Patriots beat SAHS

Consistency was the key.
South Adams entered Tuesday’s match against Jay County having shot three straight sub-200 rounds. The Patriots averaged 217 strokes over the course of their first three nine-hole rounds this season.
But the Starfires struggled at Portland Golf Club while JCHS matched its average to finish its home portion of the schedule with a 217-228 victory.
“Surprise, surprise, surprise,” said Patriot coach Butch Gray after his team celebrated senior night with a victory. “I’m very happy, because I’ve been looking at the scores in the paper of what South Adams has been doing. They’ve been under 200 three times … and our girls shot their consistent rounds.
“I’m pleased with the win.”
South Adams shot 26 strokes worse than its average in the defeat. It had carded scores of 197, 196 and 195 in its previous three rounds.
“We had three rounds in a row where we were under 200, and really our goal this year was to do that once. We managed three in a row,” said SAHS coach Seth Sprunger, whose team dropped to 4-3. “We’re not happy with this round at all. It’s just going to be a matter of figuring out how we’re going to respond to this …”
It was a night of firsts for Katlin Petro of the Patriots. She moved up to the No. 3 spot for the first time in her career, broke 50 for the first time and walked away with her first medalist honor.
The sophomore opened with a bogey on the 348-yard, par-4 ninth hole and played solid golf throughout her round. She nearly closed with a par, leaving her putt on the eighth green just inches short before tapping in for a bogey and a 49.
Gray said Petro was nervous about her new position in the lineup, “but she comes out and shoots a nice 49 for us. That was a pleasant surprise.
“She changed drivers,” he added. “I thought she hit the one she was using tonight better.
“And she went left-hand low on the putting, and I thought that helped her. It kept her from breaking down on the wrist. She may have not made a bunch of them, but when she missed them, she was closer.”
Kristen Lehman and Kristal All shared the best round for the Starfires at 56.
Alysia Fennig had an up-and-down round for Jay County, finishing with a pair of pars but no bogeys. She played even on the 275-yard, par-4 first hole and the 119-yard, par-3 eighth as she followed Petro with a 52.
Brittany Stevens, one of two seniors on the squad along with Cortney Myers, bogeyed three of the first five holes Tuesday. She went on to finish with a 55.
Freshman Maddison Baughn rounded out the team score with a 61. Whitney Gray shot 65, and Myers finished at 68.
“The leadership out of those two has been fabulous,” said Gray of Stevens and Myers. “I’m going to miss those girls so much next year. … They’re great girls to be around, and they’re great with the other girls.”
The Patriots finished the home portion of their season at 3-1, with their lone loss coming to Anderson. They will play their final eight events on the road before traveling to Bluffton’s Timber Ridge Golf Club for the sectional tournament on Sept. 17.
Lehman had the only par of the day for South Adams against the Patriots, and that came on the 275-yard, par-4 opening hole. She added one bogey for her 56, and All bogeyed three holes on the way to posting the same score. Samantha Schwartz shot 57, and Abbie Fisher finished off the team score with a 59.
Adrianna Teeter came in with a 61, and Maddie Graber shot 70.
“I don’t know if their focus was entirely there,” said Sprunger. “I saw a lot of uncharacteristic bad swings. … We’ve been pretty disciplined here for a while in putting some good swings together, but for whatever reason tonight there were a lot of errors. And we didn’t putt well at all. …
“We’ve just got to figure out how to maintain our focus.
“We’re still above where I figured we would be in terms of our record. I just want to make sure we don’t allow this score to get into our heads. We’ve got to make sure we bounce back.”[[In-content Ad]]