Brayden Welch's second-ever varsity hit at West Nodaway sparked the Northeast Nodaway Bluejays' six run sixth inning that powered them past the Rockets to clinch back to back Northwest Missouri Conference Titles. Josh McGinness had just homered in the fifth, a sinking line drive that sliced away from rightfielder Korey Adwell and cleared the low fence at Burlington Junction to cut a once-secure NEN lead to 7-6. Rocket reliever Bryson Smith had shut down Northeast's bats after Northeast had chased McGinness and built up a 7-1 lead, but Welch, subbing for the injured Dylan Mildfeldt (ankle), greeted him with a single past short to lead off Northeast's sixth inning. Welch seems to have West Nodaway's number, as his first career hit was also off the Rockets. That opened the floodgates for a big inning and led to Northeast's 15-7 win, creating two back to back titles.
Max Giesken flied out, but Garet Jackson hit a carbon copy of Welch's hit between third and short and Andrew Faustlin, despite hitting into the wind, lined one over the third baseman's head to plate Welch and they took second and third on the throw home. Rowdy West flied out for the second inning to score Jackson and advance Faustlin to third, but West Nodaway's troubles had just begun. Andrew Freemyer singled in Garet Jackson and Austin Jones walked; they advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and Korey Adwell hit a line drive that sliced away towards the line in right and scored them both to make it 12-6. Max Giesken got hit by a pitch, the fourth hit batter for Northeast for the afternoon to force in Northeast's final run of the inning to make it 13-6.
West Nodaway tried to rally as Cody Galyan pulled off an acting job on a pitch that could have been strike three by diving out of the way and convincing the umpire not to ring him up; he later walked. He stole second and went to third on a wild pitch and Bryson Smith walked against Andrew Faustlin. But Faustlin stepped off the rubber and snuffed out a possible steal attempt and Smith was a sitting duck at second as Galyan could not advance; Damon Hull was called out on strikes to end the inning.
Northeast got two insurance runs in the seventh as Faustlin came home on a wild pitch and Adwell, swinging at a pitch well over hit head, hit a slow roller right up the middle that somehow got through to center field and scored Andrew Freemyer to make it 15-6. Garet Jackson came on in relief for Northeast and gave up Blake Farnan's solo shot over the right field fence before shutting down the Rockets for the win.
Rocket miscues in the first inning led to three Northeast runs; the Rockets committed five errors, including two dropped third strikes that were thrown away and which allowed two runs to score. Garet Jackson had the hit of the day for Northeast; despite hitting into the stiff wind, he hit a screamer in the gap between left and center that went for a double and scored Max Giesken. Andrew Faustlin fought the strike zone throughout the first, leading to Farnan's groundout that scored Blake Sanders to cut Northeast's lead to 3-1. But Northeast added four in the third as Korey Adwell reached on an error that allowed Austin Jones to score; Max Giesken singled in Dalton Auffert and Dylan Mildfeldt and Garet Jackson singled home Giesken.
But Faustlin fought the strike zone in the fourth inning, hitting a batter and walking three to force in one run and uncorking two wild pitches to score two more as West Nodaway cut it to 7-4. Northeast fought through their miscues, including three runners picked off base during the course of the game, to get the title as they have all year. They have now won seven straight. But Coach Vance Proffitt is never satisfied. "We're going to get some stuff fixed tomorrow," he promised. Everybody starts fresh for districts.
The cold wind was a factor throughout the game; balls that would normally be out of the yard at Ravenwood stayed in the much bigger West Nodaway confines and were long outs. The Rockets elected to play the game despite missing some of their players and despite unseasonably chilly temperatures; the mercury was at 47 degrees in the morning following a downpour the night before and only warmed up to 53 by the afternoon as the clouds never left. The wind was howling from left to right, which pushed anything hit to right field out of the yard and knocked everything else down.
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Coach Vance Proffitt, at one point, told his players to "wear the damn thing," meaning to take one for the team. "What if it doesn't fit," quipped Garet Jackson. The Bluejay batters were hit four times during the game, including Austin Jones twice. Jones has been hit several times this year.
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Frustration set in at several points for West Nodaway; their batters twice threw bats following rare called third strikes, and their coaches got upset at one point when the umpires ruled twice that Rocket batters had gone around in checked swing situations. The Rockets, at 8-5 last year and district runner-ups, were expected to contend for the title this year. They have won four this year and North Nodaway recently got their first win of the year against them.
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Worth County softball coach Dave Gilland observes that most umpires want to ring batters up on called third strikes; however, the one who worked Monday's game was an exception; he was extremely reluctant to ring people up, which accounted for some of the surprise when he did ring someone up.
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