A game that had been a sleepy pitching duel for the first six innings turned into a wild ending as Northeast Nodaway pulled off a 4-2 victory over Worth County Tuesday. With the game tied 2-2 going into the 7th, Taylor Coffelt reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning. Alicia Smith and Jill Spire flied out and it looked like Worth County would get out of the inning unscathed. But then Dallis Coffelt hit a pop fly that dropped in for a single. Taylor Coffelt went for third; had Worth County eaten the ball, they would have been fine since there were two outs. But they tried to nail Coffelt for the third out and the throw was wild, allowing her to score as Dallis made it all the way to third. Talina Nelson followed with another single to score Dallis. "We panicked a little and made some wild throws that inning," said Coach Dave Gilland. "We just have to get that out of our system and learn to play calm. I was happy with the effort our kids showed, though."
The fireworks were not over as Rikky Hunt led off the bottom of the seventh for Worth County. Northeast was expecting her to bunt, but instead, she hit a hard slap bobbled by second baseman Allie Runde and beat it out to first. Payton Adwell grounded out to the mound to move Hunt to second. Hailey Hunt hit a line drive that caromed off pitcher Dallis Coffelt's glove to Runde, who made an errant throw to first. But first baseman Alicia Smith somehow made a shoestring grab with her bare hand and funneled it into her glove for the out as Rikky took third. With the tying run at the plate, Dallis Coffelt kept a long-running streak alive as she plunked Rachael Gardner on the knee. Sidney Troutwine hit a grounder to second; Allie Runde grabbed the ball and tagged Gardner going to second for the final out and the umpire ruled she held on long enough as Gardner plowed into Runde and Taylor Coffelt trying to knock the ball out.
Taylor Coffelt must have felt it was not going to be her day in the first inning. She hit a hard foul off her foot, was plunked on the next pitch by pitcher Rikky Hunt, and was plunked again by an errant pickoff throw from catcher Payton Adwell. However, nothing or no one could induce her to come out of the game. Singles from Alicia Smith and Jill Spire loaded the bases. Dallis Coffelt forced Taylor at home, but Smith came home when Talina Nelson flied out to Gardner in right. Worth County got the run back in the bottom of the first when Rikky Hunt pulled off a delayed steal of third and came home on a wild throw.
The game settled down into a pitching duel between Rikky Hunt and Dallis Coffelt. Worth County killed a rally in the third when Hunt fielded a shot by Allie Runde off her glove, which rolled over to the third base line. Hunt stayed with the ball and threw her out at first.
In the top of the fifth, Taylor Coffelt beat out an infield hit and Rikky Hunt hit Alicia Smith, finishing her for the day. Hailey Hunt came on and got Jill Spire and Dallis Coffelt to fly out, and Talina Nelson hit what looked like a routine grounder to Rikky, now playing third, for the third out. But the ball took a bad hop and everyone was safe as Taylor Coffelt scored all the way from second on the play. That put Northeast up 2-1.
Worth County once again got the run back as Kennedy Galanakis hit a shot off Dallis Coffelt's glove for a single. Brooklyn White laid down a perfect bunt that died and she beat out the throw. Later, with Galanakis on third, Northeast pulled off a perfect fake to first, throw to third play, but threw it away to allow Galanakis to score and tie it at two and bring Brooklyn White all the way to third. Payton Adwell laid down another bunt and Brooklyn tried to take out NEN catcher Jill Spire like Adrian Fletchall did on the same field two years ago. That would have put Worth County ahead, but this time, Spire held her ground and tagged White out. Dallis Coffelt then plunked Hailey Hunt, but then froze Rachael Gardner on a perfect pitch to get out of the inning.
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