Worth County got several hits against Stewartsville and had their share of baserunners. Stewartsville did not get a single hit until the very end. However, Stewartsville's lone hit and Worth County's lone error led to a walk-off 5-4 Stewartsville win in the opening round of the Union Star Tournament Wednesday. The loss was tough to swallow considering the fact that the Tigers played better than they had in their last two losses. They had come off an ugly 13-1 blowout loss against South Harrison in which the Bulldogs got their first win of the year. They then proceeded to lose 10-4 to Polo in a loss that was just as bad; according to Coach Todd Simmons, what made the Polo loss even worse was the fact that they had a two hour bus ride home afterwards.
Following the Polo loss, Coach Simmons followed Northeast Nodaway's lead and made wholesale changes to the lineup in an effort to get better production out of his players. Brooke Gilland moved from shortstop to catcher, Brooke Adams moved from centerfield to shortstop, Sidney Davenport came off the bench to play third base, Paige McPike moved from right to left field, Casey Smyser came off the bench to play right field, Amanda Downing moved from first base to center field, and Ashley Reynolds moved from third base to first base. Northeast's lineup changes sparked a four-game winning streak that ended Wednesday night against King City; although Worth County's lineup changes didn't produce a win, they did improve the fielding.
Three of the changes produced immediate results. Brooke Gilland played behind the plate like she had done so all her life; she saved a ton of wild pitches by scooping them up and showed that she had a rocket arm behind the plate as she threw a fast runner out stealing. Brooke Adams provided a lot of encouragement to the other players; she was showing Davenport the ropes at third and was keeping pitcher Delaney Davidson's spirits up when she was fighting the strike zone. Sidney Davenport provided some pop in the lineup as she got a hit and reached on an error and put the ball in play every time up.
But that was not enough to add up to a win. The Tigers were pressing, trying in vain to find the big play that would reverse their recent slide. Worth County tried to jump on Stewartsville early, but couldn't score in the first inning. Brooke Gilland reached on a dropped third strike, and Ashley Reynolds hit a roller up the middle that got through for a hit. Delaney Davidson popped out for the infield fly rule for an automatic out but the second baseman dropped the ball and it rolled all the way behind first, allowing Reynolds and Gilland to advance. But Tonya Troutwine popped out to short to end the first.
Delaney Davidson walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the first, but she pitched her way out of that jam as Keshia Martin popped out to Davidson and then Katie Roach struck out on three pitches.
Worth County finally got on board in the second. With one out, Amanda Downing walked. Casey Smyser forced her at second, but back to back errors by the second baseman loaded the bases. Brooke Gilland singled to left to score Smyser and Paige McPike to make it 2-0.
But that lead did not hold up as Davidson continued to fight the strike zone. Emily Klepees walked and then beat out a force play at second as Nicole Ramey reached safely. Chelsea Candler hit a grounder to Ashley Reynolds at first, who tried to go home for the force, but Klepees was safe. Ramey scored on a wild pitch. Mary Roach hit a grounder to Tonya Troutwine at second; Troutwine tried unsuccessfully to throw home to retire Candler; Stewartsville led 3-2 after two innings.
With two outs, Sidney Davenport singled and stole second, but Amanda Downing hit a line shot that was snared by the third baseman for the third out of the third inning. Stewartsville went down in order in their half of the third. With one out in the fourth, Paige McPike walked, but Brooke Adams hit a towering fly ball that was caught in center and Brooke Gilland popped out. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Courtney Nichols walked for Stewartsville and attempted to steal second, but Brooke Gilland threw her out and Delaney Davidson struck out Meghan Langley to end the fourth.
With time running out on the 1 1/2 hour time limit, Delaney Davidson singled between third and short and Rebecca Moore came in as courtesy runner for her. Tonya Troutwine forced her at second, but Sidney Davenport reached on an error and Amanda Downing walked. There were two outs and the bottom of the order was coming up, but unlike the poem, Casey did not strike out as Smyser's grounder rolled through the shortstop's legs to score two runs to put Worth County up 4-3.
The Tigers had the heart of the order coming up for the last inning and Brooke Gilland singled with one out in the sixth, but Ashley Reynolds hit a towering fly ball that was caught in left field and Delaney Davidson grounded out. Delaney Davidson struck out Katie Roach in the bottom of the sixth for the first out, but then walked Klepees and Ramey to put the winning run on base. Davidson continued to fight the strike zone but Jenny Hutton helped her out by chasing a high pitch for strike three. Davidson got Nichols down to her final strike, but then Nichols hit a slow roller into no-man's land between third and short for Stewartsville's only hit of the game. Brooke Adams tried to throw to first to retire her at first and end the game, but her throw was wild and both runs scored to give Stewartsville the walkoff win.
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