Carly Rinehart continued to dominate on the mound for North Harrison, the Shamrocks beat Tri-County 7-0, and North Harrison somehow got two games in despite the torrential rains. She pitched back to back no-hitters, tossing an 18-0 perfect game against Gilman City Tuesday and then coming within one batter of another perfect game Thursday against an improved Mustangs squad that took North Harrison the distance, the first conference team to do so in two years. She retired 27 straight batters over three games before finally plunking Destiny Gutshall in the fourth inning. In her last two games, she pitched 11 innings, gave up no hits, walked none, and struck out 20 batters.
Rinehart doubled down the left field line to start the first inning, and Mason Cracraft reached on Tanna Courter's throwing error and Emma Craig reached on another, putting runners on second and third with nobody out and scoring Rinehart. Kami Gibson walked, Ashlynn Gilpatrick grounded out, and Rainey Fordyce grounded out to score two more runs to put North Harrison up 3-0.
After that, Tri-County realized they could play softball with North Harrison and didn't give up any more runs; North Harrison hit several balls hard, but right at people. Rinehart was bringing the high heat and getting people to chase; she was also getting some out with her changeup. Rinehart lost her bid for another perfect game in the fourth with two outs, but recovered to strike out Courter to end the inning.
In the North Harrison fourth, Rainey Fordyce singled, took second on a wild pitch, went to third on Deva Wallace's grounder, and came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-0. In the fifth, Tri-County made their first real bid for a hit when Makayla George hit a screamer down the left field line that looked like extra bases, but landed just foul. She struck out to end the inning.
North Harrison put the game away in the fifth when Emma Craig shot one between first and second and Kami Gibson reached on an error when the third baseman misplayed one, putting Craig on third. Gibson stole second and Ashlynn Gilpatrick came up to bat. The conditions were cold and damp with a steady drizzle, with a soggy field on which hit balls died. The wind was blowing in from the north, which made it a very pitcher-friendly environment. But none of that mattered to Gilpatrick, who hit a screamer over the right fielder's head; when it hit the ground, it didn't die on the soggy turf, but rolled right through the fence for a ground rule double to score two; that showed how hard that ball was hit. She took third on a wild pitch and scored on Rainey Fordyce's groundout to make it 7-0.
In the sixth, Rachel Cosper put a charge in one but hit it right at second baseman Mason Cracraft for an out. Rinehart got Anissa Williams on a weak grounder back to the mound. She got to 3-2 on Destiny Gutshall, one of only two three-ball counts she had, but blew one by her for strike three. The point of emphasis after the jamboree was on cutting down on walks, and Rinehart had taken that to heart. Finally, Tanna Courter made a bid for a base hit, hitting a pop fly behind the mound in a dead spot. But shortstop Kami Gibson came on the dead run and made a shoestring catch for the final out.
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