Brownstown Central’s girls golf team hasn’t played very many 18-hole meets this season.
The Braves, whose home course is nine-hole Hickory Hills Golf Couse, competed at just their second full-course meet of the year at the Mid-Southern Conference meet Saturday at Shadowood Golf Course in Seymour and came away with a third-place finish.
Behind a score of 437, the Braves got another taste of what they’ll need next week when the postseason starts at Otis Park in Bedford.
Coach Brandon Allman conceded his girls haven’t had to deal with the attrition of an 18-hole match. A lot of that is due to the ever-earlier starts to the school year, which keeps his players from being able to compete at early season invitationals.
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"Coming in, I was really hoping we would be around 425 or below, and I know that was at least our potential," Allman said. "A 437 on a beautiful day like this, there were just some ups and downs and inconsistent play. We’ve got to find ways to be more consistent."
Allman said his girls would make a par or a bogey and then string together multiple holes where they would shoot at least 1-over at each stop.
Still, the Braves aren’t panicking. They know they have a week before sectional play begins and believe they can get things corrected.
"I honestly think the girls can cut off 20 strokes or so by then," Allman said. "If we can get down to where we’re capable of, around 400 or 405, that would make me feel happy. It would also give us a chance to get out of sectional."
Payton Ault led the way for the Braves with a 105, followed closely by Ashlyn Fox’s 108 and Lexie Satterthwaite’s 109. All three girls made the all-conference team.
Ashley Schroer and Hannah Hackman both made all-conference honorable mention with scores of 115 and 119, respectively.
Scottsburg took home the team conference title with a 413 with Corydon Central finishing second at 421. After Brownstown, Silver Creek (468) was fourth, North Harrison (469) was fifth, Clarksville (475) was sixth and Salem (517) was seventh.
The Warriors’ Avery Bottorff was the conference medalist with an 88.
Going forward, Allman said he likes what he has seen from his girls once they get the ball on the green. Heading into sectional play, however, they’ll need to do a better job of tossing the ball onto the green.
"I think our putting has improved immensely, and I think we’ve cut those strokes down," Allman said. "Now, we’re still too many shots around the green … and our girls struggled with chipping back and forth a couple of times."