Rebuilding Shamrocks Drop Two at Northeast Nodaway Tournament

North Harrison, in rebuilding mode this year, dropped both its games Saturday at the Northeast Nodaway, falling 6-3 to Northland Christian and 10-0 to Northeast Nodaway. The Shamrocks had little trouble scoring in its first three games, scoring seven or more runs in each despite going 1-2. But they ran into two tough pitching staffs in Northeast and Northland, only getting three runs in the two games they played.

The Shamrocks lost many of the horses that had fueled them the last few years, with Brett Emig playing for Northwest and Grant Claycomb playing for Kansas Christian. They also lost their coach, Robbie Claycomb, who stepped down after last year. He had built up the team from the beginning. 

The new coach is Trey Ream, who graduated from Putnam County and who played for a familiar name to Shamrock fans, Mike Schmidli. “He’s a good guy; I learned a lot from him,” he said. Instead of contending for a district title or putting up astronomical numbers at the plate, the Shamrocks are playing the numbers game this year, with only ten players on the squad. They showed flashes of their old form, but also struggled at times during Saturday’s action. Ream said the goal for the squad was to keep getting better so that they can peak by the end of the season.

Against Northland, the Shamrocks saw a promising start fizzle. Northland got its speediest runner, Dontae Burch, on with a walk, and he promptly stole second and third to start the Trailblazer first. But then Caden Monnig hit a grounder to pitcher Matthew Heintz, who picked Burch off third and the Shamrocks got him out in a rundown.

That seemed to spark the Shamrocks, and Northland, which is one of those teams that plays solidly except for one bad inning, helped them along with two errors to start the Shamrock first. Three straight singles, from Cooper Cracraft, Keygun Johnson, and Jerry Gilpatrick put the Shamrocks up 3-0 after one. 

Seth Martin doubled to left and stole third to start the Trailblazer second and Sam Gliser reached on a third strike that got away from the catcher and stole second, putting runners on second and third with one out. But Shamrock pitcher Matthew Heintz came back to strike out Jake Day and Dontae Burch to get out of the inning.

Karsyn Ury got a double over the left fielder’s head to start the Shamrock second, but they couldn’t add to their lead as Heintz popped out, Brandon Hamilton struck out, and Cole Kampman grounded out. After the rocky start to the game, the solid pitching staff of Northland settled down and prevented any further damage. 

Meanwhile, a walk to Caden Monnig and back to back doubles from Josh Hudson and Carter Dalton cut the Shamrock lead to 3-2. Dalton took third on a wild pitch, Jayson Hill walked and stole second, and Northland had runners on second and third with nobody out. Heintz nearly got out of the inning, getting Seth Martin on a popup to Cooper Cracraft at third and Sam Gliser on a strikeout. But Blake Doss’ single scored two and put Northland in front 4-3 after three.

The defenses settled down after that. North Harrison threatened in the fifth when Matthew Heintz walked and Brandon Hamilton singled. But Cole Kampman grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat. Northland got two insurance runs in the seventh when Carter Dalton walked to start off. Jayson Hill forced him as second, but pinch runner Andrew Armstrong stole second, Seth Martin singled and went to second on a passed ball, and Blake Doss singled him home.