Northeast Nodaway's softball team won its first tournament in 17 years Saturday in Stanberry, beating Maryville 4-2, Stanberry 5-2, and falling to Albany 3-0. Their last tournament win was in 2006. The tournament came down to the last game between Maryville and Stanberry. A win by Stanberry would have handed Albany the title based on head to head tiebreaks since both the Warriors and Bluejays would have been 2-1. But Maryville's 9-7 win, on a walkoff single from Ella Schulte as time expired, created a three way tie for first. She is related to former Bluejay basketball standouts Jacqueline and Michelle Schulte. The next tiebreak was the fewest runs allowed, and since the Bluejays allowed the fewest runs of any of the top three teams, the Bluejays were crowned the tournament champions.
The game capped a brutal stretch in which the Bluejays played eight games in a one week stretch. Out of those eight games, they won six of them and kept the pressure on Platte Valley in the 275 race.
NEN 4, Maryville 2
The Bluejays jumped on Maryville early and had to hold on to get their first win. Jill Boswell's pop fly to center dropped in for a base hit in the first and Hadley DeFreece doubled down the right field line. The cutoff throw got away, allowing DeFreece to take third and Boswell to score. Brianna Meyer grounded to Emma Sprague on the mound, who threw to first. DeFreece took off on the throw and made it to make it 2-0.
With her team trailing early, Ella Schulte tried to make something happen, singling to right in the Spoofhound first. Sprague grounded to Brianna Meyer at third, advancing Schulte, who then had a successful delayed steal of third. But Hadley DeFreece struck out Alyssa Cunningham to get out of the inning.
From there, Northeast put the ball in play, but usually right at people. Meanwhile, Hadley DeFreece went through a stretch where she struck out five Spoofhound batters in a row. The dangerous Schulte was up to lead off the Spoofhound fourth, but Jill Boswell got her out on a close play at first. That meant that the Bluejays were still in front 2-0 after a dropped fly ball in the sun and two groundouts to DeFreece.
The Bluejays got two insurance runs in the fifth when Jill Boswell and Hadley DeFreece got back to back hits. They advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and Boswell scored on a wild pitch. Brianna Meyer hit it hard but right at the right fielder; however, DeFreece tagged and scored to make it 4-0.
Northeast was seemingly out of danger when Boswell once again got Schulte out on a close play at first for the second out in the Spoofhound sixth. But then she dropped a soft line drive by Sprague to keep the Spoofhounds going. Alyssa Cunningham walked and Brylie Henggeler singled to cut the lead to 4-1. But DeFreece struck out Annie Sparks to get out of the inning. With one out in the seventh, Emma Aley hit a monster home run to cut it to 4-2, and another baserunner would have made things interesting with Schulte's turn coming up in the lineup again. But DeFreece struck out Gwyn Bilke and Aliya Farmer to strand Schulte in the on-deck circle and end the game. DeFreece struck out 13 in the victory.
NEN 5, Stanberry 2
The Bluejays looked to be in trouble after Morgan Showers scored on a passed ball to put Stanberry up 1-0 in the second. The ball was slipping out of pitcher Lindsey Jackson's hands in the rain from a storm that was passing through, and she walked two batters to extend the inning. But after she grabbed a hot shot from Kaitlyn James for the third out, a 30 minute lightning delay allowed the Bluejays to refocus and come back. Blair Nelson swung at a wild pitch for strike three and reached first safely in the Bluejay second; she later came around to score on a wild pitch to tie it at 1-1.
Stanberry had a chance to regain the lead in the third with runners on second and third and two outs. But Bluejay catcher Hailey Yost picked Amelia Wallace off third, and she was out in a rundown to end the inning. And the Bluejays overcame an error in the fourth when Yost did a 360 to catch Maranda Evans' pop fly behind home plate to end the inning.
Brianna Meyer singled to lead off the Bluejay fourth and Hailey Yost followed with another. Blair Nelson walked to load the bases. Stanberry drew their infield in for a force play at the plate, but Makenzie Pride hit a pop fly behind second base that dropped in for a base hit. Normally, it would have been a catchable ball, but since the Bulldog infield was drawn in, it was a base hit that put the Bluejays up 2-1. It was the third hit this year for Pride that either tied the game or put the Bluejays in the lead late in the game. Sasha Deardorff, normally a slap hitter, followed with a screamer to left; Marli Hilton made a try for a running catch, but it got by her for a double that scored two. Another run scored when a throw got away, making it 5-1.
Amelia Wallace's home run cut it to 5-2, and Lindsey Hailey reached on an error, but Jill Boswell threw Morgan Showers out to end the game.
Albany 3, NEN 0
The Bluejays would have liked to win the tournament outright, but the Warriors, who had used the slower Makena Moffat against them in the Bluejays' 8-3 win earlier this year, sent their best pitcher in Addisyn Crawford. Albany had been on a roll since that game, winning five in a row before Maryville snapped it with a 14-5 win in the tournament. The Bluejays were in over their heads against Crawford; normally good at putting the ball in play and making the other team earn outs against them, they were striking out right and left against her. Most of their swings were late.
Hadley DeFreece did all she could to keep her team in the game, striking out 10 Warriors for the game and 23 for the tournament in 14 innings of work. But the Warriors showed the other reason for their improvement; it was not just Abigail Troncin and Addisyn Crawford doing all the damage, but the whole team stepping up and getting timely hits. Makena Moffat yanked one out of the yard for the Warriors in the second to make it 1-0.
In the Warrior third, Tatum Peterson got a bunt single. Abigail Troncin hit a pop fly that third baseman Brianna Meyer dropped, but she stuck with the play and threw to second for a forceout. Troncin stole second. Izzy Manville struck out, but Crawford singled to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
In the Bluejay fourth, with two outs, Hadley DeFreece tried a delayed steal of third to spark her team and seemingly made it, sliding under the tag, but the umpire called her out to kill a potential rally. Moffat singled home Troncin in the Warrior fifth to make it 3-0. And Northeast ran their way out of another potential rally in the sixth when Warrior shortstop Abigail Troncin, instead of a routine throw to first, tagged out Jill Boswell.
Maryville 9, Stanberry 7
Maryville was heavily favored to win the nightcap. A Spoofhound win of any kind would hand the Bluejays the tournament title, since Maryville, Albany, and NEN would finish with a 2-1 record and the Bluejays would own the tiebreak for the fewest runs. A Stanberry win would hand the title to Albany, since in that case, NEN and Albany would be 2-1, Stanberry and Maryville would be 1-2, and the head to head tiebreak would give Albany the title.
But when Kaitlyn James scored the first run of the game for Stanberry in the Bulldog first and Maryville ran its way out of a possible counter in its half of the first, the floodgates opened for Stanberry. Maryville started Phoebe Hornickel, but in the second, Stanberry took advantage of three walks, one error, and hits by Kaitlyn James and Amelia Wallace to grab a 6-0 lead after two.
For a while, it looked like it might hold up. Stanberry pitcher Eva Cameron was jamming people inside, using her drop ball, and forcing weak grounders through the first two innings. But she ran into trouble in the third when she hit Gwyn Bilke, Brylie Henggeler singled, and Ella Schulte walked. Emma Sprague walked to force in a run.
A wild pitch then scored Bilke; and then, as Stanberry catcher Hannah McQuinn couldn't find the ball, Schulte came around to score as well to cut it to 6-3. Alyssa Cunningham flied out to Katlyn James to score another and cut it to 6-4. It would have been worse, but Morgan Showers ran down Annie Sparks' screamer to right center to end the inning.
Emma Sprague came in and stopped the bleeding for Maryville, but the Bulldogs got a badly needed insurance run in the fourth. Maryville was seemingly close to being out of the inning when Marli Hilton's hard shot was right at Annie Sparks for the second out. But Amelia Wallace kept the inning going with a base hit to center, and then Morgan Showers beat out an infield hit to third; with nobody covering the bag, Wallace went from first to third on the play. With runners on first and third with two outs, Showers ran slowly to try and draw a throw to get in a rundown. Maryville took the bait and got her tagged out, but not before Wallace scored to extend Stanberry's lead to 7-4.
Marriah Williams led off the Spoofhound fourth with a single and took second on a wild pitch. Emma Aley had two home runs that afternoon, one against NEN and one against Albany, but she hit a tricky chopper to Brooke Robinson at second and got out as Williams took third. Williams scored on a wild pitch. Gwyn Bilke walked and went to second on a wild pitch, scoring when Ella Schulte stretched a single into a double and drove her in. Schulte pulled off a delayed steal of third and Emma Sprague walked, seemingly setting up a big inning, but Stanberry brought in Maci Duley to pitch, Alyssa Cunningham hit one right at Wallace at short, and Stanberry still led 7-6 with time running out.
In the Stanberry fifth, Brooke Robinson beat out Ella Schulte when she had to loft the ball over her third baseman's head as both were going for a tricky grounder, but she was cut down stealing and there were 10 minutes left going into the Spoofhound fifth as they were still trailing 7-6.
Aliya Farmer and Annie Sparks both hit tricky grounders up the middle to start the Spoofhound fifth, and Wallace snagged both of them to get two outs with five minutes left before time was called. But Marriah Williams reached when Wallace bobbled her grounder to keep the inning going. That brought up Emma Aley, who already hit two home runs for the Spoofhounds that day. But she hit a pop fly that hung high in the air between the mound and home plate, but dropped fair before anyone could grab it, putting runners on first and second. Gwyn Bilke walked and Brylie Henggeler beat out third baseman Maranda Evans' throw as Williams crossed the plate. That brought up the one batter that Stanberry didn't want to see in Ella Schulte, and sure enough, she singled home two runs to make it 9-7. As the ball was being returned to the pitcher, time was called, giving Maryville the win and handing the tournament title to the Bluejays on tiebreaks.
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