Cole Kampman went deep Tuesday night, April 27th and the Shamrocks had just enough gas in the tank to hold off Trenton and won 16-14 in a game between two teams desperate for a win. North Harrison had come close to a win several times, only to come up just short each time. Finally, they broke through against South Harrison in their home tournament, getting a 10-2 win.
It looked like it would be a long night for the Shamrocks at first as a pair of walks and a pair of errors led to three Trenton runs crossing the plate before North Harrison even had a chance to come to the plate. But all of a sudden, North Harrison realized they could play baseball with them and responded. With one out, Cooper Cracraft singled and Matthew Heintz’s drive sliced away from the center fielder for a double to put runners on second and third. Brandon Hamilton reached on an error to score two runs, which meant North Harrison was still batting after Jerry Gilpatrick popped out. Cole Kampman took full advantage as he homered to left center field to put the Shamrocks in front 4-3 after one.
Evan Schreiber ran down Mason Rogney’s sinking line drive in the Bulldog second and the Shamrocks got on the board again when Kendall Kimbrough reached on a throwing error to score Karsyn Ury. Keygun Johnson grounded out to advance Kendall, and then that set up a big inning as Cooper Cracraft, Brandon Hamilton, Jerry Gilpatrick, and Evan Schreiber all hit singles and the Shamrocks took advantage of two Bulldog errors to score six runs and lead 10-3.
But just as it looked like it would be an easy win, a baserunning blunder happened as Evan Schreiber wandered off second too far after a Trenton error and was picked off to end the inning. That was enough to give Trenton hope again, and just like that, Gabe Novak hit one that traveled close to 350 feet that might have cleared the new Northeast Nodaway fence. A wild pitch on a dropped third strike put Aiden Weyer on, he advanced to second on a balk, and that set Trenton up. Korbin Vandevender, Brayden Wiggins, and Coleman Griffin all singled and Trenton had cut the Shamrock lead to 10-6.
With runners on second and third and one out, North Harrison had to reach back and dig deep, and Brandon Hamilton got a high heater past Sam Gibson and then Wiggins tried to come home on a wild pitch. But catcher Matthew Heintz was there with the tag to end the inning with North Harrison up 10-6.
The rest of the game was a matter of both teams pressing for the win, making a lot of great plays, but a lot of mistakes as well. In the Shamrock third, Keygun Johnson wandered too far off second on Cooper Cracraft’s fly ball and got doubled off. But with Trenton putting runners on first and second with one out and threatening to cut into North Harrison’s lead in the fourth, Aiden Weyer grounded to Cooper Cracraft at third, who stepped on the bag and fired to first for a double play as North Harrison returned the favor.
North Harrison got two badly needed insurance runs in the fourth. With one out, Brandon Hamilton reached on an error, Jerry Gilpatrick walked, and Cole Kampman hit a pop fly single to load the bases. Evan Schreiber forced Kampman at second as Hamilton scored and Karsyn Ury hit a shot off the pitcher’s glove to short for a scratch hit as Gilpatrick scored to make it 12-6. That meant they were still ahead when Brandon Hamilton walked two and an error loaded the bases. Cole Kampman walked in two runs and an error and a sac grounder let in two more to cut it to 12-10, but he got out of the inning with a strikeout with North Harrison still ahead.
Keygun Johnson’s pop fly between second and right dropped in to lead off, and he stole second and third. Cooper Cracraft walked and stole, and Matthew Heintz singled them both in to make it 14-10. Brandon Hamilton flied out to left, and North Harrison dodged a bullet when Heintz wandered too far off and a good throw would have gotten him, but it got away and he got back in time. The Shamrocks got a run out of that when Heintz stole third and scored on Jerry Gilpatrick’s groundout to make it 15-10. North Harrison added to it in the sixth when Keygun Johnson’s double off the left field wall scored Karsyn Ury to make it 16-10.
That turned out to be just enough to hold off Trenton as two Shamrock errors, a hit batter, and a wild pitch let in a Trenton run and put runners on second and third with nobody out with Gabe Novak, who already had a monster home run, coming up. He nearly had another, doubling to right center to score Collin Taylor. Aiden Weyer grounded out to score Mason Rongey for the first out, but Bob Shreckengaust kept the line moving with a single to cut it to 16-14.
But just as it looked like Trenton would come all the way back and force North Harrison to bat again, Gavin Cagle hit a sharp grounder to Jerry Gilpatrick at second, who turned a perfect 4-6-3 double play to end the game. Gilpatrick’s double play and Cracraft’s from earlier in the game were the first two infield double plays that North Harrison had turned all year. The Shamrocks had made a ton of mistakes in the game, but had overcame them to win a close game, after having dropped a bunch of close games all year. It was enough to give them a confidence boost, and they made the long road trip to North Andrew worthwhile as they won 18-3 Thursday.
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