Northeast Nodaway has had an up and down baseball season this year. They entered a three game losing skid to end the regular season to North Platte, East Buchanan, and Gilman City. Sometimes, when coming out of a slump, teams have to win ugly, and Northeast did so against Hamilton in the first round of districts. The game was moved from Maysville to Mid-Buchanan due to rain; many of the Bluejays had never played on turf and it showed as they fell behind 7-3 in the Hamilton game. But they rallied to win in nine innings 9-8, scoring two in the bottom of the ninth after Hamilton had scored one in the top of the inning.
Wet field conditions at Maysville delayed the game for two more nights, but the Bluejays finally got their game with Albany in Wednesday. Top seeded Maysville easily beat East Atchison 10-0 in five innings in the first game, which put NEN and Albany in a dilemma -- start your best pitcher and improve your chances of reaching the finals, but not have him available for Maysville, or start someone else and hope you won't need them?
Both teams elected to try to save their best pitchers for Maysville, with NEN sending Drew Dack to the mound and Albany sending Chase Cline. But three batters in, it was obvious it was not Drew's night as he walked all three after long battles, forcing the Bluejays to bring in Dylan McIntyre instead of saving him up for Maysville. Truman Runnels promptly greeted him with a base hit to score two. Kemper Cline was out trying to steal third, but an error and two more walks forced in another run to put Albany up 3-0 after one.
Meanwhile, Chase Cline was mowing Bluejay batters down right and left. Albany added to their lead in the second when Jerrid Bunten's pop fly dropped in center for a base hit, he took second on a wild pitch, and Kemper Cline reached on an error when shortstop Drew Dack hurried a throw trying to get the speedy Cline out. That made it 4-0.
The Bluejays couldn't even get to Chase Cline until the third, when Boston Adwell led off the inning with a walk. Jace Cameron and Sawyer Thurman struck out. Dylan McIntyre hit a grounder to short and sold himself out trying to beat out the throw, but was out on a close play, scraping his non-throwing arm on the play. He stayed in the game.
Northeast prevented any further damage in the third when Dylan McIntyre picked off Braden Landuyt after plunking him to start the inning. Sam Miller gave one a long right in right, but Carter Chapman came racing over to grab it in foul territory for another out, and McIntyre froze Michael Bourland for the third out.
Daulton Worrell singled to start the Warrior fourth. Jerrid Bunten struck out, but an errant pickoff throw by catcher Grant McIntyre put Worrell on second. Northeast nearly got out of the inning as McIntyre froze one of the top hitters in the area in Kemper Cline, but Truman Runnels picked up Cline with a base hit to make it 5-0.
Boston Adwell finally got to Chase Cline with Northeast's first hit with a double into the left field corner with one out in the Bluejay fifth. Jace Cameron singled him to third and Sawyer Thurman forced Cameron at second as Boston scored to cut it to 5-1. Dylan McIntyre walked to keep the inning going, but Warrior shortstop Jerrid Bunten snagged Drew Dack's pop fly behind second that looked like it was going to drop in for the third out.
Albany tried to get the run back in their half of the fifth when Kole Emerson walked to lead off and stole second. Catcher Grant McIntyre's throw got away into center field, but center fielder Tyler New gunned down Emerson at third, the first of several outstanding defensive plays New made. In the sixth, Jerrid Bunten hit a drive into right. Carter Chapman came after it on the dead run, but it popped out of his glove and Bunten wound up at second. The inning would have been worse, but New caught towering fly balls from Kemper Cline and Truman Runnels to get to two outs. But then Chase Cline and Kole Emerson walked to load the bases. Braden Landuyt singled to left to score one and make it 6-1. But Tyler New gunned down Chase Cline trying to score as well to get the Bluejays out of the inning.
Jace Cameron got into a long battle with reliever Landuyt to start the seventh for Northeast. After a previous pitch which would have been strike three barely missed. Jace got plunked. Sawyer Thurman hit a high chopper, but Landuyt fielded it cleanly and got Thurman out at first, and Dylan McIntyre struck out. Drew Dack got plunked to keep the season going, but Grant McIntyre's tricky pop fly in shallow right was run down by second baseman Jerrid Bunten (who moved to second when Landuyt came to pitch in the 6th) for the final out.
The game was the last one for longtime coach Vance Proffitt as well as two seniors, Dylan McIntyre and Boston Adwell.
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