North Harrison is looking to reload this year from last year’s district title squad that lost seven seniors. Coach Brandon Craig said that it was a matter of having young players step up and fill roles behind Payton Craig, one of the top pitchers in the area, slugger and shortstop Brandi Rivet, and center fielder Audry Briggs. The scary thing about it for enemy coaches is that there are now two Craig girls to worry about, since Emma Craig is now a freshman and is catching for Payton.
If last week was any indication, North Harrison looks to improve on last year’s 11-6 mark, which includes three losses to Jefferson during the season and one to Stanberry. Five different players can pitch, meaning that Coach Craig can rest Payton Craig when needed. And everyone from the 1st to the 9th batter can get down a hit at any time. The expectations are as high as ever; Coach Craig expects all his starters to be able to get bunts down, move runners over, and set up the big inning. It all translates into winning; the Shamrocks ran the table at both their preseason jamboree and their tournament. He said teams to watch for this year include Worth County, Stanberry, Jefferson, and Albany. “Albany’s got a good young freshman class coming up,” he said.
North Harrison 6, Mercer 1
North Harrison scored in all three of their innings to pull away for the victory. While Payton Craig was striking out the first three Mercer batters, Brandi Rivet beat out a bunt single down the first base line. Audry Briggs struck out, but then Payton Craig helped herself out, hitting a screamer off the wall in left center to score Rivet. She then stole third and came home on a wild pitch. Payton Craig will be one of the main hitters for the Shamrocks this year; enemy coaches frequently put a shift on her by moving their center fielder into left, but she was still finding gaps both Tuesday and Saturday.
In the second, Ashlynn Gilpatrick walked and Carly Rinehart put down a perfect sac bunt. She was out, but Gilpatrick made it all the way to third and was safe on a close play. Brandi Rivet reached on an error as Gilpatrick scored to make it 3-0.
Briggs came in to pitch for North Harrison in the third, and the frame was shaky as they made a couple of errors, leading to Mercer’s lone run. But Briggs struck out Boston Boswell and got Kaylee Duckworth to ground into a force at third to get out of the inning with North Harrison up 3-1.
North Harrison added to their lead in the third as Addie Slaughter shot one past short for a hit and Emma Craig and Olivia Babinski walked to load the bases. Kenna Slaughter doubled to the wall in left to clear the bases to make it 6-0. “Addie and Kenna got some timely hits for us all week,” said Coach Brandon Craig.
North Harrison 4, South Harrison 0
North Harrison went up against a stingy South Harrison squad, but came up with all of their runs in the third after the first two innings were a scoreless tie. Payton Craig pitched the first two innings, working in a devastating change along with her riser and fastball, striking out four of the seven batters she faced.
Finally, with one out in the third, Brandi Rivet reached on a pop fly single to center. Hunter Stevens also singled, and Payton Craig was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Emma Craig was hit to force in Rivet, and Stevens and Payton Craig subsequently came home on wild pitches. Mason Cracraft grounded out to score Emma Craig to round out the scoring.
Carly Rinehart came on to pitch for North Harrison and struck out three of the four batters she faced to preserve the win.
North Harrison 5, Worth County 3
This one featured the two district finalists from last year, and this game took on all the intensity. The two teams also played two close games in basketball last year, with North Harrison winning by two during the regular season and Worth County by four in double overtime in districts.
This time, Payton Craig crushed an offering from Braidy Hunt 250 feet from home plate in front of the scoreboard to spark the Shamrocks in their five run outburst in the first. Brandi Rivet reached on an error and Audry Briggs walked, setting up Emma Craig’s triple to the wall in right, scoring two more. Ashlynn Gilpatrick and Mason Cracraft walked, setting up Carly Rinehart’s double off the wall in right to score two more and trigger the five run rule.
Rinehart pitched for the Shamrocks and held off Worth County with some timely fielding helping out. Emma Craig came on to pitch in the third, and weathered a frantic Worth County rally before getting out of the inning.
North Harrison 7, South Harrison 2
South Harrison was seemingly one of those teams which plays teams tough most of the time, but has one bad inning against good teams. Against North Harrison, that inning was the first. Payton Craig singled down the left field line. Brandi Rivet bunted back to the mound; Payton Craig took off first to third on the play and was safe on a close play. Audry Briggs singled to score Craig, and then Emma Craig shot one off South Harrison pitcher Madison Nichols’ glove to move Briggs to third. Mason Cracraft reached second when the left fielder lost the ball in the sun to score two, and Sally Briggs singled home another runner to make it 4-0.
South Harrison cut the lead in half in the second when pitcher Payton Craig made a rare miscue and threw away a squib to put Emily Starmer on. Josie Hurt tripled to the wall in right and Kierra Shelby grounded out to score Kooper Jennings (running for Hurt) to make it 4-2.
But then North Harrison settled down and got one in the fourth and two in the fifth to pull away. In the fourth, Sally Briggs walked on four pitches and Hunter Stevens beat out an infield hit to put runners on first and second. Addie Slaughter struck out and Kenna Slaughter forced Sally Briggs at third, but Payton Craig shot one down the third base line to drive in one and make it 5-2. She would have circled the bases, but the ball went through the fence for a ground rule double.
The Shamrocks used a two out rally in the fifth to score two runs. Mason Cracraft hit a pop fly single behind first and second and stole second; Sally Briggs got the hardest hit of the day into left, scoring Cracraft. Lola Breshears (running for Briggs) stole second and Hunter Stevens singled her home. Emma Craig threw out Madisyn Lisle stealing in the sixth to prevent any more rallies from South Harrison.
North Harrison 7, North Nodaway 3
North Harrison battled with the Mustangs through three innings and then broke open the game in the fourth and sixth. Payton Craig opened the scoring for the Shamrocks when her pop fly hit a dead spot between pitcher, short, and third and dropped in safely. She stole second and third and Brandi Rivet’s sac fly scored her.
North Nodaway tied the game in the second, but North Harrison scored two in the third to make it 3-1. Addie Slaughter singled to left and once again, Payton Craig hit a screamer to left, this time over Shai Dailey’s head into the corner to put runners on second and third. Brandi Rivet stretched a single into a double as both runners scored to make it 3-1. Alisha Davison scored on a wild pitch and Shai Dailey tripled in a run to tie it at 3, but then North Harrison put in Payton Craig on the mound in the fourth, and she limited North Nodaway to two baserunners and struck out five in three scoreless innings to get the win.
The Shamrocks used a two out rally to get the fourth run of the game; Hunter Stevens showed a burst of speed when she stretched a single into a double with two out, the second time that had happened. Kenna Slaughter reached on an error and Addie Slaughter’s pop fly dropped in front of Audrey Trimble in center for a hit to score one and make it 4-3. It would have been more, but Payton Craig’s screamer was snared by Kandace Damgar at short to prevent any more damage.
North Harrison broke it open in the sixth. Mason Cracraft and Sally Briggs started off with back to back singles as the bottom of the order did the damage. Hunter Stevens popped out, but Kenna Slaughter singled as Briggs barely made it going from first to third as Cracraft scored. Addie Slaughter doubled down the left field line to score two more to make it 7-3.
North Harrison 5, Princeton 0
The championship game featured two of the better pitchers in the area, with Princeton’s Payton Goodin sporting a drop ball that kept everyone off balance, while North Harrison’s Payton Craig featuring a riser that forces batters out of their stance and a nasty changeup to go with her heat. But North Harrison hit the ball well enough that it still went through the gaps.
Payton Craig led off the first with a single, shooting one between third and short. She went to second on a passed ball, and Mason Cracraft, moved to third in the order, moved her to third on a groundout. Emma Craig showed a propensity for turning on high pitches and crushing them; she did so between first and second to bring in Craig and make it 1-0.
While Princeton got some good swings at Craig, they could never string together enough hits to get a big rally going. In the second, Vivian Allen walked with one out, and Katie Milner shot one fair past first to set up first and third with two outs. That was the only time Princeton would get two runners on base all day. In the third, with two outs, Lacie Lewis hit one that looked like trouble, but Hunter Stevens was there to make the basket catch. “She’s been making a lot of good catches for us,” said Coach Brandon Craig.
North Harrison broke it open in the third after Brandi Rivet beat out an infield hit and went to second on a throwing error. Mason Cracraft hit a screamer off the wall in left to score her and Emma Craig hit another to the right field wall to score Cracraft. Audrey Briggs popped out, but Sally Briggs hit a Texas Leaguer that dropped in left for a base hit to score Kylie Pottorff (running for Emma Craig). That made it 4-0.
Princeton was putting the ball in play against Craig, but some timely fielding kept them off the scoreboard. In the fourth, shortstop Brandi Rivet prevented leadoff hitter Lindsey Batson from getting on with a shoestring catch. In the fifth, after Princeton had finally gotten Payton Craig out, they had a runner on second with two outs. Leadoff hitter Kylie Willett hit a shot down the right field line that looked like extra bases with the heart of the order coming up. But second baseman Mason Cracraft showed her range as she came on the dead run to snare it near the foul line and take extra bases away.
North Harrison got an insurance run in the fifth as Emma Craig turned on an pitch even higher than the one in the third inning and hit it even farther. This time, it went all the way to the right field corner and she was able to circle the bases for a home run to make it 5-0.
Coach Brandon Craig said that he was proud of his team for playing through the 90 degree heat to win the tournament. He said that the hitting had improved over the course of the day as his batters were showing better pitch selection.
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