South Central postseason runs end

Cougars top WSS, fall to Altamont in sectional title game

Lady Cougars’ season ends with loss to WSS in sectional

South Central catcher Amelia Montes goes up to snare a pitch during the Lady Cougars’ sectional contest at Altamont.

South Central’s Maddox Robb lays down a bunt during the Cougars’ win over Stew-Stras in the sectional game last week.

Lady Cougar Abu Shuler lays down a bunt during the sectional semifinal game in Altamont last week.

South Central’s Coen West recorded a complete-game win over Windsor/Stew-Stras in the IHSA Sectional semifinal game at Lions Park in Kinmundy.

South Central shortstop Callaway Smith is ready to tag out a Windsor/Stew-Stras baserunner during the Cougars’ win over the Hatchets in the IHSA Sectional semifinal last week.

The South Central baseball and softball teams saw their postseason runs ended at the sectional level.
A couple of days after South Central squeezed by Windsor-Stew/Stras with a run in the seventh inning of the sectional sectional semifinal, they were on the losing end of a one-run loss to Altamont.
The Lady Cougars were knocked from the postseason with a 10-0 loss to Windsor/Stew-Stras.
In the sectional championship game, South Central jumped out to the lead with a run in the second inning.
Altamont countered with a run in the bottom of the second, then added a run to go up 2-1 after three innings.
South Central knotted the score in the fourth inning, and after Altamont recorded two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Cougars again tied the score, 4-4, in the top of the sixth inning.
Altamont went up 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth, then shut down South Central in the seventh inning for the sectional title.
“It was just a good back and forth game,” Cougars coach Curt Jones said, “and, yeah, I think they made us pay for a hit batter and a couple of walks.
“But that’s part of the game.
“It’s frustrating, because I thought we made some really good pitches in certain situations and they stuck their butt out and had a swinging bunt there with the bases loaded. That’s baseball and there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said.
“We had a game plan and I was happy with how the game plan went, because we hit him (Altamont pitcher Dillan Elam) way better than we normally do, as far as what we were trying to do.
“It would have been nice to get one more,” Jones said. “That’s what you say at this time of year, you just want one more.”
South Central put up a fight, and Jones said, “That’s something that you try to get your kids to be like so that they can perform in these kinds of situations.
“I just told them that I couldn’t be more proud of how this went and how you played and how you represented us, and still get a ton of respect even when you lose.
“I had a lot of their kids shaking my hand,” Jones said. “It’s a respect thing.
“They were going, phew, man, we barely got by you,” Jones said.
Jones retired from teaching a few years ago, so he doesn’t have as much contact with his players as he used to, but he still has the same coaching philosophy.
“I’m old and I resist change, but even though it’s a different group, I still try to get them going with the same speeches and same direction, and you want them to perform in these kinds of situations.
“I couldn’t be more happy with how things went other than the final score,” he said.
The Cougars advanced to the sectional final behind the complete-game effort of Coen West.
West threw 94 pitches, giving up two runs on just four hits while striking out nine and walking just one.
“That’s probably the best game I’ve thrown all season,” West said. “It’s definitely the least amount of pitches I’ve thrown in a single game in seven innings.”
West was a little worried after giving up a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, but felt better after seeing the Cougars respond with two runs in the top of the second inning when Evan Hoover and Max Magnus singled with the bases loaded.
“I kind of felt down on myself, kind of feeling that game was over at that point,” West said.
“To score those two runs after that happened, I felt, yeah, we’re all right,” he said.
Courtesy runner Luke Shumate scored the winning run in the top of the seventh on an error, and West still looked strong in shutting down WSS in the bottom of the seventh.
“I was a little pumped up since it was tied the whole game and we had just scored. I was ready to go,” West said.
Jones was pleased with not just the overall performance by West, but how he responded after he gave up the home run.
“I was a little worried, not with the home run but how he would react after the home run,” Jones said.
“You don’t know what can happen in these big games,” he said. “But he settled down and he did well; I was really pleased with that.
“He’s pitched well all spring and had one bad outing,” Jones said. “He’s a typical leader.”
Jones still had confidence in his players after falling behind 2-0.
“Me, personally, I thought, it’s the first inning – so what?
“He was really good in the seventh inning – he went right at them,” Jones said.