North Nodaway needed to take care of business Wednesday night before facing Platte Valley Thursday night for the Highway 275 Title. DeKalb had everything to play for; a win over North Nodaway would have given the Tigers a three-way split had North Nodaway turned around and beaten the Eagles. But what happened defied all expectations as North Nodaway came away with the 16-0 five-inning victory Wednesday.
DeKalb, despite their 6-9 record, had some quality wins to their credit, including Savannah and West Platte. They went the distance against Class 4 Central, went the distance twice against Platte Valley before losing, and went the distance against Plattsburg, a red-hot Class 2 powerhouse. They hammered Stewartsville 15-5, a team that North Nodaway only beat 6-2 earlier this year. DeKalb had beaten North Nodaway 7-5 last year. But this game was more like the Worth County football team completely dismantling solid teams both this year and last.
North Nodaway got some good news this week, as they got Ashley Thompson back one week sooner than expected (collarbone). She sat out the North Andrew Tournament, but then came back Tuesday to play in the Mustangs’ 3-2 loss to Savannah. In that game, against a team that had dismantled North Nodaway 17-1 the year before, the Mustangs fell behind 3-0 in the fifth inning only to rally and make a game of it before losing 3-2.
Facing a fast pitcher was perfect preparation for facing Ashton Crockett and the Tigers Wednesday. Shai Dailey walked on four pitches and then Audrey Trimble advanced her with a groundout. So far, it looked like one of those games in which either team would have to manufacture runs to win games. But then Makayla Cross crushed a double into the wind over center fielder Rebbie Reagan’s head for a double to score Dailey and the floodgates opened wide. Emma Hart singled to right, moving Cross to third, and stole second. Keagan O’Riley singled to left, scoring Cross and putting Hart on third. Ashley Thompson singled to left to score Cross and took second when Rian Goddard let it get by her, scoring O’Riley as well to make it 4-0.
DeKalb tried to stop the bleeding, but Ashley Thompson went to third on a wild pitch and then Kristin Herndon walked and kept right on going to second as DeKalb was not paying attention, making it to second. Thompson broke for home when the throw went to second, making it safely as well, making it 5-0. Herndon took third on a wild pitch. Alonna Cross grounded to shortstop Kirstian Goddard, who threw home, but threw it away. Alonna Cross took off for second on the play and made it. Kandace Damgar’s pop fly dropped in safely in center to put her on first and Alonna on third.
DeKalb changed pitchers, bringing in Averyl Crouse on the mound. Shai Dailey grounded out to score Cross to make it 7-0, but for a time, Crouse stopped the bleeding as North Nodaway had to adjust from the much faster Crockett. In the meantime, pitcher Keagan O’Riley retired the first six DeKalb batters; Ashley Thompson showed no ill effects from her scary collision from the week before, fielding a grounder cleanly and tagging Alyssa Crockett on one play and anchoring first base on four other occasions.
But once again, Kristin Herndon showed she was a speed demon on the basepaths as she hit a pop fly behind second baseman Madison Dittemore; three different black shirts chased it, only for it to drop in and Herndon to fly all the way to second base with a double. Alonna Cross hit another pop fly into right field; despite having to hold up, Herndon made it safely home, sliding hard and coming up with an expression of pure joy on her face as Cross went to second on the throw home. North Nodaway got its third straight scratch hit as Kandace Damgar’s pop fly dropped in safely, this time just out of everyone’s reach in left field. This was similar to the North Harrison game, where everything they hit was dropping just out of the reach of the Shamrock fielders. Finally, the wind, which was blowing directly in, died down enough that Shai Dailey crushed one over the left field fence to make it 11-0 after three innings.
DeKalb got its first hit in the third inning when Averyl Crouse’s pop fly dropped in safely in center; like North Nodaway with Kandace Damgar, DeKalb uses one of their better hitters in the #9 slot. But Ashley Thompson successfully fielded all three chances hit to her, a pop fly and two grounders, to keep DeKalb off the board. North Nodaway played errorless ball for the game, and Thompson was a reason for that, as she saved pitcher Keagan O’Riley an error in the fourth as she snagged an errant throw on the home plate side of first and alertly tagged C.J. Donaldson running by. That helped save a run as Baylee Knorr singled and Rian Goddard walked after a long battle, putting runners on first and second with one out. But center fielder Audrey Trimble put away Alyssa Crockett’s fly ball and Kandace Damgar forced Goddard at second to get out.
North Nodaway scored five more runs in the fifth when Kandace Damgar singled to left and went to second when the cutoff throw got away. Shai Dailey grounded to third and reached on a fielder’s choice as Emily Dew (running for Damgar) was out in a rundown between second and third. Jadon Dobbins was hit by a pitch and Makayla Cross’ pop fly single to center scored Dailey. Emma Hart walked to load the bases and then Keagan O’Riley, after fouling off five different pitches, singled to left to score Dobbins and Cross. Ashley Thompson grounded to third baseman Madison Dittemore, who tagged Emma Hart going to third for the second out but threw it away to put Thompson on second and O’Riley on third. Kristin Herndon got into another long battle with Crouse, fouling off five more pitches, before hitting a pop fly down the left field line that dropped in for a two base hit and scored Thompson and O’Riley.
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