North Nodaway jumped in front with a five run outburst, then held off Platte Valley’s repeated attempts to get back in the game, taking the Highway 275 Conference Title with a 6-2 victory over the Eagles. The Mustangs had been playing for the third straight day and their sixth game in the last five, but showed no ill effects.
It looked ominous at first when Malia Collins’ pop fly dropped in for a base hit in right field. Kaylin LaMaster dropped down a slow roller down the first base line, Ashley Thompson picked it up, and threw to second baseman Shai Dailey for the first out. But Dailey tried to throw out Collins going all the way from first to third, threw it away, and Collins came in to score to put the Eagles up 1-0. Amber White doubled off the left field wall with two outs, but Allie Wolf grounded out to Dailey for the third out.
With one out, Audrey Trimble shot a double into right center in the first. It looked like North Nodaway would go quietly, as Makayla Cross popped out for the second out. But then, Emma Hart, who had taken two pitches for strikes, suddenly caught hold of one. It looked like a long fly ball at first, but then it suddenly kept carrying down the left field line right out of the ballpark to put North Nodaway up 2-1. Keagan O’Riley reached on an error when shortstop Malia Collins’ throw was wide of first and she made it to second.
All of a sudden the floodgates opened after Ashley Thompson was hit by a pitch. Kristin Herndon crushed one down the left field line fair and into the corner for a double as two runs scored and North Nodaway was up 4-1. Alonna Cross then caught hold of the first pitch and crushed it off the wall in right for another double as Herndon scored to make it 5-1.
Platte Valley tried to get back in it in the second, but center fielder Audrey Trimble robbed Vanessa Pappert of a home run to keep the Eagles off the board. North Nodaway had a chance to break it wide open in the second as they put together three straight scratch hits to load the bases with nobody out. But Emma Hart popped out and then Eagle catcher Kaylin LaMaster, who broke North Harrison’s hearts with her bat in the regular season last year, came through with her arm this year as she picked Shai Dailey off third. Keagan O’Riley flied out to end the threat.
The Eagles had every reason to believe they would come back by chipping away and got off to a good start as Collins hit a home run 300 feet to dead center to make it 5-2. But then Ashley Thompson robbed LaMaster of extra bases by snagging her screamer. Ashley Mattson reached on an error as Shai Dailey overran a grounder, but Amber White, who had Shamrock pitcher Payton Craig’s number over the years, was no match for Keagan O’Riley, who struck her out for the third out.
After that, the game settled down into a war of attrition. In the fifth, Malia Collins and the top of the order came up again, but Collins’ shot was hit hard but right at Shai Dailey, who threw her out at first. In the sixth, LaMaster hit it hard to Kandace Damgar at short, and her throw was in the dirt. But Ashley Thompson scooped it out like a catcher and hung on for an out. Platte Valley tested Damgar’s glove again as Ashley Mattson shot one hard off her glove. But Damgar recovered in time to get her out at first before O’Riley sent White down on strikes again.
North Nodaway finally got an insurance run in the sixth. With one out, Kandace Damgar reached on a single to left and took second when leftfielder Ashley Mattson let it get by her. Shai Dailey hit what looked like a base hit up the middle, but Collins was positioned perfectly and fielded it for the second out. But Audrey Trimble singled her home to make it 6-3.
Allie Wolf smashed one hard, but right at Ashley Thompson for the first out. Jessica Miller turned on the first pitch and hit a screamer that looked headed for extra bases. But Kandace Damgar made a leaping grab for the second out. But then Vanessa Pappert hit a hard shot that caromed off Damgar’s glove 10 feet up into the air for a scratch hit. Sydnee Dean hit a hard shot off Kristin Herndon’s glove at third; it squirted away and once again, there was no play. Another baserunner would have brought Malia Collins, already with one home run for the day, to the plate. But O’Riley struck out Megan Galbraith on three pitches to end the game.
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