Gillology (S) 6 1, 6-3.

Doubles — Whaller/Rush (S) def. Davis/Criss (SP) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Callahan/Klotz (SP) def. Keller/Power (S)6-0, 7-5

Next match — South Putnam will host Turkey Run at 4:30 p.m. today. 

The Eagles are anchored by seven seniors, but an impressive turnout from the
freshman class had Briones all smiles. But for a coach who believes in a no-cut
policy, it was difficult to have to turn some of those freshmen away.

“I’ve got some decent freshmen coming up and I’m really excited about that. I
think a lot of that reflects the tennis camp. They’ve been coming to tennis camp
when they were younger,” Briones commented.

Chelsea Clark is one of seven seniors who will lead the way for South?Putnam this season. [Click to enlarge]

Samantha Callahan, Liz Mink, Cassie
Davis, Megan Criss, Kaila Kirkman, Whitney Warren and Chelsea Clark are the
seniors who will be leading the Eagle charge this season. Mink, Warren and Clark
are vying for the top spot, with all three engaged in heavily-fought challenge
matches.

“I’m pretty excited,” Briones said. “I’ve got three girls battling for that
No. 1 spot, there’s no spot set yet and I’ve got my doubles teams going back and
forth so it’s real competitive. I think the big thing is their attitudes. I love
it.

“Liz has got power, Whitney is constant and Chelsea has a little bit of both.
Their giving each other some good matches,” Briones said.

Attitude was a word Briones used often when refereeing to his team. He noted
that the improved attitude, both on and off the court, has the team in a
position to make a good run this season.

“We were 8-5 last year, so we’re expecting a lot out of these girls this
year. Their attitudes reflect that. They’ve got some really good attitudes. They
want to win their first match and roll from there,” he said.

The first match of the season for South will determine the Putnam County
champs as they go against the GHS Tiger Cubs. Briones acknowledged that GHS
coach Trish Lowe always has her team ready and it will be a challenge for his
team.

“Greencastle has always been our biggest nemesis, them and Northview, they
(the team) are really excited about this year.”

A coach is always concerned about team conditioning early in the season, but
Briones said that because of his squad’s dedication in the off-season has them
ready to burst out of the gate.

“I think conditioning is a lot better than in the past. We’ve done a lot more
running this year,” Briones said. “I think in years past, this is the most
conditioned team I’ve had. I think a lot of it is their attitude. In the past
they never really wanted to run and I don’t hear that this year. They’re all
really excited.”

Briones received a nice surprise as the season began as he noticed the
improved play from Megan Klotz. He commented on her attitude, her dedication in
the off-season and her work habits. Briones also is impressed with Clark whose
leadership and dedication he hopes will affect her teammates.

“Megan Klotz has really gotten a lot better since than last year,” he said.
“A fantastic attitude and good work ethic. I’m really excited about her. Chelsea
Clark, I’m really proud of her. As a senior she’s put a lot of time into it and
her game’s improved tremendously and it kind of rubs off on everybody. They know
it’s going to take and work hard.”

South Putnam opens their season against Greencastle at home at 4:30 Tuesday.

One may be asked that question when you visit the baseball diamond at South
Putnam by head coach Harold Campbell and pitching coach Emmitt Carney. They want
fans to hear the rumble of the Eagles approaching and ultimately roaring passed.

Sophomore pitcher Brice Steinbaker is off to a 1-0 start. [Click to enlarge]

South Putnam is off to a quick start in
the ’08 campaign, sweeping county and conference adversary Cloverdale. In two
games the Eagles have recorded 27 runs while allowing only two.

The Eagles are comprised of two seniors, two juniors, seven sophomores and
four freshmen.

“We’ve got a big class of sophomores that are the heart of the team,”
Campbell said. “We’ve added a couple of talented freshmen that will have to help
us this year.”

Of its two seniors, Adam Hammond is South’s only returning senior who saw
action last year. Fellow senior Josh Sanders was a member of the track team last
season, but Campbell believes that he can make an impact on the diamond.
Campbell commented that it might take Sanders a little while to shake the rust
off. He also noted Sanders’ cannon of an arm and lightning speed will be an
asset the Eagles will utilize.

Campbell expressed that last year’s team might have sneaked up on people and
surprised them but that it would be a different scenario this season. He
believes the time they’ve devoted in the off-season will propel them through the
season.

“I think no one really expected too much out of South Putnam last season.
This season we don’t have that advantage where we catch somebody off sleeping
and surprise somebody, so the guys know they have to work that much harder,”
Campbell said.

With winning the name of the game, Campbell is expecting everyone to
contribute and that might mean some upperclassmen spending time in the dugout.

“There’s going to be some games where a senior is on the bench thinking ‘Hey,
that young guy’s out there playing’, but we’ve got a group that understands
their roles,” Campbell said. “They know they’re going to do what is expected at
the time they need to do it to win some ball game.”

“We felt like last season things just fell together at the end of the season.
We made that run to the sectional championship and that was with a group of
almost all freshmen,” he said.

Pitching coach Canary is a tool the Eagles utilized in the off-season and
will continue to use throughout. Canary is an associate scout for the Atlanta
Braves and has been instructing for more than 20 years.

Campbell is also anticipates some big things out of sophomore Brice
Steinbaker on the mound. He expects Steinbaker and junior Noah Boswell to
provide some quality innings on the rubber.

Some goals the Eagles have set for themselves include a 14 wins season, at
least four wins by the 10-run rule and sweep two conference opponents.

They also expect to bring home the sectional and conference titles.

“I challenged them to work even harder than they did last year and we’re just
excited. We’re going to see what they can do,” Campbell commented.

South Putnam continues its season at home against Cascade at 4:30 p.m.
Monday.

South Putnam won game one 11-1 in the fifth inning. The game began Monday,
but was suspended in the top of the fifth due to rain and field conditions. It
continued Wednesday, prior to the start of game two.

South pitcher Brice Steinbaker gave up only one run and had five strikeouts
in his first outing. Eagle catcher Derek Dean reached base in all four plate
appearances, scoring three times. He hit an RBI triple to open things up in the
fifth.

The Eagles won game two 16-1 in the fifth inning. South’s Noah Boswell
pitched four innings, giving up only one run with 11 strikeouts. Cameron
Chestnut came in to close the game, striking out two in one inning of work.

Sophomore Nathan Welty scored three times and hit a two-run home run in the
fifth .

“I was very pleased with how focused our guys were this week,” South Putnam
coach Harold Campbell said. “They made very few mental mistakes during both
games. We focused on being disciplined at the plate and just putting the bat on
the ball. We wanted to put pressure on Cloverdale’s defense.

“Defensively we made great plays behind our two starting pitchers,” he
continued. “We seem to have a very balanced lineup offensively. This year our
seven, eight and nine hitters are capable of putting the ball over the fence. We
hope to carry this early season momentum against Cascade next week.”

No statistics were available for Cloverdale.

The Clovers (0-2, 0-2 WCC) were back in action Thursday at Shakamak. They
take the field again at 4:30 p.m. today at Eminence. South Putnam (2-0, 2-0 WCC)
hosts Cascade at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

A two-run lead seemed huge in that light.

It was the Clovers who were in trouble, though, as senior pitcher Nicole
Mowery sustained a hand injury and allowed six runs in the top of the fourth.

That was only the beginning, though, as Clover relievers Elizabeth Wiley and
Jennifer Wiley allowed 12 more Eagle runs.

In the end, South had an 18-6 victory, a far cry from Monday’s pitchers’
duel.

South Putnam coach Evonne Canary was pleased with the offensive outburst from
her Eagles (2-0, 2-0 WCC).

As the Cloverdale faithful look on, South Putnam’s Meghan Canary drives in the first of the Eagles’ 18 runs Wednesday night. [Click to enlarge]

“I think it definitely gives them
confidence in what they’re able to do. We actually did struggle some in getting
the ball in play the first night and had a little better opportunity of that
tonight,” Canary said. “Any time you can put the ball in play, it’s an asset.”

An Oceaia Boetjer RBI in the top of the fourth tied the game. Alex Boyce
drove Boetjer in three batters later to give the Eagles the lead.

In the next inning, Boyce once again drove in Boetjer to make the score 7-2,
a run that was ultimately the winner for the Eagles.

“I think it’s a real confidence booster for the girls. They came in off of a
long spring break and some bad weather, so they really haven’t had an
opportunity to get out there and practice really hard. I’m proud of them,”
Canary said.

Boetjer, who relieved starter Samantha Tomasino in the third inning, also
earned the win for the Eagles.

For new Cloverdale coach Stacey Falls, the loss is a matter of keeping things
in perspective. Cloverdale (0-2, 0-2 WCC) struggled to a 6-19 record last season
and are having to learn a new system this spring. They stood toe-to-toe with the
Eagles on Monday and looked impressive on Wednesday until Mowery’s injury.

“I think they turned a lot of heads on Monday and I think that’s what their
intent is still to do,” Falls said. “When we’re inexperienced in a lot of the
things that I’m asking them to do–we have a lot of new left-handed batters–of
course we’re going to have off nights. But we’re going to pick it up and go from
there.

Even in Wednesday’s game, Falls used it as a time to experiment once things
started to get out of hand.

“We can look at it as an advantage or a disadvantage. The advantage is that
later down the road, we got a lot of looks and worked on a lot of things that
normally in a big game when it’s 0-0, you’re not going to take advantage of,”
Falls said.

“They’re competitors. They want to win. They’re in the mindset that they can,
so I think that’s the most important thing for us right now. They are starting
to believe,” she continued.

While the Eagles return plenty of experience, they also have some young
talent. Canary was happy with the confidence they gained Wednesday, but knows
there is more work to do.

“We’ve got a lot of improving we need to do as far as errors and knowing what
we need to do. For the most part, I thought they did a good job. They stayed up,
especially in the first game. They stayed composed and were able to battle
back.”

Cloverdale visits Owen Valley at 4:30 p.m. today. South Putnam hosts Cascade
a 4:30 p.m. Monday.

At Cloverdale

South Putnam 000 650 7 — 18

Cloverdale 101 001 3 — 6

Tomasino, Boetjer (3) and Canary, Lollar (7); Mowery, E. Wiley (5), J. Wiley
(5) and Byrd, Langdon (6).

WP — Boetjer.

LP — E. Wiley.

2B — Canary, Boetjer (SP), McCammon (Cl).

Next game — Cloverdale (0-2, 0-2 WCC) visits Owen Valley at 4:30 p.m. today.
South Putnam (2-0, 2-0 WCC) hosts Cascade a 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Clover pitcher Josh Flory (3) looks back as South Putnam’s Cameron Chestnutt takes his lead from second base. [Click to enlarge]

South Putnam coach Harold Campbell and
Cloverdale coach Tim Savini acknowledged after the game the importance
of starting the season against a conference and county opponent. Both
also voiced concern about the weather but hope they’ll be able to get
the games in.

The Eagles held a 3-1 advantage over Cloverdale when the rain
in at the top of the fifth inning. The teams will resume action today
at 4:30 p.m. at South Putnam.

Both squads showed the rust from the off-season but it was South who got on the board first.

In the bottom of the first, Brice Steinbaker hit a routine fly
ball to center that should have ended the inning. The Cloverdale
fielder misplayed the ball and let it hit the turf leading to Cameron
Chestnut and Derek Dean rounding the bases. With the runs, the Eagles
went up 2-0.

Cloverdale got on the board in the third when starting pitcher
Josh Flory connected on a shot that found its way over the right field
fence, pulling the Clovers within one run.

South Putnam answered back in the bottom of the third when Dean scored
for a second time, bringing the score to its current 3-1 state.

The Eagles and Clovers will finish up Monday’s matchup Tuesday
at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday’s game will directly followed the game weather and
field condition permitting.