Worth County's girls won their first district game in three years, beating South Nodaway 3-1 Wednesday before falling to Stanberry Thursday 10-0. The two teams were evenly matched on Wednesday night as Worth County and South Nodaway split two regular season meetings in the regular season. The first two innings were scoreless as both teams had to overcome the jitters. But in the third inning, Worth County's first five batters reached safely and they would score all three of their runs in that frame.
The Tigers had a lot of positives to look back on following the end of their season Thursday afternoon at the hands of Stanberry. They won seven games, six more than they had won the year before under first-year coach David Gilland. With the new coach, the players had to buy into what he was teaching them and they did and it started with the little things like everyone moving whenever a ball was hit into play and the team was on the field.
The two biggest areas of improvement that the team showed were in the ability to make outstanding defensive plays and saving runs and in plate discipline. In the third inning, the improved plate discipline was on full display. Claire Andrews, leading off the inning, fell behind 1-2 against a good pitcher; however, she fouled off three different pitches and then walked. She would later score when Kristen Andrews slapped a bunt past third to score her easily. Katie Mullock later walked to force in Haven Schottel and then Kaitlyn Davidson showed some more plate discipline. She fouled off two pitches with two strikes on her before hitting a chopper down the first base line. She was out on the play but she drove in a run.
Those were all the runs Worth County would score as South Nodaway, who had been averaging around 10 errors a game, suddenly cleaned up their fielding and made plays in the field. The challenge was to see if they could hold on in a low-scoring game and they did thanks to some outstanding defensive plays.
--In the first inning, the Longhorns loaded up the bases with one out and Sydney Murphy came to bat. But she flied out to Haven Schottel in center field, who doubled a runner off second to end the inning with no damage done. Haven would make three catches that night.
--After Worth County jumped out to a 3-0 lead, they were in hot water the rest of the game as South Nodaway got a lot of baserunners on but could not get the big hit to bring them all in. In the fifth with nobody out, Kacey Smyser took a smash hit off her leg that would otherwise have gone into center field for a hit. She was hobbled in pain, but she chased down the ball and threw out Salena Hines at first.
--That turned out to be a big item in the inning as the next two batters reached on a walk and an error and the heart of the order came up. But Smyser settled down and struck out two batters with runners on second and third to get out of the inning.
--In the South Nodaway 6th, it promised to be an easier inning with the lower part of the inning coming up, but that was not the case as Makayla Hilsabeck hit a squib off her bat that died as she reached safely. Stanberry hoses their field down lightly before every game, deadening balls hit right in front of the plate. That turned out to be a factor. Smyser then issued a four-pitch walk, throwing two wild pitches in the process to move Hilsabeck to third. Claire Andrews came on to replace Smyser.
--With runners on second and third, South Nodaway hit a grounder to Sydney Thummel at third. But Sydney played strongly during districts and she threw a strike to catcher Rebecca Moore for the first out of the inning.
--Claire Andrews then walked and hit a batter to force in a run and Coach Dave Gilland put Smyser back on the mound. The move turned out well because it allowed Smyser to refocus and pitch better; this was not the only time that Gilland had lifted Smyser and then put her back in later in the game successfully. Smyser then induced a popup and a groundout to end the inning.
--The Tigers still had to get through the heart of the order in the 7th, but they did so with the help of another outstanding defensive play. With out out, Murphy singled for South Nodaway and then Hilsabeck hit a pop fly to no man's land behind the mound. Many times, those balls drop in for a scratch hit, but shortstop Katie Mullock made a running catch and doubled off Murphy to end the game.
Worth County ran into a hot Stanberry team that had beaten Jefferson earlier in the year and went down 10-0 in five innings. They made a number of outstanding defensive plays in that game as well to keep the game going as long as possible, but they could only muster two baserunners against Stanberry. Some teams have a way of elevating their games come districts; Stanberry had only beaten Worth County 7-5 earlier in the year and had trailed 5-1 at one point.
--In the second, Kristen Andrews, who had been a steady hand at second base all year, caught a hard-hit line drive. Later in the inning, Kacey Smyser took another shot off her leg but managed to stay with the play and throw out the runner.
--Coach Dave Gilland could have almost played Haven as a single outfielder and had six infielders. In the third inning, a hard-hit ball down the left field line got by leftfielder Sidney Davenport, but Haven Schottel came from her center field position all the way to the left field corner and fielded the ball. In the fifth, she did something similar, backing up Claire Andrews in right. Earlier in the year, she made a running catch of a pop fly that was hit on the edge of the grass behind shortstop. She showed the most range of any outfielder we've seen in our 25 years of covering high school sports.
--In the third, Brianna Fletchall made a leaping catch of a high throw at first; this is the sort of thing that will give infielders confidence to make strong throws to first next year.
--Catcher Rebecca Moore will be missed; she made a strong throw to nail a runner at second in the 3rd. There was a single and there was no play at the plate and the season was starting to slip away (Stanberry scored four in the inning to make it 6-0), but Rebecca made a good heads-up play to limit the damage. She blocked countless pitches in the dirt that would have gone for wild pitches otherwise and she always kept the team focused by letting them know where to throw. These little things are the sorts of things that will be difficult to replace next year.
--Even though the Tigers were down 6-0, Sydney Thummel kept playing hard until the end. In the fourth, she knocked down a sharp liner and made a strong throw to take a hit away. In the fifth, she hustled to field a bunt and then successfully race the runner to third for a force.
Half of the teams in the state lost their first game in districts; Worth County won theirs, putting them ahead of over half the teams in the state. The other fact of life is that all the teams, except for the first and third place finishers in state, will finish with a loss. The Tigers will have a strong 8th grade class coming up, meaning that they will have a chance to build off the positives of this year.
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