In the Princeton game, Worth County got a lead midway through the game, but fell in a slugfest to the eventual tournament champions. That led to a consolation round matchup with North Andrew, whom Worth County had played just four days ago.
Worth County 13, North Andrew 2
Worth County ended it early on the run rule after North Andrew had previously played a full game with them. Two years ago, Worth County had won in North Andrew, only to fall to the Cardinals in the Albany Tournament. This time, the Tigers would make sure that wouldn’t happen again.
In the first inning, Worth County loaded the bases to start off with and Merrideth Spiers was hit by a pitch to score one. Megan Cassavaugh beat out a slow roller down the third base line and everybody was safe, scoring another. Jill Hardy flied out to score a third to make it 3-0 after one.
Megan Cassavaugh shot down Alaina Officer stealing in the North Andrew second. In the third, pitcher Braidy Hunt picked off Madisyn Fisher off second base. Allison Larison later caught a line drive from Skyla Lee.
Worth County added three more in the third after two were out. Braidy Hunt singled to center to score Morgan Beagle, and Hailey Adwell singled to left to score Jill Hardy. The cutoff throw got away, and Braidy Hunt scored to make it 6-0.
North Andrew got on the board in the fourth when Carlie Grace scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-1. Megan Cassavaugh grounded out to score Anna Gladstone in the Worth County fourth to make it 7-1. Madison Curran singled home Michaela Sybert in the North Andrew fifth to make it 7-2. Megan Cassavaugh prevented any more damage by catching Carlie Grace’s pop fly up against the fence for the third out.
With one out in the Worth County fifth, Braidy Hunt hit a pop fly that dropped in behind second, and she stretched a single into a double, as everybody had been chasing it and the bag was uncovered. That opened the floodgates, as Hailey Adwell, a newfound slugger for Worth County, doubled off the wall in left to bring her home. Aivry Griffin popped out for the second out, but Anna Gladstone hit another pop fly that landed behind second which she turned into a double to score Hunt. Anna successfully stole third and came home to make it 10-2 when catcher Alaina Officer’s throw got away. Megan Cassavaugh was hit by a pitch, EmiLee Brown dropped a pop fly down the left field line that landed fair for a base hit, and Merrideth Spiers, who had hit a lot of balls hard but foul that game, finally caught hold of one and homered to dead center field to end the game.
Out of Worth County’s 13 runs that scored, eight of them were with two out.
Worth County 13, Gallatin 7
Worth County took a 12-0 lead, but then had to hold off Gallatin’s late charge to win. They had to contend with history, as Gallatin had beaten them over 14 years, since 2005.
Gallatin was one of those teams which was young, with only two seniors listed on their roster. But they were also one of those teams which would struggle in the early innings, but get better as the game progressed.
Worth County took immediate advantage of the vast east field as Anna Gladstone tripled to right center and Megan Cassavaugh singled her home with one out. Merrideth Spiers forced her at second, but Hailey Adwell tripled over the right fielder’s head to score Spiers and Jill Hardy doubled over the left fielder’s head to make it 3-0.
Worth County added three more in the second, scoring all three runs with two outs. Maddie Runde singled down the first base line. Allison Larison popped out and Aivry Griffin flied out, but Anna Gladstone crushed one over the left fielder’s head, and the State Title contender in the 100 Hurdles flew around the bases before the red shirts could get it in. Megan Cassavaugh doubled down the left field line and Merrideth Spiers singled her in to make it 6-0.
Gallatin tried to bring in a slower pitcher to throw Worth County off for the fourth, but Morgan Beagle reached on an error and singles from Anna Gladstone and Megan Cassavaugh scored Beagle. Cassavaugh took second on the throw to third as Gladstone was safe, going first to third despite the ball being hit to left. There was a scary moment as Merrideth Spiers hit a screamer that hit Anna Gladstone, but she was OK, and since she was in foul territory at the time she was hit by the batted ball, she was not out. Spiers reached first on a dropped third strike, and Hailey Adwell singled to left to score two to make it 9-0.
The Bulldogs brought in their first pitcher, but Worth County scored three more runs before they could get out of the inning. Jill Hardy reached on an error and Braidy Hunt’s pop fly to left center scored two, and she took second on a bobble by the center fielder. With two outs, Morgan Beagle reached on an error to score another run and Worth County was up 12-0.
Gallatin finally got on the board as Madalyn Shubert flied out to Hailey Adwell in right with Caragan Baker on second; she took third and scored when Adwell’s throw got away from Merrideth Spiers. Later, pitcher Ali Brown began fighting the strike zone and walked two batters and Carli Beck singled in one to make it 12-2.
Worth County added to their lead when Jill Hardy grounded out to score Merrideth Spiers to make it 13-2.
The Tigers put their subs in in the Gallatin fifth, but the Bulldogs started teeing off on Brown and got two more runs on the board to make it 13-4. Worth County put their starters back in the sixth, but then all of a sudden, it looked like history might repeat, as it had for 14 years. History has a way of dying hard sometimes. First, Maddi Michael’s pop fly squirted out of everyone’s reach between the mound and first and she was safe. Carly Beck crushed a double to bring her home, and McKinley Waters’ slow roller to the left side squirted out of everyone’s reach and everyone was safe.
Brianna Filley struck out, and Carli Beck was out trying to score on a wild pitch. But then Brown started fighting the strike zone and walked Presley Wells and plunked Caragan Baker to bring up Madalyn Shubert. She turned on a high pitch and singled home two before Brown recovered to strike out Bradford looking to end the game.
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