Payton Craig tossed a one hitter for North Harrison as the Shamrocks advanced to the finals in districts Sunday, but Worth County made her earn it before finally going down 6-0 Sunday afternoon. The teams brought their players to the site in Albany twice, only to be sent home on Thursday and Saturday as torrential rains battered the area last week for much of the week. Finally, the sun came out Sunday and the two teams were able to get a game in.
Both teams were headed in opposite directions heading into districts; North Harrison ran the gauntlet portion of their schedule and dropped three straight the week before last to powerhouses Lathrop, Putnam County, and Stanberry and only scored four runs in those three games. Worth County had been playing excellent softball lately, beating South Harrison 8-5, losing 4-1 to Maysville after getting drubbed 10-0 by them the week before, beating NEN 10-0 on Haley Hunt’s one-hitter, and beating Mercer 13-0 Wednesday capped by Anna Spainhower’s grand slam.
Craig worked around a walk in the first to retire Worth County, but Tiger pitcher Haley Hunt, fresh off a one-hit win over NEN, struck out Craig, one of the few enemy pitchers to manage that this year. She got Brandi Rivet to ground out to the mound. Ashlynn Gilpatrick singled up the middle and Audry Briggs singled up the middle. Gilpatrick, off at the crack of the bat with two outs, had every right to expect to get to third for Emma Craig to come up, but Tiger center fielder Anna Gladstone, seemingly equipped with a rocket launcher for an arm, easily threw her out to end the inning.
Worth County continued to battle Craig in the second, with freshman Jill Hardy getting to 14 pitches before finally being called out on strikes. But the floodgates opened in the bottom of the second as Emma Craig led off with a double down the left field line. Mason Cracraft beat out a bunt out in front of the plate to put runners on first and third, and Kami Gibson singled in one home after Cracraft stole second. Kenna Slaughter grounded out to score Mason Cracraft after Olivia Babinski (running for Gibson) stole second, and then Carly Rinehart reached on shortstop Jill Hardy’s throwing error to score Babinski to make it 3-0.
Payton Craig struck out the side in the third, but Haley Hunt settled down, changing her speeds, and getting a 1-2-3 inning of her own. Worth County, without a hit through three, nearly got one in the fourth. Kristin New’s grounder between first and second was handled by Gibson, who slipped and fell before scrambling back to the bag in time. Merrideth Spiers got the best swing on Craig and hit it hard, but right at Audry Briggs in center; the game was played on the east field and the sun is in the eyes of the left fielder, but for Briggs, it was no problem.
North Harrison used a two out rally in the fourth to finally get two more across in the fourth. Kenna Slaughter got a two out single as a pop fly between right field, center field, and second base dropped untouched. She went to second on a wild pitch and Carly Rinehart singled to right center field. Anna Gladstone’s throw was strong enough to keep Slaughter from scoring, but it didn’t matter as Payton Craig hit one 250 feet off the wall in left, over Braidy Hunt’s head for a triple to make it 5-0.
Worth County got their first two runners on in the fifth as Kennedy Galanakis reached on a dropped throw by first baseman Kami Gibson and Haley Hunt walked. Jill Hardy made Craig work for it, but finally she was froze for a called third strike. The runners went to second and third on a wild pitch, but they couldn’t come around. Megan Cassavaugh battled for 10 pitches with Craig, but popped out to Cracraft and Anna Spainhower grounded out for the third out.
Ashlynn Gilpatrick singled up the middle and Audry Briggs walked to start the North Harrison fifth. Emma Craig tried to move them over with a bunt, but bunted into the air. The ball dropped, but Gilpatrick couldn’t scramble to third in time and was forced out at third. Mason Cracraft singled to center, but once again, Anna Gladstone’s strong throw kept a run from scoring. Her arm kept Worth County in the game that day. The bases were loaded for pinch hitter Sally Briggs, but she grounded into a double play as Merrideth Spiers threw home for the force and Cassavaugh threw to first to complete the double play.
Worth County could not score in the sixth despite Braidy Hunt getting on thanks to a dropped throw. Kristin New popped out, Anna Gladstone popped out, and Merrideth Spiers grounded out to end the threat.
North Harrison used another rally to get an insurance run in the sixth. Payton Craig beat out an infield hit as shortstop Jill Hardy had no play on a ball that was hit into the hole at short. Brandi Rivet hit a pop fly dropped by right fielder EmiLee Brown and Elizabeth Parkhurst, off with the crack of the bat with two outs, came all the way around from first to score. Rivet was thrown out trying for second.
The only tense point was whether Payton Craig could complete her no-hitter, but Kennedy Galanakis broke it up with a pop fly that dropped into center field to start the seventh. Worth County battled and battled and kept fouling pitches off, but could not get anything in play. Haley Hunt got down 0-2 in the count, had two pitches hit her bat, fouled two more off, and got to 3-2 before grounding out to Cracraft. Jill Hardy once again battled against Craig, fouling off four straight pitches before finally striking out. Megan Cassavaugh tried to turn on Craig’s first pitch, but grounded out to Cracraft to end it. Craig didn’t get her no-hitter, but she struck out 11 batters in the process.
Both coaches had every reason to be pleased with their showing Sunday with the multiple postponements and the players not having school that day. “Our seniors are getting more and more focused,” said Coach Brandon Craig. “They’re starting to realize that this is it. We’re going to throw them out there and see what happens.” For Coach Tiffany Bliley, she said that she was excited to see what next year would bring after her team finished the season strongly and will return everyone next year. “We’ll make some adjustments and come back at them next year,” she said.
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