Kara Staton's golf swing in the fifth inning sparked a Tiger rally, and Worth County erased a 2-0 deficit against North Harrison and won 5-3 Thursday. The Shamrocks were left wondering how they were going to get a win on their home field. They have played excellent softball on the road and on neutral fields, going 3-2 with an impressive win over King City at the Albany Tournament and two over Stanberry. But on their home field, as of this writing, they are winless, going 0-3. Meanwhile, the Tigers have been varying from game to game, playing a good game one day and a bad game the next. Thursday, the Tigers played a good game.
It all looked like a perfect setup for a bounceback game for the Shamrocks after the first inning, in which they erased Autumn Cousatte trying to score on a wild pitch when catcher Jayliegh Robins made a bang-bang throw to pitcher Erica Gerken for the tag. The rest of the troops rallied when Trendi Johnson doubled just fair inside the right field line to start the first. Jayliegh Robins' bunt advanced her to third, but Ruby Heintz's hard grounder was hit hard, but right back to pitcher Brooklyn Richardson, who held Johnson and threw out Heintz. But Katelyn Briggs hit a squib in front of the plate, the throw got away from first baseman Abbi Brown, and Briggs wound up on second. Erica Gerken, whose clutch two out double in the sixth inning of the King City game sparked a three run rally that gave them a chance to win, came through again as her hard line drive dropped just in front of left fielder ZeeAnna Gladstone to score Johnson. Her hitting improvement this year did not go unnoticed by her coach, Brandon Craig, who promoted her to the fifth spot for Thursday night's game and finally let her run the bases.
But then Shamrock killer Brooklyn Richardson, who had an impressive shutout win over them last year in districts, started dealing again, striking out batters right and left to keep the Tigers in the game. A catch in the field by left fielder ZeeAnna Gladstone helped. North Harrison seemed to remain in control after Kynah Steele, another nemesis of the Shamrocks over the years, was cut down stealing in the fourth inning. But they couldn't add to their lead in their half after pitcher Erica Gerken wore one for the team and was plunked in the back. Kira Robertson advanced her to second with a sac bunt, she took third on a wild pitch, but on Kayka Wilson's sharp grounder to third, Kara Staton played it perfectly, looking back Gerken at third and then throwing to first for the second out. Richardson did the rest, striking out Andi Nail.
With one out in the Tiger fifth, out of nowhere, Kara Staton golfed one out of the dirt and into left field for a base hit, and the whole momentum of the game turned. Consecutive Shamrock errors loaded the bases, bringing up the heart of the Tiger order, and then Autumn Cousatte crushed a double off the wall in left to tie it up at 2-2. Brooklyn Richardson scored on a wild pitch, and then Kynah Steele crashed another double into the gap to make it 4-2. Worth County's resurgence has been fueled in part by Steele, who had three hits in the North Harrison game in addition to three hits in the Stanberry game.
North Harrison made a big to get back in the game in the fifth when Amber Wilson drew a walk. Trendi Johnson forced her at second, but Jayliegh Robins hit a grounder to Lanie Cousatte at second. She tried for a double play, but not only did the umpire rule she missed the tag of Johnson, the quick Robins beat out the throw to first for a fielder's choice. But Lanie had a short memory as she went behind first to grab Ruby Heintz's pop fly for the second out. Katelyn Briggs kept the inning alive with a bad hop single to right to score Johnson and put Robins on third. But all of a sudden, Brooklyn Richardson broke out her screwball and got Erica Gerken looking to get out of the inning.
Kira Robertson reached out, spoiled a change, and poked it into left field for a hit in the Shamrock sixth, but all of a sudden, the screwball was working for Richardson as she was mowing down the green shirts right and left. Meanwhile, Autumn Cousatte fought off a 1-2 pitch and it landed right on the left field line fair, and she stretched a single into a double with one out in the seventh. A dropped fly ball and a bad cutoff throw later, the Tigers were on the board again up 5-3.
Jayliegh Robins' hard grounder bounced under Staton's legs and into left field as she reached second with one out, but Richardson picked up her teammate, going back to the screwball and jammed Ruby Heintz, who popped out to Abbi Brown. Richardson struck out Katelyn Briggs for the third out.
Brooklyn Richardson struck out 11 Shamrocks for the Tiger win. For Shamrock coach Brandon Craig, it was a perplexing series of events. "I'm not taking anything away from Brooklyn; that's the best I've ever seen her pitch. But this game is on us. All of their runs were unearned," he said. The Shamrocks committed five errors in the game. "I don't know where we'd be if we didn't have Erica Gerken pitching for us." Gerken did all she could for the Shamrocks, striking out 11 Tigers by overpowering them. But the Shamrocks walked away still trying to figure out how to win at home.
The King City game took on a similar character as the Shamrocks lost 6-5 last Tuesday in King City. After North Harrison got runners on second and third with one out in the first, they couldn't score and King City jumped on them and built up a 4-0 lead by the fifth inning. The Shamrocks had baserunners in each of the first four innings, but couldn't score until the fifth inning, when a pair of King City errors, a single by Jaci Davis, and a double by Katelyn Briggs cut the lead in half at 4-2. With two outs in the sixth, a clutch double by Erica Gerken led to a single by Trendi Johnson, a triple by Jayleigh Robins, and Ruby Heintz reached on an error as the Shamrocks went ahead 5-4. But the heart of the order was back up for King City, which frequently erupts in the late innings, and after Taryn Hunter reached on an error with one out, a walk by Kaylee Roberts and an intentional walk to Emerlyn Medsker, one of the top hitters in the area, loaded the bases as North Harrison elected to take their chances with Wylie McKinnon. But McKinnon singled in the go-ahead runs to walk it off for King City.
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