Shamrocks Fall to LaPlata, End Best Season Ever

North Harrison ended its best season ever Thursday, when they made the long five hour bus ride to LaPlata, and then proceeded to give the powerhouse team everything they could handle before falling 4-2. LaPlata had come into the game with a 17-1 record, their only loss being to Class 2 powerhouse Northeast (Cairo). They had swept everyone out of their path. Two years ago, Northeast Nodaway’s Cinderella run ended there as well. North Harrison held LaPlata to their lowest run total since April 23rd, when they lost 12-3 to Northeast (Cairo).

The Shamrocks ended the regular season with a record of 13-4. They had lived a charmed life after finally getting past NEN in sectionals 3-1 in a game that was suspended Monday and had to be finished Wednesday. Pitted against heavily favored Pattonsburg in districts, they went up against a team that had their number the last two years, but they built up a 10-3 lead before weathering a frantic rally in the seventh.

North Harrison will still be a favorite next year, along with NEN and Pattonsburg. The Shamrocks lose Logan Craig, Lane Huitt, and Logan Huitt. But they return their battery, Grant Claycomb and Brett Emig along with three promising freshman infielders in Brandon Hamilton, Matthew Heintz, and Wade Briggs. They will have to find a way to replace their outfield and find another arm. They will also need to find a first baseman as Logan Craig was an anchor for them at that position, saving the Shamrocks a ton of errors by scooping throws out of the first and coming up with anything thrown in his general direction. Steven Willhite and Cruz Ury both showed promise with their bats.

North Harrison set a school record with the most wins, at 13. After only having been outdoors once, their season got off to an inauspicious start as Pattonsburg successfully invaded and won 8-4. They were faced with Cameron next; the Class 3 Dragons had North Harrison’s number in the past, but the Shamrocks won a 15-11 track meet. They went on a roll as they beat Mercer/Princeton 9-1 and shut out East Harrison despite being shorthanded 13-0. They took down another Class 3 power in Trenton, winning 18-1. They trailed early against Southwest Livingston, but Brett Emig’s home run sparked them and they won 12-2.

That led up to the North Harrison Tournament, which pitted them against Green City. It looked like another easy win at first, as North Harrison jumped out to a 5-0 lead. But then the Gophers started pounding the ball and coming back, even getting the lead at one point. But the Shamrocks regained the lead and Lane Huitt robbed one of the Gophers of a home run to preserve the 9-8 win.
Locked against South Harrison, their third Class 3 opponent of the year, the Shamrocks looked to be locked in another dogfight. The Bulldogs had gotten a walkoff win the year before, the kids all knew each other, and it looked to be a battle. But North Harrison broke the game wide open and won 17-2 for their first tournament win ever.

They beat Mercer/Princeton again 16-5 and Grundy County 14-4, but could not bring down their fourth Class 3 opponent, as Savannah, with a 25-1 record, destroyed the Shamrocks in a game scheduled at the last moment 16-1. That seemed to shake their confidence as they fell to a red hot Platte Valley team 5-4. But they got back on track with a 10-3 win over an improving Tri-County team, claimed a forfeit over East Harrison, and then beat Braymer in districts to get to the finals.