Worth County's losing streak reached four before the Tigers finally snapped it in their second game at the North Harrison Tournament Saturday, beating North Harrison 13-4 to take second place in the tournament. To put it another way, Braymer won the exhibition and Worth County the actual tournament. Braymer had a two hour bus ride to Eagleville, but showed no ill effects as they completely outplayed and outclassed Worth County and North Harrison.
North Harrison had every reason to expect good things, as they were riding the momentum from their 4-3 win over Pattonsburg the night before, avenging a 5-0 loss at Cainsville. They came in having won six out of their last eight. But the Bobcats beat North Harrison 10-2 in the first game; the Shamrocks had bad first and second innings, which gave the Bobcats all the cushion they needed.
Worth County struggled even more, making three errors on the first four Braymer batters and five errors overall, as Braymer was timing and crushing it all game long before getting the 11-1 win in the fifth. Haley Adwell was a bright spot for the Tigers, getting two hits and making three catches in left field without an error.
Mired in a four game losing streak after a walkoff 1-0 loss to South Harrison in eight innings Thursday, Worth County dug themselves an even deeper hole against North Harrison in the first. Trendi Johnson singled, Camden Castleberry moved her over with a bunt, and consecutive errors fueled a four run Shamrock first which made it 4-0. But then a costly two base throwing error by the Shamrocks with two outs in the Tiger first let in two runs and gave them hope as Haley Adwell and Ali Brown scored to cut it in half at 4-2.
A totally different Tiger squad took the field in the second and didn't give up any more runs. In the third inning, Ali Brown and Kynah Steele singled. Autumn Cousatte popped out and Kara Staton grounded out and North Harrison was nearly out of the inning. But then a bad hop single from Taylor Sanders scored both runs to tie it up 4-4, and it was a brand new ballgame.
In the Shamrock fourth, the first two batters grounded out, but Amber Wilson beat out third baseman Taylor Sanders' throw to keep the inning going. Trendi Johnson got another infield hit and Camden Castleberry singled to left. Thinking his team needed a spark, coach Brandon Craig sent Wilson home from second, and Worth County needed a perfect throw home to get her. But that's exactly what they got as Hailey Adwell gunned her down at the plate and Autumn Cousatte blocked the plate perfectly and put the tag on to preserve the 4-4 tie.
Lanie Cousatte walked for the Tigers to start the fourth and Aivry Griffin put down a perfect bunt past pitcher Erica Gerken into no man's land for a base hit. They took second and third on a wild pitch, but Gerken made some good pitches to strike out Hailey Adwell and Ali Brown and nearly got out of the fourth. But then Kynah Steele walked, Autumn Cousatte reached on an error to break the tie, and then the floodgates opened as Kara Staton crushed a double to empty the bases and score three, and Taylor Sanders singled her home to make it 9-4 after four, chasing Gerken. Out of Worth County's first nine runs, all of them were with two out.
Camden Castleberry came on to pitch for North Harrison, but Kynah Steele walked to force in a run in the fifth. In the sixth, once again, the Shamrocks could not get out of the inning. With runners on second and third, Hailey Adwell singled to left to score ZeeAnna Gladstone and Taylor Sanders, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Ali Brown's double before time was called. Out of Worth County's 13 runs against North Harrison, 12 of them were with two out. The Tigers came out of a hitting slump in a big way, getting 16 hits against the Shamrocks.
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