Northeast Nodaway got a home run from Grant McIntyre and built up a big lead, but then had to hold off a frantic Mustang rally to get the 14-12 win Tuesday afternoon.
For the first three innings, everything went Northeast Nodaway’s way. Dylan McIntyre set down the Mustangs in order, then proceeded to crush a triple into the wind that sliced away from left fielder Damian Dailey. Drew Dack grounded out to make it 1-0.
After McIntyre set down the Mustangs in order again in the second, Carter Chapman walked with one out and stole second. Boston Adwell grounded out to advance Chapman to third, but there were two outs. Just like the Rock Port game, Camdain Frisch came through with two outs and kept the Bluejays going with a two out single between first and second to score Chapman. Dylan McIntyre walked and then Frisch stole third. With Dylan taking off on the pitch, Drew Dack singled to right field, Dylan scored all the way from first, and the Bluejays were up 4-0.
Grant McIntyre then fought an epic battle with Mustang pitcher Andrew Phillips. Phillips couldn’t put him away and McIntyre couldn’t put it in play, fouling it off into the wind. At one point, he thought he had caught hold of one and went into his home run trot, only for it to slice foul. But finally, Grant crushed one into the wind howling in from center. The ball kept slicing away, but somehow, it kept carrying and even the mammoth Northeast Nodaway ball diamond couldn’t hold it in and the Bluejays were up 6-0.
North Nodaway finally got its first baserunner when Dylan McIntyre plunked Blaine Clements, but then he picked him off and Blaine was out in a rundown.
Landon Wilmes walked to start the Bluejay third and that finished Phillips. Wilmes stole second. Ethan Fry came into pitch and Brayden Stevens reached on an error when shortstop Brice Trimble misplayed a grounder, butting Wilmes on third. Stevens stole second. Fry almost got out of the inning with his massive breaking ball, getting both Carter Chapman and Boston Adwell out on strikes. But once again, Camdain Frisch came through with two outs as his pop fly dropped untouched between the shortstop and center fielder for a base hit as two runs scored to make it 8-0.
But then, wanting to save Dylan for Friday, Northeast brought in Drew Dack to pitch and shook up the lineup. But Dack started fighting the strike zone, walking Ethan Fry and Mason Richardson to start the fourth. Aydan Blackford flied out, but Andrew Phillips reached on an error, Preston Hansen walked to force in a run, Richardson scored on a wild pitch, and Brice Trimble provided the big blow, a double down the left field line to score two and cut it to 8-4.
North Nodaway showed that their uprising against Albany, in which they erased a 6-0 lead and tied it at 6-6, was no accident. “We refocused after Dylan McIntyre came out and we started showing confidence at the plate,” said coach Cody Jenkins. “When they gave us an inch, we didn’t quite take a mile, but we took a lot. That was a fun game.”
It would have been a whole lot worse for Northeast had they not turned a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning. As it stood, North Nodaway cut the lead to 8-4.
Northeast got one back when Grant McIntyre walked. Sawyer Thurman (running for McIntyre) stole second. North Nodaway nearly got out of the inning when Fry’s massive breaking pitch got Elias Alarcon out and Landon Wilmes grounded out. But Brayden Stevens’ shot to right sliced away from Darron Bix to score Thurman to make it 9-4.
But then Dack continued to fight the strike zone, walking four batters, hitting two more, and committing two balks. It would have been worse had not Northeast gotten Ethan Fry out trying for home on a wild pitch.
With Northeast needing to save Dylan McIntyre for Friday and Drew Dack fighting the strike zone, coach Vance Proffitt turned to Brayden Stevens, who had never pitched varsity ball before. There was a scare right off the bat when Brice Trimble hit a screamer off his bare hand and he airmailed the throw to make it 9-8 and put runners on first and third.
But then Stevens settled down and started pounding the plate, getting Damian Dailey on a called third strike and Blaine Clements to ground out to get out of the inning with Northeast still on top.
Northeast got the runs back when Dylan McIntyre singled and went to second when Bix let the ball get by him with one out. Drew Dack reached second on an error as third baseman Andrew Phillips airmailed the throw to first and McIntyre scored. Grant McIntyre reached when Jeremiah Dobbins dropped a fly ball to put runners on first and third. Elias Alarcon singled to right and made it to third when Bix let the ball get by him, scoring two. Landon Wilmes and Brayden Stevens walked and Carter Chapman’s pop fly was uncalled and dropped for North Nodaway’s fifth error of the inning, scoring another run to make it 13-8.
But unlike the Albany game, in which North Nodaway unraveled after a bad inning, they came back as Aydan Blackford flied out to score Darron Bix to make it 13-9. Elias Alarcon singled in the Bluejay sixth to score Dylan McIntyre to make it 14-9.
All Brayden Stevens needed was three more outs with the lower part of the order coming up, but all of a sudden, Preston Hansen caught hold of one and it sliced away from left fielder Gaige Bodle. Bodle, who has earned playing time for his hustle, laid out and nearly came up with it, but it dropped in for a double. Bryce Trimble singled to right to score Hansen. Damian Dailey was called out on strikes, but the eighth and ninth hitters came through for the Mustangs. Blaine Clements singled to right to put Trimble on third and he stole second. Darron Bix singled, Trimble scored, and Blaine Clements was safe on a close play at the plate to make it 14-12.
With North Nodaway teeing off on Stevens and the top of the order coming up, NEN turned back to Dylan McIntyre. It looked like he would overpower Ethan Fry, but Fry fought off an inside pitch and caught hold of it for an apparent base hit. But to show the kind of luck North Nodaway has had this year, the ball caromed off Bix for the second out and died between first and second. Elias Alarcon grabbed it and beat Fry to the bag for the third out.
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