North Nodaway showed they can play with anyone and took third at North Harrison Saturday, surviving an injury scare along the way. They had a rough jamboree in Savannah, dropping all three games there, but progressed to the point where they had cleaned up a lot of their mistakes.
North Harrison 7, North Nodaway 3
Pitted against last year’s district champions, North Nodaway gave the Shamrocks all they could handle for three innings before North Harrison finally pulled away for the win.
North Harrison scored in the top of the first, but North Nodaway tied it in the second. Keagan O’Riley hit a pop fly single to left; two errors got her home and a wild pitch put Ashley Thompson on third and Kristin Herndon on second with nobody out. Taylor Combs hit a squib in front of the plate; Shamrock catcher Brandi Rivet threw to first. Ashley Thompson took off for home on the throw, Rivet got a return throw from first, and the two collided as Rivet tagged Thompson out for the double play and landed on her in the process. There was a scary moment as Thompson was injured on the play and the game was delayed. She was done for the day.
Rivet doubled in Payton Craig and Addie Slaughter to make it 3-1 in the third, but North Nodaway got the two runs back in the bottom of the inning. Alicia Davison beat out shortstop Emma Craig’s throw from short and Makayla Cross walked. Emma Hart grounded out to move them over. Keagan O’Riley hit a screamer that Craig made a shoestring catch of to stop anyone from advancing, but Davison scored on a wild pitch and Shai Dailey tripled in Cross to tie it again at 3.
At that point, North Harrison put in Payton Craig behind the mound and pulled away for the rest of the game for the win. “We hadn’t seen that kind of pitching before, “ said coach Kit Meiners. But North Nodaway would get stronger as the day progressed. Once again proving the theory that coaches frequently have sixth senses, Meiners put in Emma Hart, normally an outfielder, at first, where she stepped in and helped anchor the defense.
North Nodaway 6, South Harrison 3
North Nodaway scored six in the first two innings of their second game at North Harrison and made it stand up the rest of the way. In the first, Kandace Damgar walked and Alicia Davison grounded out to move her over. Makayla Cross walked and Emma Hart grounded out, scoring Damgar. Keagan O’Riley doubled down the left field line to score Cross, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on another. Kristin Herndon tripled home Shai Dailey and then pulled off a straight steal of home to put North Nodaway up 5-0.
Cross scored on a wild pitch in the second to make it 6-0, and North Nodaway held off South Harrison the rest of the way. Emily Starmer singled home Madisyn Lisle in the third to make it 6-1, and then South Harrison made some noise in the fourth as Kennedi Virtue and Josie Hurt reached on consecutive North Nodaway errors to bring up the tying run. Maycee Ragan forced Virtue at third, but Kierra Shelby singled home Hurt to make it 6-2. Kooper Jennings reached on a fielder’s choice when Ragan got caught in a rundown between third and home, but made it back to third. She then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-3, putting runners at second and third with one out and the tying run at the plate, but Shai Dailey got a pop fly right behind second and doubled off Shelby to end the threat.
North Nodaway 5, Worth County 4
Once again, North Nodaway got off to a fast start and once again, a timely catch saved the game for the Mustangs. North Nodaway scored two in the top of the first when Alisha Davison beat out a slow roller to Jill Hardy at short. Makayla Cross won a long battle with pitcher Haley Hunt to walk, then Emma Hart reached on an error to load the bases. Keagan O’Riley hit a long foul ball down the left field line, but Tiger left fielder Morgan Beagle caught it and nobody could advance. But Shai Dailey beat out an infield hit and two runs scored on the play to make it 2-0 after one.
North Nodaway added to their lead in the second when Taylor Combs reached on a throwing error and Audrey Trimble reached on a slap hit. They went to second and third on a wild pitch, but it seemed like North Nodaway would be out of the inning when Morgan Beagle made another spectacular catch for Worth County in left and Davison grounded out. But then Makayla Cross tripled to the wall in center to score them both to make it 4-0.
After Worth County broke the shutout in the third, Shai Dailey doubled, went to third, and scored on Kristin Herndon’s groundout to make it 5-1. That turned out to be the winning run as Worth County’s frantic rally in the fourth and fifth innings came up just short. With Tiger runners on second and third and two outs in the fifth and final inning, Kristin Herndon, playing third, snagged Anna Spainhower’s screamer to rob extra bases from her and keep Worth County from getting the lead.
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