The question for North Harrison was how they would respond when faced with a tougher opponent. The Shamrocks had been scoring at will against other teams; however, the Longhorns, like the other teams in the 275, have shown the ability to beat anyone on a given night. But the Shamrocks, behind the pitching of Collin Castleberry, shut down Platte Valley and kept right on hitting the ball at will, gaining the 12-1 victory in five innings.
The Longhorns got a chance to strike first when Dalton Luke got an infield hit when Grant Claycomb stopped Luke’s hard shot at short but didn’t have a play with two outs. He stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and then Clayton Wilmes walked. Wilmes stole, and there were runners on second and third for Quentin Murphy, who hit a sinking line drive that sliced away and went out against NEN. But Castleberry struck out Murphy on three pitches to end the inning.
South Nodaway sent out Spencer McQueen, a pitcher with a big curve ball, out to try to slow down the Shamrocks. But Logan Huitt led off by doubling in the left field corner. Grant Claycomb flied out, but Brett Emig hit a carbon copy of Huitt’s drive and the Shamrocks were on the board. Logan Craig struck out, but Castleberry helped himself out by hitting a line drive to deep center field that went between the US and Missouri flagpoles and out of the yard to make it 3-0.
Castleberry overpowered Taylar Freemyer and Cameron Watson for strikeouts. Kaylin LaMaster hit one as hard as anyone off Castleberry, but right at Claycomb, who fielded the ball for the third out.
Lane Huitt homered to right center field for the Shamrocks and then Tyler Lundy battled and drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Sam Mejia drew a four pitch walk, which finished McQueen and brought in Dalton Luke, a hard thrower. Logan Huitt struck out, but Grant Claycomb singled to right center, putting runners on first and third as Lundy scored. Grant Claycomb stole second on the first and third situation and South Nodaway threw down there in an attempt to throw back and catch Mejia in a rundown. But Mejia, who is one of the fastest runners on the team, scrambled back safely to third. Logan Craig then reached on an error as the ball went under third baseman Tanner Davis’ legs to bring in two runs. He stole second and third and came home on Collin Castleberry’s groundout to make it 8-0 after two.
Platte Valley got their lone run in the third. With two outs, Davis walked and Dalton Luke singled. Davis went to third on the play and got tangled up with Timothy Heintz, who was playing third. Even though there was no chance for him to score since it was a routine single, the umpire called obstruction and a run scored.
Dalton Luke kept North Harrison in check in the third, but gave way to Cameron Watson in the fourth. Watson started fighting the strike zone and walked Logan Huitt. Huitt got a big lead and took off even before Watson started his delivery, making it safely; he took third on a wild pitch. Grant Claycomb walked and stole second and then Huitt scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-1 as Claycomb took third. Brett Emig struck out, but Logan Craig singled to right center to score Claycomb. Collin Castleberry hit a towering fly ball to right center that looked like it might be caught. But it kept carrying and barely cleared the wall, putting North Harrison up 12-1 after four.
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