Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Mustangs Down NEN at North Andrew Tournament; Finish Fourth

North Nodaway downed Northeast Nodaway 11-3 before falling to Albany 2-1 and North Andrew 5-2 to take fourth in the North Andrew Tournament.

Northeast jumped out on top 1-0 as Makayla Adwell walked and Taylor Coffelt reached on a pop fly single to right. She took second on right fielder Alisha Davison’s error as Adwell scored. But North Nodaway got the run back and more as Keagan O’Riley led off by doubling off the wall in left. Shai Dailey beat out an infield hit, putting runners on first and third. After Dailey stole second, Makayla Cross singled off the wall in center and went second on the throw home. Ashley Thompson singled to right, went to second on the throw home, and took third and home on wild pitches to put North Nodaway up 4-1 after one.

NEN got one run back in the second. Makayla Adwell walked with one out; with two outs, they got her home. Anne Schieber doubled past Kristin Herndon down the third base line to put runners at second and third. Paige West singled to center to score one and make it 4-2.

But then North Nodaway broke it open in the second. Keagan O’Riley walked with one out and stole second. Shai Dailey singled and went to second on a throw home as O’Riley stopped at third. Keagan scored on a wild pitch as Dailey took third and then Makayla Cross walked and kept right on going to second and made it without a play. Ashley Thompson reached on an error as Dailey scored. Kandace Damgar popped out, but then Cross came home on a wild pitch as Thompson went all the way from first to third. Emma Hart’s pop fly single scored Thompson to make it 8-2.

Northeast made things interesting all day against North Nodaway, but could never get the big hit that could break through and get them back in the game. In the third, Northeast loaded the bases with one out and Maggie Schmitz scored on a wild pitch. Madelynn Mattson walked, but Angela Standiford hit a shot to Keagan O’Riley, who doubled off a runner to limit the damage to one run.

North Nodaway got three more in the third. Audrey Trimble reached on a slap in front of the plate that nobody could get to in time; she stole second. Keagan O’Riley’s soft line drive was caught by Paige West at short, but Trimble took third on a wild pitch and came home on Shai Dailey’s groundout. Makayla Cross reached on an infield hit and scored on Ashley Thompson’s double. Thompson came home on the play when Northeast’s throw home got away and she circled the bases.
For the rest of the tournament, North Nodaway struggled to get hits as they dropped their next two. They struck out a combined total of four times in the two games and put the ball in play, but it was always right at people.

No team mounted a serious threat in the semifinal game between North Nodaway and Albany for the first two innings. In the third, Albany got two on with two out, but pitcher Keagan O’Riley froze Madalyn Rainey for strike three to get out of the inning. Albany threatened again in the fourth when Gabby Newman’s double with one out gave the Warriors a chance. But then Mickayla Martin grounded out to bring up Taylor Bain. Bain hit a grounder that looked headed for a base hit and a run, but shortstop Kandace Damgar got the ball on the second base side and threw to an outstretched Ashley Thompson for the third out.

North Nodaway finally broke through in the fourth. Makayla Cross doubled over the right fielder’s head and went to third on a wild pitch. Kandace Damgar reached on a dropped pop fly as Cross scored; Emma Hart reached on an error by the third baseman, but Albany recovered and picked off Damgar rounding second to end the inning without any further damage.

It looked like the 1-0 lead might stand up like the Gallatin game, but with two outs in the sixth, third baseman Kristin Herndon’s throw was wide of first and Lulu Brown reached on an error. Albany made North Nodaway pay as Gabby Newman, their best hitter, was up, and she hit a double into left center with two strikes on her to tie it up. Mickayla Martin hit a shot into left off Kristin Herndon’s glove; Newman, off with the crack of the bat with two outs, scored on the play to make it 2-1.
North Nodaway catcher Makayla Cross threw out Amber Davis stealing in the seventh to prevent Albany from getting any insurance runs, but Albany retired the last seven Mustang batters for the victory.

The Mustangs had a promising start against North Andrew, but it slipped away as they scored two in the first and nothing thereafter. Atheah Roberts singled home Alaina Officer for North Andrew’s first run in the top of the first. North Nodaway countered as Keagan O’Riley walked and took second on a wild pitch. Shai Dailey’s groundout got her to third and Makayla Cross reached on a dropped fly ball by Shay Carter in right, allowing O’Riley to score. Ashley Thompson advanced her to third on a grounder and Kandace Damgar singled her home to make it 2-1.

But after Taylor Combs bunted in the air in the second, doubling off Alisha Davison and Audrey Trimble was called out for being out of the batter’s box on a slap, all hell broke loose in the third as the first six North Andrew batters reached safely. Three hits, two walks, two errors, and a wild pitch later, the Cardinals were up 5-2. North Nodaway put everything in play after that, but always right at people as they only managed Audrey Trimble’s slap hit in the fifth and Cross’ triple in the sixth.

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