Once again, Northeast Nodaway fell into a big hole as they trailed 8-0 to North Nodaway after two innings. But as Coach Rex Wallace said, "They have a lot of heart." He was not merely trying to sugarcoat a 13-5 loss to South Nodaway; he was stating fact. The Bluejays made things interesting against the Mustangs, rallying to trail 8-7 before North Nodaway got three insurance runs in the top of the fifth. Northeast had another rally in them as they plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but they fell short, falling to North Nodaway 11-9. The loss was their second of the Northeast Nodaway tournament, which meant that they played in the consolation game Saturday.
Emily Bryant started on the mound and ran into trouble right off the bat. Northeast committed seven errors in the first two innings of play and North Nodaway took full advantage. Ali Ramsey reached when her sharp grounder went under Rachel Runde's legs at third. Paige Baker walked, moving her to second; Natasha Blackford singled. However, Sarah Fox got the ball in from left field quickly and the relay throw got Blackford at the plate for the first out. But singles from Morgan Wood and Nikki Larabee plated the first two North Nodaway runs and then Mallorie Peters couldn't corral Sara Frueh's slap hit at second, leading to another run to make it 3-0.
Like the South Nodaway game, Northeast was never able to get the big hit until it was too late. A single from Rachel Runde and a pair of two-out walks from Hallie Oelze and Blair Schmitz loaded the bases, but Sarah Fox popped out to end the threat.
Sarah Fox dropped Samatha Smyser's fly ball for a two-base error to start the North Nodaway second. Ali Ramsey grounded out to Runde at third and Smyser broke for third; Dougan's return throw was wild, allowing Smyser to score. Baker walked and back to back singles from Natasha Blackford and Morgan Wood scored a run. Taylor Miller hit a grounder than Hallie Oelze muffed at short and then Fox booted at left; that scored two more runs for the Mustangs. The errors kept coming as Mallorie Peters mishandled Sarah Frueh's slap, making it 8-0. That chased Bryant from the mound and Coach Rex Wallace shuffled his defense trying to find a combination of players that would field the ball solidly behind the pitching. "The pitching and catching are our strengths," he said. "We need to find a defense behind our pitchers." Dougan came on in relief and pitched strongly, allowing Northeast the chance to make a game out of it. The fielding behind her did better as well. Dougan struck out Breana Chesnut to end the second and Northeast finally started hitting the ball.
The Bluejays used a two-out rally to finally get on the board in the second. Kristan Judd and Emily Bryant walked on eight pitches and Rachel Runde hit a shot off the third baseman's glove that went for a single and loaded the bases. Taylor Dougan then walked in a run and then Hallie Oelze hit a pop fly double down the left field line that scored Dougan and Runde to make it 8-3.
Coach Wallace shuffled his defense again, putting Runde at second and putting Katrina Freemeyer at third. North Nodaway got runners on first and third with one out, but Natasha Blackford flied out to leftfielder Sarah Fox, whose fielding became stronger as the game went on; Fox's strong throw kept a run from scoring. Wood grounded out to third to end the threat. Northeast scored two more in the fourth to make it 8-5; Freemeyer walked and Allison Carter hit a grounder to third that she threw away for a three-base error, scoring Freemeyer. Kristan Judd grounded out to short, scoring Carter.
Aided by a pair of strikeouts by Taylor Dougan in the top of the fourth, Northeast was able to keep North Nodaway off the scoreboard and make things interesting. Rachel Runde reached on an error when the third baseman got played by a hop. Taylor Dougan, trying to bunt her over, popped out but Hallie Oelze got hit by a pitch. Blair Schmitz and Sarah Fox walked to score Runde and then Katrina Freemeyer singled in Oelze to make it 8-7.
North Nodaway finally got going and bunched together four consecutive singles for a run; Dougan then got wild and walked in a run and hit a batter to force in another to make it 11-7. But she settled down and got a strikeout and then Sarah Fox made a diving catch in left field to take away extra bases that might have let in two or three more runs.
Emily Bryant led off the last inning for Northeast by reaching on an error by the shortstop as she got played by the hop. Rachel Runde singled to left. Taylor Dougan grounded out to advance them and then Hallie Oelze doubled down the left field line to plate Bryant and Runde to make it 11-9. Blair Schmitz popped out to the catcher, but Sarah Fox and Katrina Freemeyer walked to put the winning run on base. But Allison Carter grounded out to end the threat.
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