Northeast Nodaway's girls won their first district game since 2006, getting past North Nodaway 7-5 to advance to a second round game with Jefferson. Both teams were looking to snap long losing streaks in districts; North Nodaway's last district win was in 2005, when they went to the finals before losing to Jefferson. Northeast's was back in 2006, an 11-8 win over Worth County. Mathematically, something had to give, and Northeast won a back and forth game after North Nodaway had taken two out of three in the regular season.
It looked for all the world like it would be the other way around in the first three innings. North Nodaway pitcher Breann O'Riley looked like she would throw a perfect game, getting two Northeast Nodaway batters out in two pitches in the first inning. In the meantime, Makayla Cross reached base with a late swing, but connected with a solid shot to right. Kelsi Oberhauser hit a grounder up the middle. NEN shortstop Taylor Coffelt made a great stop on the first base side of second, but had no play and everyone was safe. Madison Thompson hit a grounder to Allie Runde at second, but she threw it away, plating Cross and putting runners on second and third. David Carroll's Mustangs looked like they might have a big inning and could have had Keagan O'Riley beat out Taylor Coffelt's throw to the bag. But she was out by a quarter of a step as Oberhauser scored to make it 2-0.
Once again, O'Riley got two outs with two pitches. Talina Nelson, the third batter up, got to 3-0 in the count but grounded out to Keagan O'Riley at short to end the inning. In the meantime, North Nodaway continued to pull away in the second. Kristin Herndon singled down the line in right and Chloe Schimming bunted her over to second. Emma Hart hit a shot at Dallis Coffelt, but she snared the line drive and Herndon had to scramble back to second to avoid being doubled off. Breann O'Riley hit a pop fly and Herndon, off with the crack of the bat, took off with two outs. It dropped in fair and the throw home was off line as O'Riley took second. She took third on a wild pitch, and it once again looked like a big inning for the Mustangs with big guns Oberhauser and Thompson up next, but NEN pitcher Dallis Coffelt froze Cross looking on strike three for the third out.
Northeast began swinging the bats better in the third inning, but North Nodaway made some strong defensive plays to keep them off the basepaths. Allie Runde hit a pop fly that nearly tangled up shortstop Keagan O'Riley and second baseman Bethany Herndon, but Bethany came away with the catch. Then, Vanessa Riley hit a slow roller down the first base line. First baseman Madison Thompson came off the bag to field it, and Bethany played her position perfectly, covering the bag for the out. Then, third baseman Audrey Trimble's throw after fielding a slow roller beat out MaKayla Adwell by half a step to end the inning.
But Northeast was not ready to go down, finally getting a 1-2-3 inning in the third. Third baseman Talina Nelson made a great stop of Kelsi Oberhauser's grounder in the inning and Keagan O'Riley hit a screamer into the right-center field gap. But Vanessa Riley was there for the catch and the third out of the inning. It looked like nothing would change in the fourth inning as Taylor Coffelt grounded out to Keagan O'Riley. Makayla Adwell hit a roller to Trimble on a bunt, but Trimble's throw, in the dirt, was dug out by Bethany Herndon who had come over to cover first. Breann O'Riley got to 3-0 on Alicia Smith; her next pitch kept the perfect game alive, barely clipping the outside corner. But then Alicia Smith hit a pop fly behind first. Bethany Herndon came over on the dead run, but the ball dropped in fair just past her outstretched glove and Northeast finally had its first baserunner. Keagan O'Riley made a nice over the shoulder catch of Dallis Coffelt's pop fly to end the inning, but Northeast had broken the ice.
In the bottom of the fourth, Dallis Coffelt knocked down Kristin Herndon's hard shot, which rolled a few feet away. She recovered in time to get her out to take a base hit away from her. Northeast finally got on the board in the top of the fifth. Jill Spire started off by whistling a single right past Breann O'Riley's head. "We always seem to get better swings at people the second time in the lineup," said Coach Danny Smith, who said he was never worried about the first three innings. Talina Nelson just missed a home run over the left field fence as the ball hooked foul at the last minute. She then hit a long fly ball to centerfield and Emma Hart; Jill Spire tagged up and made it in safely; this is a rare play to go from first to second, but Smith always preaches taking the extra base if possible. The play stood after an unsuccessful appeal play.
This began an epic stretch where every at bat was a battle. Breann O'Riley got Allie Runde to 2-2, but Allie took two close pitches and reached first with a walk. Emily Redden, pinch hitting, hit a hard grounder that first baseman Madison Thompson couldn't get to and Spire scored as it caromed off her glove. O'Riley had #9 hitter Maggie Schmitz down in the count 0-2 and got her to hit a comebacker back to the mound. But her throw pulled Thompson off the bag and everyone was safe to load the bases.
That opened the floodgates, as Northeast had the top of the order coming up. Taylor Coffelt hit a grounder up the middle to score Runde as Emma Hart's strong throw in kept Redden at third. Makayla Adwell struck out for the second out of the inning, but Alicia Smith was up next and third baseman Audrey Trimble overran her grounder, which caromed off to the fence. It was a long run to the fence, and by the time North Nodaway had corralled the ball, two more runs had scored and there were runners at second and third. Dallis Coffelt hit a pop fly single that dropped just in front of Kristin Herndon in right to score two more runs to make it 6-3 and completely flip the scoreboard.
Emma Hart was plunked by Dallis Coffelt to lead off, sometimes the portent of a big inning. But then Vanessa Riley made another strong play in the outfield as she played Breann O'Riley's long fly ball perfectly, stepping back first before coming in and making the play. Makayla Cross hit a pop fly that dropped in no-man's land behind the mound and second base and everyone was safe. Coffelt then plunked Oberhauser to load the bases with one out. But then Madison Thompson went after her first pitch and popped out on an infield fly as Allie Runde made the catch. The next battle, between Coffelt and Keagan O'Riley was an extended one as Keagan got to 3-1. The next pitch was a pop foul that was nearly caught by third baseman Talina Nelson, but dropped just before she got to it. O'Riley hit a chopped down the third base line foul before finally walking on an outside pitch to force in a run and make it 6-4. Bethany Herndon then hit a flare into right field that could have been trouble and cleared the bases since there were two outs and the runners were off on contact. But once again, Vanessa Riley was there for the running catch for the third out of the inning with Northeast still up 6-4.
Talina Nelson was up first for Northeast, and she drove one into the left center field gap for a double. She took third on a wild pitch as Allie Runde worked the count to 2-2. She took ball three on a pitch that was just low and started for first on the next pitch, which also was around the knees. But then the umpire rung her up for strike three. Vanessa Riley hit a pop fly that Keagan O'Riley made a running catch of. Maggie Schmitz hit a grounder to Breann O'Riley, who made an errant throw to first, but Madison Thompson reached down to snag it and save an error and a run.
After David Carroll's squad went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Northeast looked to add to their lead with the top of the order coming up. Taylor Coffelt hit a pop fly that second baseman Bethany Herndon tried to make a shoestring catch on. It dropped, but she recovered it in time to throw her out. Makayla Adwell struck out, but then Alicia Smith walked. With Dallis Coffelt at the plate, Breann O'Riley uncorked a wild pitch. Catcher Kelsi Oberhauser lost the ball and Alicia Smith took off for third. Oberhauser recovered in time to throw to third and catch Smith in a rundown. But then Smith escaped the rundown and fell over third, doing the splits to avoid coming off the base and being tagged out. Dallis Coffelt then singled her home for a badly-needed insurance run to put Northeast up 7-4.
North Nodaway had their top of the order coming up in the bottom of the seventh, and Breann O'Riley hit a sharp single just past Alicia Smith at first and Makayla Cross hit a screamer just past Vanessa Riley's glove in right center field as O'Riley had to hold up to make sure the ball wasn't caught; that put runners on second and third. Kelsi Oberhauser grounded out to Runde at second to bring in Breann O'Riley, bringing Madison Thompson to the plate as the tying run. She gave it a long ride to center, but right at Makayla Adwell, who was positioned perfectly in front of the wall to make the catch. Keagan O'Riley's soft line drive was caught by Taylor Coffelt for the final out.
Smith called Alicia's baserunning in the final inning "huge." He said the key to overcoming the deficit was to "keep doing what we've done." "They jumped on us early, but we made adjustments and kept fighting back," said Smith, saying that his players had shortened their swings. "It took a lot of pressure off when Alicia got that run for us," he said. "We made one early error; once we settled down we were fine. It meant a lot to these girls to win a district game for the first time in nine years."
Carroll, as always stayed positive as his team's season came to an end. "We started six freshmen and we improved a lot," he said. "When I first came here, I was told we needed to get better at fundamentals, and they were very receptive. We also improved our baserunning, situational awareness, and our fielding." He said his team's best offensive game of the year was the 19-17 slugfest at Stewartsville, while their best defensive games were the Albany game as well as most of the Northeast Nodaway game.
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