Sunday, June 19, 2016

Payton Adwell Thrown Out at Plate as Bluejay Softball Beats Tigers for Tourney Title

Payton Adwell was thrown out at home plate in the bottom of the fifth as Northeast Nodaway held on to preserve a 3-2 win to take a round robin softball tournament title. The tournament consisted of five teams -- Maryville, King City Purple, North Nodaway, Worth County, and Northeast Nodaway; all games were played at Northeast Nodaway. Teams flipped coins for home and visitors.

Pitcher Maggie Schmitz got Emily Thomas and Mattie Downing out on groundouts, but Payton Adwell hit a sharp grounder that a diving Makayla Adwell could not get to. The ball continued to roll into left; outfielder Gerry Runde could not cut it off and it rolled all the way to the wall. As Adwell was flying around the bases, Adwell recovered herself and hustled into the grass to take the cutoff throw; she whirled around and threw a high throw to catcher Taylor Coffelt. But Coffelt pulled down the throw and got the tag on Adwell for the final out of the game.

Worth County had taken an early 1-0 lead, but freshman Jana Walker's baserunning sparked Northeast in the third. She reached on a single past short; the cutoff throw rolled a few feet away from shortstop Anna Gladstone, but that was enough for Walker to take off for second despite the coach's yelling, "No, no, no!" She was safe anyway and took third when Taylor Coffelt reached on a dropped third strike. Coffelt stole second and Walker came home to tie it up when the throw plunked her and rolled away.

Coffelt then reached third on a wild pitch and then Makayla Adwell walked and stole second. Tiger catcher Haley Hunt tried to pick off Coffelt on the play, but she plunked Taylor instead; somehow, Coffelt was able to crawl back and touch the bag before Worth County could recover the ball to tag her out before Coffelt lay motionless for the next few minutes. Somehow, she picked herself up and stayed in the game, going on to catch Maggie Schmitz for the last two innings.

Worth County got a run back in the fourth when Anna Gladstone grounded out to score Haley Hunt. Payton Adwell was robbed twice in the game; in the third, she hit a screamer that was snagged on the fly by Makayla Adwell at short for a backhanded shoestring catch.

Northeast won the tournament by running the table, while Worth County was second on tiebreaks. A win would have given Worth County the head to head tiebreak and the tournament title. The standings were:

Northeast Nodaway 4-0
Worth County 2-2
North Nodaway 2-2
King City Purple 1-3
Maryville 1-3

The scores were:
Northeast Nodaway 5, North Nodaway 2
North Nodaway 12, King City Purple 5
Maryville 9, Worth County 2
North Nodaway 12, Maryville 5
Worth County 7, North Nodaway 4
Northeast Nodaway 16, King City Purple 1
Northeast Nodaway 19, Maryville 4
King City Purple 3, Maryville 2
Worth County 15, King City Purple 0

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