North Harrison could not keep up with a red hot Stanberry team Thursday as they fell 14-4 in their final home game of the year. The loss capped a three game stretch where they ran a gauntlet of tough teams. First up was Lathrop, who was unbeaten and had not been challenged by anyone but Hamilton this year. North Harrison lost a 1-0 pitching duel to the Mules; they loaded the bases in the sixth, but could not push either the tying or the go-ahead run across.
Next up was a long road game against Putnam County. Hall of Fame Coach Mike Schmidli built up North Harrison’s softball team 25 years ago and won a state title, then went on to Putnam County, where he built up the softball and basketball programs there and won two state titles there. That game is still a rivalry game; North Harrison fell 3-0 in this year’s edition.
Finally, they ran into a red hot buzzsaw in Stanberry and fell 14-4 Thursday. Stanberry, seemingly miffed at losing the GRC Place Game 12-0 to Trenton, another powerhouse, unloaded their frustrations on Platte Valley 13-0 Tuesday. It was a rare bad outing for the Eagles.
North Harrison Coach Brandon Craig elected to hold out Payton Craig for this game like he did against Albany and sent out Carly Rinehart to try to slow them down. Sometimes, teams that play nearly-perfect games one game will let down the next. North Harrison held Stanberry scoreless in the first thanks in part to a good catch by right fielder Hunter Stevens and second baseman Mason Cracraft alertly snatching a carom off Rinehart for another out, but any hopes of that happening in the second were dashed when Stanberry’s first seven batters all reached safely and all hell broke loose.
Ashlynn Gilpatrick replaced Rinehart on the mound, but Stanberry continued to tee off. By the time the carnage was settled, Stanberry was up 7-0. It would have been worse if Payton Craig, playing short, had not snatched Taylor McQueen’s hard shot and stepped on third to force out Kalie Peterson for an out.
Ashlynn Gilpatrick gave North Harrison its first chance to cheer in the bottom of the frame with a home run off Taylor McQueen to dead center. But any hopes for a meltdown like the Cubs did back in 1929, when they gave up 10 runs and an 8-0 lead to Philadelphia’s A’s (now Oakland) were soon dashed as Stanberry scored two more off Kalie Peterson’s two run single in the third, scoring Taylin Hunter and Peyton Gage to make it 9-1.
Payton Craig tried to jump-start her team in the third as she beat out a tap in front of the plate for an infield hit. Brandi Rivet hit a grounder to short and Craig, with a hard take-out slide, beat out the force despite the protests of Bulldog coach Rod Walker. Mason Cracraft struck and and Emma Craig popped out, but Ashlynn Gilpatrick, who did all she could with her bat to get her team back in it, doubled to the wall in left center to get one run back and make it 9-2.
But then the carnage resumed as Madi Sager doubled off Audry Briggs’ glove in left to lead off the fourth and the first five Stanberry batters all teed off Ashlynn Gilpatrick as they scored five to take a 14-2 lead.
With two outs, North Harrison got a rally going in their half of the fourth as Rainey Fordyce’s pop fly dropped in left for a base hit and Payton Craig doubled to left center to put runners on second and third. Brandi Rivet singled them both home, but was then picked off and tagged out in a rundown just as it looked like North Harrison would get something going. It was that kind of night.
Playing in their last home game for the Shamrocks were Payton Craig, Brandi Rivet, Audry Briggs, and Vici Stellpflugg. Regardless of the outcome, everyone was still looking forward to districts. North Harrison, the top seed, will face either Worth County or Mercer Thursday. Worth County beat Mercer in the Jamboree.
The JV nightcap went much better for the Shamrocks as Emma Craig went out and threw a no-hitter in a 2-1 victory. She crushed a head-high pitch in the first inning and hit it all the way to the right center field wall in the first for a two run home run, which turned out to be all the runs North Harrison would need.
The freshman hurler had been wild from the mound at the start of the year. But Emma showed steady improvement throughout the year and she and batterymate Kami Gibson looked like they had done it all their lives Thursday night. She only allowed two baserunners all night, a walk in the first inning and a hit batter in the fifth. She struck out 12 and no ball ever left the infield.
Stanberry finally manufactured a run in the fifth thanks to a hit batter, a stolen base, a wild pitch, and a groundout, but then Emma Craig struck out the final Stanberry batter to keep the tying run off the bases. The steal should have been an out, as Gibson had a perfect throw and shortstop Olivia Babinski a perfect tag, but the umpire saw it differently.
Stanberry, which only graduates four, will be back in contention for a conference and district title next year. But the sky is the limit for the Shamrocks, who saw a scrappy junior high bunch take down Stanberry 8-4 over on the smaller field. They also beat Hamilton 11-1 earlier in the year.
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