Sunday, September 27, 2015

Madison Thompson's Two Home Runs, Keagan O'Riley's Pitching Highlights Mustangs' Day

Keagan O'Riley's pitching and Madison Thompson's hitting were the highlights of the day at the North Harrison Tournament, but North Nodaway was denied third place after two tough losses. The Mustangs were coming off what Coach David Carroll said was their worst game of the year, a 10-0 loss to North Andrew. Asked what he had done to light a fire under his charges following their opening round 15-0 win over Winston, he said, "Well, I went and set off quite a few firecrackers," he quipped. Seriously, he said that the girls had taken it on themselves to do better. It turned out that they had caught the Redbirds at the right time; Winston beat East Harrison 6-1 in the consolation round and scored 11 against North Harrison's JV squad before the young Shamrocks came up with a flurry of runs to win in the last inning to win 12-11.

With one out, O'Riley helped herself out by drawing a walk and stealing second. Kelsi Oberhauser hit a screamer past short to score O'Riley and stole second. Madison Thompson then hit another screamer into left to plate Oberhauser, and the Mustangs were in business against Winston up 2-0. Even though it was only 2-0, the players obviously felt they had things under control despite the Redbirds getting runners on second and third, as evidenced by the fact that they proceeded to lecture Carroll about the finer points of fielding a ground ball after he muffed a foul ball in the top of the second. O'Riley got out of the jam by striking out the side, giving her six strikeouts in two innings.

North Nodaway broke the game wide open in the second. Ashley Thompson walked, took second on Audrey Trimble's groundout, and third on a wild pitch. Breann O'Riley walked and stole second. Keagan had an epic battle with Winston pitcher Ashley Noel, getting to a 3-2 count. Finally, she hit a pop fly single to center to score Thompson. Trimble had to hold up to see if the ball would land fair and took third. Kelsi Oberhauser hit another screamer that hooked away from the fielder and landed just fair in front of the 210 sign. That scored the O'Riley girls to make it 5-0.

Six more runs came across in the third. Kristin Herndon started things off when she hit another screamer to left misplayed by the fielder, which went for extra bases. Ashley Thompson singled her home and later came home herself on a wild pitch, being roasted for the "superman slide" when she skidded on her feet and somehow did not get tagged out. A couple of Redbird errors prolonged the inning and Makayla Cross singled off the second baseman's glove to drive in a run and cap the rally. Kristin Herndon and Breann O'Riley scored on wild pitches, Kelsi Oberhauser grounded out to drive in a run, and Madison Thompson singled between third and short to drive in the 15th and final run for North Nodaway as they were able to walk off with the 15-run win.

North Nodaway looked like they were going to run away with the tournament at that point, but then they fell short in a hard-fought 4-3 battle with Pattonsburg, when the Panthers walked off with the victory in the last inning. Kelsi Oberhauser doubled to the corner in left, a carbon copy of her double in the Winston game to score Keagan O'Riley as North Nodaway used a 2-out rally to go up 3-2 after five.

David Carroll's squad thought they had it won as Pattonsburg's big guns, Rheanna Gardner and Haleigh Plymell, were not due up and the Panthers were at the bottom of the order. A win would have set up an epic showdown with Worth County; the first game had gone 12-11 in North Nodaway's favor. But then Brandi Hobson singled to left. North Nodaway catcher Kelsi Oberhauser did all she could, making a diving catch of Shaila Cramer's bunt. But then Brittanie Middaugh hit a shot off the bag at third and Alexis Harris, who came off the bench after the left fielder was shaken up and left the game, doubled in the left-center gap to tie the game and put Middaugh at third. Darian Harmon popped out to Oberhauser, but then Middaugh came home on the wild pitch. "We played hard and we played a good game," said Carroll afterwards. "Those things happen."

With everyone else struggling at the plate against Princeton, Madison Thompson did all she could to help her team win. She hit a shot over the left field fence, her second home run of the year in the second to give her team a 1-0 lead. But Princeton took full advantage of the short field, using three home runs to go up 4-1 off Keagan O'Riley, who kept her team in the game by striking out a ton of batters. Thompson came up again in the seventh and hit a mammoth shot to center, her third of the year, that would have cleared the fence on the big field, but it was not enough as North Nodaway fell 4-2.

No comments: