North Harrison won its 38th straight conference game, clinched a conference title, and downed Mercer 15-0. Payton Craig tossed three perfect innings for the Shamrocks, struck out eight out of the nine batters she faced, and looked sharp on the mound. Audrey Briggs finished the game for the Shamrocks in the fourth. The North Harrison seniors have gone through their entire careers at North Harrison without losing a conference game. The last loss for North Harrison in a conference game was a 4-3 loss to Pattonsburg back in 2012.
One of the few tough plays for Payton Craig on the mound came when Aubrey Wilson, Mercer’s third batter, hit a tapper along the first place line. Instead of risking a throwing error on a 50/50 play, Craig elected to let it roll, and it barely went foul before she stuck out Wilson.
The Shamrocks started the scoring in the first and scored in every inning in the four inning game. Payton Craig walked on four pitches, stole second, went to third on Brandi Rivet’s groundout, and came home on a wild pitch. Ashlynn Gilpatrick restarted the inning with a walk, went to second on Audrey Briggs’ grounder, and came home on Emma Craig’s double off the left field wall. Coach Brandon Craig and Emma had a long talk about the finer points of hitting during the Albany game and she hit safely in every at-bat since that, getting two doubles, two singles, and walk.
It looked like North Harrison would go down quietly in the second, as Mason Cracraft struck out to lead off. Hunter Stevens earned a spot as a DH with a strong hitting performance in the JV game with Albany Monday night and came through with a shot up the middle. Payton Craig popped out for the second out, but then the next ten batters reached safely and broke the game wide open. Brandi Rivet shot a single past Rayne Kost at short and then stole second. Ashlynn Gilpatrick doubled to right center to score Stevens and Olivia Babinski (running for Rivet). Audrey Briggs singled to right to score Gilpatrick and went to second when the return throw got away from the pitcher, something Mercer had trouble doing that night.
Emma Craig walked and the catcher threw away a throw to third on a wild pitch as Craig made it to second and Briggs scored. An errant pickoff throw put Emma on third. Kami Gibson walked, Carly Rinehart shot a single into left, scoring Craig, and took an extra base on another errant return throw to the pitcher. Mason Cracraft and Hunter Stevens walked to force in Rinehart, Payton Craig walked to force in Rinehart, and Rivet singled past short into center to score Cracraft and Stevens to make it 11-0 after two.
Payton Craig threw a painfully slow change that was called for strike three on Jazmine Main and got Dominique Henley to chase one well over her head in the third. In North Harrison’s half, Audrey Briggs hit a screamer that was caught by first baseman Brea Shipley, only a freshman for the Cards. But then Emma Craig swung at a high pitch and singled, going to second on a wild pitch. Kami Gibson flied out, but Carly Rinehart singled, Mason Cracraft reached on an error when third baseman Decii Hartsock bobbled it, scoring Craig, and Hunter Stevens walked. Elizabeth Parkhurst batted for Payton Craig as Coach Brandon Craig had seen enough and started subbing freely. Parkhurst’s double plated two more to make it 14-0. Like the late Bull Reece, Coach Craig doesn’t believe in running up the score any more than he has to. “It doesn’t do us any good, and it doesn’t do them any good,” he said.
Audrey Briggs came on to pitch and Mercer tagged her for their first hits of the game as Rayne Kost doubled to the wall in left. Kayleigh Albrecht grounded out to Briggs, but Aubrey Wilson reached on a successful bunt single to put runners on first and third. Kaylee Duckworth hit a shot that would have scored a run, but shortstop Emma Craig made a shoestring catch and doubled Kost off third to preserve the shutout. Abbi Slaughter and Audrey Briggs walked and Craig singled Slaughter home for the 15th run of the game with one out in the fourth.
Following the game, baseball players Logan Craig, Randy Rinehart, and Colin Castleberry were honored for being selected to the all-district squad. While boys softball has been ended as a competitive sport, North Harrison is seeking to build a new tradition after having won the first-ever state championship in boys softball. They surprised people with a winning season last year in their second year and seek to build on that with many of their horses back.
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