Worth County's softball girls beat out North Nodaway 17-5 in sweltering heat Thursday night to open their season. They scratched and clawed their way on base and used the big bats of Jacklyn Brooks, Katie Mullock, and Claire Andrews to clear the bases. Rikky Hunt started on the mound for the Tigers and got stronger as the day progressed despite the heat.
The Tigers started the game with six freshmen and sophomores, so the challenge was for them to adjust to the speed of the game. There were a few glitches, but they adjusted well enough to make some good defensive plays when they had to. Everyone got on base at least once.
Quinci Schottel showed some really high softball IQ despite only being a freshman; in her first varsity at bat, she timed a changeup perfectly and crushed it into left field for a leadoff hit. That seemed to set the tone on offense for the rest of the game. Slap hitter Kristen Andrews bunted a pop fly that hung in the air between the mound and home plate and it dropped before anyone could get to it for a scratch hit. Katie Mullock then grounded out for the first run of the season to score Quinci and Jacklyn Brooks smoked one between third and short for another run. All of her hits were hard-hit. Sidney Troutwine was out on a close play after a groundout to short, but Rachel Gardner was hit by a pitch to keep the inning going.
One rule change this year is that batters do not have to get out of the way of a pitch but can take one for the team. Previously, batters had to make an effort to get out of the way; however, that rule had been rarely enforced for many years because it was left up to the umpire's judgment. However, batters cannot deliberately step into a pitch in an effort to get hit and take a base.
Payton Adwell reached on a dropped pop fly to bring in a run and made it to second as North Nodaway was throwing it around. Claire Andrews re-injured her throwing shoulder that she had hurt in pole vaulting last spring; however, she showed no ill effects from it Thursday night as she could still hit and field. She hit a ground rule double, a line drive down the right field line that landed just fair and then rolled past the fence. That brought in two more runs and left Worth County up 5-0 after the top of the first.
After a big inning, it is important for teams to have a shut-down inning when they go back out into the field; otherwise, it will let the other team right back into the game. North Nodaway threatened to get right back in the game in the bottom of the first; however, some strong pitching and an outstanding defensive play kept them off the board. Rikky Hunt caught Cambry Schuter, one of North Nodaway's best hitters, looking on a called third strike and then Kristen Andrews made an outstanding defensive play from second base when she made a diving stop of a grounder and threw out Brittany Herndon at first for the third out of the inning to keep it at 5-0.
Kristen Andrews continued to carry the team with her slap hitting; she rolled one past the second baseman for a single with one out and Katie Mullock moved her over to third with a chopper past second that somehow found its way through for a hit. Once again, Jacklyn Brooks cleared the bases for the Tigers as she doubled into the gap in left center to make it 7-0. Rachel Gardner showed a ton of speed as she beat out a chopper to second to plate Brooks. For the last two years, Coach Dave Gilland has been preaching running out every hit ball and the effort paid off Thursday night. Payton Adwell reached on an error to score Sidney Troutwine to round out the scoring. That made it 9-0.
North Nodaway cut it to 9-3 in the bottom of the second and could have made it closer; however, Kristen Andrews made another outstanding defensive play from second when she grabbed a pop fly while running towards second and then stepped on second to double off a runner. Coach Dave Gilland said that play set the tone for the rest of the game. Worth County made it 10-3 in the third when Quinci Schottel reached on a throw in the dirt and Katie Mullock singled up the middle to bring her in with two outs.
Later in the inning, North Nodaway unsuccessfully lobbied for an interference call when Jacklyn Brooks hit a pop fly to a dead spot behind the mound and Mustang shortstop Cambry Schulter got tangled up briefly with the runner as the ball dropped in. Under the rules, it is the umpire's judgment whether the runner gave the fielder enough space to make the play. Later in the game, the umpire called an obvious case of interference -- a North Nodaway runner collided with Kristen Andrews at second in the 7th and made no effort to give her space to make the play as the ball rolled into right field. In that case, the runner is out and the batter awarded first base. One exception is when the runner is standing on a legally occupied base; in that case, they are not required to vacate the bag to give the fielder space to make a play.
Payton Adwell walked and Claire Andrews singled past second to chase North Nodaway pitcher Breann O'Riley in the fourth and bring on Cambry Schluter to the mound. She struggled at first, uncorking two wild pitches that brought them both in to make it 12-3 before settling down and getting out of the inning.
Coach Dave Gilland started off the game with Rachel Gardner at first, Hunt at pitcher, Quinci Schottel behind the plate, Kristen Andrews at second, Sidney Troutwine at shortstop, Payton Adwell at third, Katie Mullock in center field, Claire Andrews in right, and Madison Cassavaugh in left. Quinci was filling some big shoes with the departure of Rebecca Moore, but she stepped right up, surviving all seven innings of the sweltering heat and throwing a runner out stealing. She looks to fill the catching position up for another four years. Rachel saved at least one error, juggling an errant throw and securing it right before the Mustang runner reached base; she also showed a lot of speed on the basepaths. The three upperclassmen, Claire Andrews, Katie Mullock, and Kristen Andrews, were lights-out in the field. Jacklyn Brooks was the designated hitter. In the third, Gilland made some defensive changes, putting Kristen Ross in left field. Taylor Raymond came in to play third in the fourth inning and looked like a natural at it despite being a sophomore. Katie Mullock moved to shortstop and Payton went to center.
The pitching change for North Nodaway worked for a while as Schulter threw two scoreless innings and North Nodaway chipped away to make it 12-5. In the bottom of the sixth, Rikky Hunt started getting tired in the 90+ degree heat and walked the leadoff batter, Sam Frueh, on four pitches. That prompted a visit to the mound from Coach Dave Gilland and Hunt settled down, throwing a runner out at the plate as freshman catcher Quinci Schottel took the collision as though she had done it all her life and applied the tag.
Kristen Andrews, swinging away for a change in the 7th, singled to right and Kenna LaFollette, running for her, showed some speed on the basepaths as she stole second. Jacklyn Brooks brought her in with a pop fly single to left. Brooks came around to score on a stolen base and two wild pitches as Schulter began to tire in the heat. Taylor Raymond restarted the inning with a four pitch walk and Rachel Gardner took one for the team to put runners on first and second. Payton Adwelll moved them to third with a bunt single and Claire Andrews cleared the bases with a single that got away from the right fielder and rolled to the wall. Katie Mullock moved back to center field in the 7th inning and Coach Dave Gilland seemingly had a crystal ball at work as Katie, seemingly none the worse for the heat, went on the dead run after a screamer in the gap and made a running catch.
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