Northeast Nodaway began showing signs of playing with one of the upper-level teams in the area. The problem is that it only took two bad innings to sink them against South Nodaway as their losing streak has now hit six games. This time, they fell 11-1 in six innings against the Longhorns. They will have to figure out a way to hit fast pitching if these results are to improve as DeKalb's pitcher is only a freshman and South Nodaway's pitcher is only a sophomore.
The Bluejays are still looking for answers to get themselves over the top against the upper division as Coach Rex Wallace shuffled his lineup once again. This time, he put Rachel Runde at catcher, Sarah Fox at third base, Kristan Judd in left field, had Allison Carter and Hallie Oelze leading off, and moved former leadoff hitters Taylor Dougan and Emily Bryant to the 7th and 6th slots in the batting order. Sarah Fox was moved from the 6th to the 8th slot in the order. Mallorie Peters moved up to the third slot in the lineup.
Like the last game they played against the Longhorns, Northeast had their chances, but could not get the big hit that would start a rally and get runs across the plate. In the top of the first, they got runners on with two outs as Mallorie Peters walked and Blair Schmitz hit a sharp single to right. But they were stranded there as Rachel Runde grounded into a force at third to end it.
South Nodaway's first seven batters reached safely as they took a 5-0 lead. Northeast made three errors in the inning and pitcher Taylor Dougan fought the strike zone as she walked three batters. She had three batters down to two strikes, only to lose them to two walks and a single. Marissa VanPelt led off the inning as she bunted and Taylor Dougan threw it away for an error. Kendra Holaday walked and Cheyanne Murphy singled to left, but a strong throw from Kristan Judd kept the run from scoring and set up a possible force at the plate. But Kylee Wiederholt singled to right to score one run after getting two strikes and Brooke Wolf walked after another two-strike count. Rachelle Beattie then grounded for what should have been a force play at the plate, but Sarah Fox threw it away and one run scored on the play. Wiederholt came home when the ball rolled away from Runde and Runde threw the ball away to allow her to score as well. Lindsey Coffman walked to load the bases, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise this time for Northeast, as Fox got the first out of the inning by throwing home on a forceout. Makayla Hilsakeck grounded out to Hallie Oelze at second to score the final run of the inning for South Nodaway.
After Northeast went down in order in the top of the second, Coach Wallace put Runde back in at third, Fox back to left field, Kristan Judd back behind the plate, and inserted Katrina Freemeyer in for Allison Carter in right field. Northeast got two quick outs against South Nodaway as Freemeyer made a nice catch of Cheyanne Murphy's fly ball, but again they couldn't close the deal as Brooke Wolf doubled into the gap in left center and Rachelle Beattie singled to bring her home. But Dougan showed a little more confidence at the mound as she struck out Lindsey Coffman for the third out of the inning.
South Nodaway threatened in the third, but this time, Northeast made a strong play in the field to deny them a run. With one out, Hilsabeck hit a line drive into center for a base hit. Dougan began to fight the strike zone again as she uncorked two wild pitches to move her to third and then lost VanPelt to a walk after having had two strikes on her. But Emily Bryant made a shoestring catch of Holaday's pop fly behind the mound that looked like it would drop in for a scratch hit and then Runde threw out Murphy at first for the third out.
With two outs in the fourth, Northeast tried to manufacture a run but could not score. Rachel Runde hit a sharp grounder that third baseman Cheyanne Murphy knocked down but Runde beat it out. Runde then stole second. But after hitting two hard foul balls down the left field line, Emily Bryant struck out and Northeast remained scoreless.
South Nodaway scored one more in the bottom of the fourth. Dougan struck out Wiederholt to start the inning, but couldn't finish off Brooke Wolf after getting two strikes on her and walked her. Rachelle Beattie bunted to Rachel Runde, who fielded it cleanly, but made an ill-advised throw to second as Wolf was already there. That put runners on first and second with one out instead of a runner on second with two outs. They advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and then Lindsey Coffman grounded to Oelze at second and Wolf was safe at home on a close play at the plate to make it 7-0. Northeast got out of the inning with no further damage done when Marissa McConkey popped out to Dougan and Alexis Nelson grounded out to Hallie Oelze.
Northeast finally got a run across in the fifth thanks to some opportunistic baserunning. With one out, Sarah Fox reached on an error as Murphy threw a grounder into the dirt. Kristan Judd moved her to second with a sharp single to center and then pitcher Kendra Holaday uncorked a wild pitch that barely got away from the catcher. But Fox took off for third and was safe on a close play. Katrina Freemeyer grounded out to score her. Hallie Oelze hit a hard shot off Holaday's glove for a scratch hit, but they could do nothing more as Mallorie Peters grounded out to first to end the inning.
South Nodaway tried to manufacture a run in the fifth, but they were denied. Marissa VanPelt bunted a slow roller past Runde at third and Emily Bryant had to scoop it up; she made a strong throw but VanPelt was safe on a close play. Holaday hit a slap to Taylor Dougan, who hesitated on whether to throw to second or first and wound up having no play. That looked like a big inning in store, but Rachel Runde fielded Cheyanne Murphy's grounder and stepped on third for the first out. Dougan redeemed herself by fielding Kylee Wiederholt's bunt and throwing out VanPelt at third for the force. Brooke Wolf hit a hard grounder down the third base line that might have gone for extra bases had it gone through, but Runde knocked it down and held her to a single that loaded the bases. Runde then got her third putout of the inning as Beattie grounded to her and she stepped on the bag at third for the final out.
With two outs in the top of the sixth, Emily Bryant, who had been hitting the ball hard and foul all afternoon, finally hit one fair to left for a base hit. Taylor Dougan then hustled down the line to beat out a routine grounder to short to put runners on first and second. But Sarah Fox popped out to strand them there.
Lindsey Coffman walked to lead off the South Nodaway sixth and the backbreaker came on the next play. Marissa McConkey bunted a pop fly in the air that was a possible double play. Taylor Dougan came on the dead run, but it dropped just before she got to it. Blair Schmitz, charging from first, got there and had McConkey out at first with Oelze covering by a clear half-step, but the umpire blew the call and called her safe. Oelze then got shorthopped by Alexis Nelson's grounder to load the bases and then VanPelt's three-run triple aided by the huge South Nodaway field and Kendra Holaday's double ended the game on the 10 run rule.
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