North Nodaway’s baseball team got a 4 for 4 effort from Aydan Blackford, and they played as well as they have for the last few years for four innings. They gave Albany everything they could handle and forced them to use Kemper Cline (no relation to the Clines of North Nodaway), one of the top pitchers in the area. They even tagged him for a couple of runs. After four innings, it was tied at 6-6. But then, in the last two innings, North Nodaway imploded and gave up 9 in the fifth and 7 more in the sixth to fall 22-6 and come back down to earth. The bad thing about this loss is that now, they have to turn around and play Northeast Nodaway Tuesday.
Albany got the first run of the game in the top of the first. Starting pitcher Brice Trimble got the first two batters out, but Kemper Cline walked and stole second. Walks lead to runs and sure enough, Truman Runnels singled to put Albany up 1-0.
The Mustangs, who had a forgettable performance at the plate the day before against Nodaway Valley, did a better job of putting the ball in play against Albany, cutting their strikeouts down from 15 to 10. While they didn’t score, they were putting it in play every single time against Kole Emerson in the first.
But the game threatened to get out of hand in the second and it looked like one of many 10 run losses the Mustangs had in the last few years. With one out, Chase Cline reached on Mason Richardson’s bobble at second. Kenton Stevens singled and Cline scored all the way from first when Damian Dailey’s throw got away for an error. T.R. Akins walked.
Daulton Worrell then grounded out. Had North Nodaway gotten Chase Cline out, they would have been out of the inning at that point. But their trouble only just began as Jerrid Bunten promptly dropped one 375 feet beyond the left field fence to make it 5-0. Kemper Cline singled and Truman Runnels doubled to make it 6-0 after two.
It looked like things would unravel even more in the third when the first two Warrior batters walked to start the third. Normally, walks lead to runs, but this time, North Nodaway pulled off a 6-4-3 double play, Ethan Fry to Mason Richardson to Preston Hansen to get out of the inning and swing the momentum back in their favor.
North Nodaway’s bats came out in the third hot as they bunched three straight singles for two runs, with Andrew Phillips taking second after the throw home after Aydan Blackford and Mason Richardson scored. Blaine Clements moved Phillips to third, and then Brice Trimble singled and Preston Hansen doubled to cut the Warrior lead to 6-4.
Daulton Worrell gave one a long ride to start the fourth, but Jeremiah Dobbins, with his brother Daytona Lutz watching in the stands, made a sensational running catch in short center field to take a hit away. Dobbins would save a bunch of runs that inning.
Brice Trimble came out after that play and Mason Richardson came in to pitch, but promptly walked the next three batters before Sarah Wray came in to pitch. Albany looked prime for a big inning, but they shot themselves in the foot as Jerrid Bunten made a dash for the plate after a wild pitch, only for Aydan Blackford to recover and tag him out. North Nodaway somehow got out of the inning with no damage done as Jeremiah Dobbins ran down Michael Bourland’s shallow pop in left center that would have scored two more runs and kept the Warriors going.
The Warriors were worried enough that they brought in Kemper Cline to pitch, but Ethan Fry greeted him with a pop fly single down the right field line. Mason Richardson struck out, but Aydan Blackford doubled to the wall in left center, Andrew Phillips walked, and Blaine Clements singled to right center to tie it at 6-6. But like the last game, North Nodaway could have done so much more. All three of their outs were from called third strikes.
Three walks and an error started off Albany’s fifth inning, and all hell broke loose as they teed off on Wray, scorching the next three for singles, stealing bases at will, and doing whatever they wanted. The damage was made even worse by a pop fly that dropped uncalled, leading to four more runs coming across the plate instead of North Nodaway getting out of the inning. Nine runs crossed the plate as the Warriors led 15-6. The carnage continued in the sixth innings as Kemper Cline started off with a triple, and the Warriors continued to tee off. North Nodaway helped them along with two walks, two hit batters, and two more errors that led to seven more runs.
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