North Nodaway had every reason to expect a good game against East Atchison. The Wolves, normally in the hunt for a conference title, are in rebuilding mode with only two seniors in the starting lineup and only had two wins. The Mustangs had played East Atchison tough earlier in the year. North Nodaway had thrown a scare into NEN, using a frantic rally to make a run at them before falling 14-12.
But sometimes, so-called “moral victories” can snowball, and that was what happened Thursday night as the Mustangs fell 27-7 to East Atchison.
North Nodaway hung tough against the Wolves for the first two innings. They were trailing, but it was a manageable deficit, a lot closer than the 8-0 deficit that they faced against Northeast. But then the bottom dropped out as East Atchison scored 19 runs in the third inning to end the game on the 15 run rule after the Mustangs could only score two in reply.
Frequently, the way a team warms up in pregames is predictive of how well a team will play during the game, and sure enough, it turned out to be the case Thursday. While North Nodaway was throwing the ball around during warmups, East Atchison was looking sharp.
Sure enough, East Atchison came out firing as Alex Erickson singled to left. There was an injury scare as Erickson and Mustang shortstop Ethan Fry tangled up as he stole second safely and Erickson had to leave the game to get stitches on his arm.
It didn’t matter as Braden Graves walked and Cam Oswald and Tate Johnson teed off on Brice Trimble, singling in three runs between them. River Dow walked, and walks lead to runs as Trent Kingery singled to center. Jeremiah Dobbins bobbled the ball and two more runs scored before he could secure it and get it in and the Mustangs trailed 5-0.
North Nodaway used their newfound ability to hit the ball to stay in the game for a while. With Erickson, one of East Atchison’s best infielders, out of the game, the Wolves had to shake up their lineup and North Nodaway loaded the bases with nobody out. The Wolves nearly got out of the inning as Zack Stevens struck out Andrew Phillips and Preston Hansen, but Brice Trimble dropped a pop fly just over new shortstop River Dow’s head for a base hit and put Aydan Blackford on third. Trimble stole second and Blaine Clements knocked them in to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Three straight Mustang errors led to three more Wolves runs to make it 8-4, but North Nodaway got another run in the second when Mason Richardson walked and stole second and Aydan Blackford singled down the right field line to make it 8-5.
At that point, North Nodaway had every right to believe that they had the Wolves where they wanted them. They trailed by three runs, but they were in the kind of high-scoring came that coach Cody Jenkins was looking for.
But after Gabe Harris, whose seeing eye single somehow eluded second baseman Mason Richardson as it rolled up the middle for a base hit, got on base after being inserted for Erickson, the bottom dropped out as shortstop Ethan Fry misplayed a hop to put Braden Graves on second and Harris on third. Cam Oswald crushed a double to center that Dobbins laid out for but missed, and the rout was on. Two more errors, three more hits, and two walks later, Trimble was finished.
North Nodaway turned to Mason Richardson, but he hit two batters, walked five, and gave up a hit as the Wolves batted around for the second time. Sarah Wray came in to pitch, but she walked three more batters, North Nodaway committed another error, and Cam Oswald crushed another double to the wall before Andrew Phillips made a pair of great defensive plays at third to get North Nodaway out of the inning.
Preston Hansen reached on an error to start the Mustang third and Brice Trimble fought back from a 1-2 count to walk. They advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and Darron Bix continued to show how much his hitting has improved this year as he crushed a double to right center to score them.
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