The Cardiac Kids of Northeast Nodaway walked it off again, this time against LeBlond, turning back the Golden Eagles 7-6 Tuesday. They have now won three straight; all of them were one run games, and two of them were in walkoff fashion. Senior right fielder Kirsten Morrow was honored afterwards after a nerve-wracking ending in which the Bluejays lost the lead in the seventh, only to right the ship just in time.
It didn't look good for the Bluejays at first, as LeBlond, who is loaded from the first through fifth slots, started timing and crushing Hadley DeFreece, starting with Daisey Harshman's leadoff double to right; Morrow's throw got away from her, and Harshman took third. Shae Lewis singled up the middle to center and stole second. Olivia Flores struck out, but Sloan Lewis walked and Kayla Beam singled to score another and make it 2-0. Northeast finally got out of the inning when Katie Beam grounded into a force at third, and DeFreece froze Allison Stroud on the inside corner. Hadley got 10 strikeouts for the afternoon, but it was her bat that did the most damage in the end.
Northeast could not get any runs across; pitted against Kayla Beam, the same player who broke Worth County's hearts for Avenue City two years ago in junior high basketball with a half court shot to sink them, they were able to cut down on the strikeouts and put it in play. But they could not string together hits to cut into their deficit until the third.
But in the third, Ruby Wilmes, Northeast's #9 hitter, drew a four pitch walk to start the inning. North Harrison coach Brandon Craig always preaches to his pitchers that walks lead to runs, and the Bluejay third was a prime example. All of a sudden, the floodgates opened as the Bluejays started stringing hits together. Jaden Atkins reached on a bad hop single to short. Jill Boswell reached on a single to left as Wilmes stopped at third. LeBlond tried to contend that Wilmes had interfered with the shortstop, but the no-call stood and the bases were loaded. Baylee Busby hit a shot off the second baseman's glove to score Wilmes; then, the second baseman tried to throw Busby out at first and threw it away, scoring Atkins as well. Meredith Adwell singled to left to score Boswell, and Hadley DeFreece laid down a perfect sac bunt to score Busby to make it 4-2.
LeBlond threatened in the fourth when left fielder Meredith Adwell dropped Allison Stroud's fly ball with one out. Ryan Olivera beat out a slow roller, but then Natalie Burnett forced Stroud at third. Harshman and the top of the order came up, but DeFreece froze Harshman with a breaking ball on the outside corner to get out of the inning.
Lindsey Jackson drew a walk after a long battle with Beam in the Bluejay fourth, and once again, the walk led to runs. Ruby Wilmes struck out on a change, but Jaden Atkins crushed one into the right field corner for a triple to score Jackson to make it 5-2. Jill Boswell popped out, but Baylee Busby reached on an error as the first baseman dropped a throw to score Atkins to make it 6-2.
But Northeast is not known as the Cardiac Kids without reason, and sure enough, Olivia Flores singled with one out in the LeBlond fifth. DeFreece came back to blow a strikeout by Sloan Lewis, but then Kayla Beam crushed a double to score Flores to make it 6-3. DeFreece got through the bottom of the Golden Eagle order in the sixth, only for Northeast to commit a baserunning blunder when Ruby Wilmes singled, only to be doubled off by Jill Boswell's pop fly that Beam snatched off the ground and doubled her off.
That fired up LeBlond, and the heart of their order was coming up in the seventh. Sure enough, Daisey Harshman beat out a scratch hit, Shae Lewis singled to left center and stole second, and then Olivia Flores reached on an error as her grounder got under Jill Boswell's legs to score Harshman and put Lewis on third. Flores stole second. Sloan Lewis hit a hot shot between first and second that first baseman Jaden Atkins knocked down, but nobody had a play on as Flores took third and Shae Lewis scored to make it 6-5. Kayla Beam hit a towering pop fly to Lauren McIntyre at second that she caught, but Shae Lewis tagged and scored and Sloan Lewis took second on the unsuccessful throw home to tie it at 6-6.
Most of the teams of the past 15 years would have folded under such an onslaught, but Hadley DeFreece righted the ship as she froze Katie Beam with a pitch on the inside corner, and Allison Stroud flied out to Kirsten Morrow in right as Northeast preserved the tie. Baylee Busby grounded out, but Meredith Adwell hit a single to left. It looked like no damage was done, but all of a sudden, the cutoff throw got away and rolled clear to the right field fence as nobody backed up the play as Adwell came all the way around to third.
Hadley DeFreece had kept the Bluejays in the game with her arm, striking out 10, but it was with her bat that she ended the game. Some coaches have a sixth sense about their players, and Coach Vance Proffitt had moved her to the fifth spot from her normal leadoff spot. The move paid off as DeFreece hit a shot off the shortstop's foot that rolled away for a scratch hit before she could react as Adwell came home for the walkoff win.
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