Northeast Nodaway was flying high after an impressive 5-1 win over Mercer in which pitcher Taylor Dougan struck out 14 batters. But they came down to earth in the opener of their tournament as they fell to the Longhorns 13-5. "We can't wait until the third inning to get going," said coach Rex Wallace to his charges after the game. Northeast had baserunners in all of their innings, but with the exception of the third, could never get the big hit that would make the game competitive. And twice, they had runners thrown out trying to steal bases to kill rallies.
Emily Bryant started off the Bluejay first with a pop fly single behind second that dropped in for a hit, but she was promptly caught stealing. Rachel Runde singled to right center to restart the inning, Taylor Dougan struck out, and Hallie Oelze walked. But Blair Schmitz struck out to end the threat in the first.
On the defensive side, Northeast had trouble defending against the bunt; they also struggled with making the routine plays at times. They also made some spectacular plays. They made two errors in the first inning as they struggled to defend against South Nodaway's bunting game. Dougan, who only gave up three walks in the Mercer game, walked one and hit another batter; catcher Blair Schmitz threw away a pickoff try to let in two runs, and another scored on an outfield error. The inning could have been worse, but Hallie Oelze fielded a grounder with one out and a runner on second and threw to Rachel Runde at first for the second out. The runner tried to take off for third after the throw, but Runde threw a strike to Bryant at third for the double play. But the damage had been done and Northeast was down 5-0 after one inning.
Freshman Katrina Freemeyer, who showed some pop in her bat during the day, started off the Northeast second with a pop fly double that dropped on the right field line and rolled away from the Longhorn fielders. But she was stranded there as Sarah Fox and Mallorie Peters struck out; Freemeyer tried to steal third, but was thrown out for the third out of the inning.
Two consecutive batters for South Nodaway reached base safely;one when Peters, playing second, failed to cover first. Following a walk, a 3-run double highlighted South Nodaway's six run second that put the game out of reach at 11-0.
Northeast finally got on the scoreboard. Kristan Judd reached on an error when South Nodaway second baseman Marissa VanPelt got shorthopped by a grounder. Bryant then dug out a low pitch and drove it to the center field wall to plate Judd. Bryant then scored on a wild pickoff attempt. Rachel Runde started off Northeast again when she hit a slow roller down the third base line and there was no play. Taylor Dougan hit a pop fly for what should have been the first out of the inning, but everyone froze on it and everyone was safe. Oelze then laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Blair Schmitz grounded out for a force play at the plate but then Katrina Freemeyer and Sarah Fox walked and Mallorie Peters grounded out to make it 11-5.
South Nodaway plated two more in the top of the fourth and Northeast could not answer; Runde was hit by a pitch, but Taylor Dougan's fly ball to center was caught despite a three-way collision and Oelze grounded out.
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