Carly Rinehart tossed a perfect game Tuesday, September 4th in Gilman City as North Harrison continued on a hot hitting streak that started the Thursday before. They toppled East Harrison 13-1 before downing the second-year Hawks franchise 18-0.
Rinehart struck out eight in four innings of work and kept the Hawks off the basepaths. Despite the torrential rains that have hit recently, they somehow missed Gilman City completely, except for a brief shower that came in from the south that delayed the game for about 15 minutes right at the start. Worth County’s, North Nodaway’s, and NEN’s games were all canceled that evening.
Rinehart had a banner day at the plate as well, getting a home run, a triple, and single, narrowly missing the cycle. After a slow start, North Harrison gave her plenty of run support in the third and fourth innings. Rinehart had battled recurring shoulder problems at the start of the season; while she played in the South Harrison Jamboree, she sat out the Albany Tournament as her teammates took second to Stanberry. But she returned to pitch two innings against East Harrison before going the distance against Gilman City. North Harrison played without Ashlynn Gilpatrick (illness), and Hunter Stevens took her place and hit the ball solidly.
Just as the game started, a heavy wind blew out to left field, making it really difficult for the Gilman City pitcher to find a grip on her pitches, and Rinehart was plunked in the leg. As the rain started to come down, Emma Craig hit one out of the park to make it 2-0 before play was suspended with Kami Gibson at bat.
Rinehart had some tough plays in the field, but had solid support behind her. #5 hit a drive to left center that looked like it would be in the gap, but Rainey Fordyce came over to make a running backhanded catch for an out. Rinehart got to 3-1 on the next batter, but threw the next pitches for strikes to get out of the inning.
The Gilman City pitcher showed some promise, keeping Shamrock batters off balance when she pounded the outside corner consistently. It was when she got away from that and threw it out over the plate that the Shamrocks were able to torch her for runs. Meanwhile, Rinehart struck out the side in the second, bringing the high heat with an occasional drop ball; the Gilman City batters were having trouble catching up to her pitches and were consistently swinging late.
Finally, Rinehart hit a screamer into the left center field gap; by the time the blue shirts got the ball back in, she had circled the bases for an inside the park home run that opened the floodgates. Emma Craig walked on four pitches and Lola Brashears (running for Craig) took second on a wild pitch. Kami Gibson doubled into the gap in right center, while Mason Cracraft doubled to left center to make it 5-0. Addie Slaughter hit a hard shot but right at the second baseman to temporarily stem the bleeding, but Hunter Stevens hit a high pop behind second that nobody called to put runners on first and third. Hunter stole second, and Deva Wallace shot a single up the middle to center to restart the scoring carousel. She stole second, Camden Castleberry reached on an error to score Stevens and stole second before Rainey Fordyce grounded to third for the second out.
Rinehart came up to bat, and she caught hold of the Gilman City pitcher’s signature outside pitch and hit a screamer down the right field line fair and into the corner for a triple, scoring two more. Emma Craig hit a shot off the third baseman’s foot to score Rinehart to make it 10-0.
Carly Rinehart struck out the side to make it seven straight, and then Addie Slaughter hit a pop fly behind second that was dropped to restart the Shamrocks. Hunter Stevens walked, and Deva Wallace hit a hard shot off the shortstop’s glove that she had no play on as the bases were loaded. Camden Castleberry hit a shot off the bag at third to bring home two and took second on the unsuccessful throw, putting Wallace at third. Rainey Fordyce flied out, but Carly Rinehart lined one fair past third and went second on the futile throw home as two more scored. Emma Craig doubled to left to score Rinehart, and then Kami Gibson hit a pop fly that dropped in for a base hit, putting Craig at third. Mason Cracraft hit a shot off the pitcher’s glove that dropped in and everybody was safe; Craig scored and Gibson took second. They went to second and third on a wild pitch. Addie Slaughter grounded out, but Hunter Stevens shot one down the left field line for a base hit and Deva Wallace singled home another run to make it 18-0.
The only question was whether Rinehart would complete the perfect game. She retired the first batter on strikes, but the next batter hit a slow roller towards Deva Wallace at short. But she charged it hard and made the play. The final batter hit a soft line drive that looked headed for a base hit down the right field line. But Mason Cracraft, showing great range from her second base spot, came running over and caught it behind first base for the final out.
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