Kynah Steele, Brooklyn Richardson Lift Tigers Past Shamrocks 2-1

Worth County won an extra inning thriller from North Harrison 2-1 Thursday as two of North Harrison's biggest antagonists, Kynah Steele and Brooklyn Richardson, came through in the late innings to rescue the Tigers after they had fallen behind in the sixth inning. The Shamrocks had previously led King City 4-1, but the Wildkats kept chipping away, finally tying it in the seventh with a home run and winning it 5-4 in the eighth. Worth County had lost an extra inning contest as well, 5-4 to North Andrew, so something had to give in Thursday night's game.

Lani Briggs tried to bunt her way on to start the game, but Tiger third baseman Keira Hardy was put there for a reason, and she came through, spoiling the bunt attempt. North Harrison got runners on first and second with two outs, but Brooklyn Richardson struck out Erica Gerken to end the inning.

The Tigers had teed off on Erica Gerken and the Shamrocks in the jamboree this year, and had teed off on her twice last year. But when Shamrock third baseman Jaci Davis doubled Richardson off first on a pop fly after Brooklyn had bunted her way on to start the Tiger first, the Shamrocks were a totally different team and the game turned into a pitching duel between Brooklyn Richardson and Erica Gerken.

Richardson struck out the side in the second, but Gerken snagged Kynah Steele's hot shot for the first out. Brylee Rush hit a tricky pop fly that first baseman Andi Nail lost track of, but second baseman Carmon Fordyce was there to take for the second out. Gerken tied up Rylee Ruckman with a change and she hit a weak grounder back to the mound to end the inning.

The sides went in order in the third as well. Kira Robertson tried to bunt her way on in the Shamrock third, but once again, Keira Hardy was there to snag it and get the out. Richardson tied up Ruby Heintz with a change and she hit a weak grounder back to the mound. In the Shamrock fourth, Kayka Wilson hit a tricky pop fly that dropped before second baseman Kambree Briner could get to it, but she was still able to make the play and get the out. 

Brooklyn Richardson's hard shot was snagged by Jaci Davis at third in the Tiger fourth and Gerken threw a nasty screwball that drove Keira Hardy out of the box and got her called out on strikes. But then Worth County mounted its first threat when Kristen Tracy shot one just over Ruby Heintz's head at short for a base hit and Kynah Steele walked. But Gerken went back to the low heat and got Rylee Ruckman  

to ground out to end the inning.

Hailey Claycomb singled to right to start the Shamrock fifth, but then made a turn towards second and right fielder Riley Ridge alertly saw it and picked her off for the first out. A runner can overrun first base without liability to be tagged out, but the second they turn towards second base, the protection against being tagged out ends. With two outs, Jaxcynn Hansel singled to center and took second on an error, making it on a close play. But Kira Robertson popped out to end the threat.

North Harrison handled a couple of tough plays in the Tiger fifth. With one out, Kambree Briner hit a tricky grounder between the mound and first; pitcher Erica Gerken did the splits trying to grab it, but managed to get the throw to first in time. Rylee Ruckman hit a line drive, but Andi Nail, who was rock solid at first all evening for the Shamrocks, snagged it for the final out.

In the Shamrock sixth, Lani Briggs singled and went to second on a wild pitch as the two pitchers started getting tired. Ruby Heintz bunted and Richardson's throw was wide of first as Briggs came around to score to make it 1-0 and Heintz, who slipped and fell, stayed at first. Jaci Davis hit a shot at Kynah Steele, who snagged it and nearly doubled Heintz off first as she scrambled back. Kayka Wilson grounded out. Heintz took second on a wild pitch. Erica Gerken hit a hard shot that looked headed to right center for a base hit and another run, but Tiger second baseman Kambree Briner fielded it with a nice backhand and threw her out to end the inning.

With one out in the Tiger sixth, Brooklyn Richardson successfully laid down a bunt and Gerken's throw was wild and Richardson made it to second. But Gerken struck out Keira Hardy with the high heat; Richardson stole third, but Kristen Tracy swung and missed at a drop ball for the third out as catcher Lani Briggs barely hung on. 

North Harrison went in order in the seventh, and then the last person they wanted to see came up as Kynah Steele came to the plate. Sure enough, she caught hold of a pitch and crushed a triple to right center field. Brylee Rush tried to lay down a bunt to get her home, but popped out to Lani Briggs for the first out. But then Kynah Steele came home easily on a wild pitch to tie it at 1-1. Autumn Cousatte walked and went to second on a wild pitch, but Kambree Briner and Rylee Ruckman grounded out as North Harrison got out of the inning.

At that point, with both sides pitching well and both sides making outstanding defensive plays, folks were wondering how many innings it would take to complete the game; the longest game in Missouri history ran 35 innings and was played over two nights. One of the longest games in Worth County history involved a 16 inning game in the early 2000's against Gallatin when Tiffany Troutwine hit a two run home run to win it 4-2. In 2010, Worth County beat North Nodaway 40-29 in a game that lasted three hours; Ben Swalley was one of the umpires working that game. Another long night of softball happened in 2013. Worth County first beat Northeast Nodaway in an extra inning game 8-7 at home. They then played a makeup game with Braymer that same night. Neither pitcher could find the strike zone, and the game dragged on and on with countless walks. Finally, the Tigers came out on top 26-21 in a game that ended at nearly midnight. Braymer then insisted on playing a JV game as well.

North Harrison hit two balls hard in the eighth, when Kira Robertson's hard shot up the middle was snagged by Kynah Steele, who threw her out at first and Ruby Heintz hit a line drive that was snagged by Kristin Tracy at first. 

Worth County inserted one of their top speed merchants and bunters, Becca Smith, who had given North Harrison countless problems in the past. With two strikes on her, she bunted anyway and got down a good one. But Jaci Davis, one of the most heads-up players on the team, was there for the Shamrocks and second baseman Carmon Fordyce hustled over to cover first for the first out. But another Shamrock nemesis in Brooklyn Richardson came up and she got down a good bunt down the first base line and beat Andi Nail's tag attempt for a scratch hit. She then stole second and third and scored as Briggs' throw got away into left.

Worth County Junior High 7, North Harrison 4

Worth County won the junior high matchup 7-4 against a much improved Shamrock squad that battled them until the end. But the Shamrock coach, Dylan Hogan, was not happy with how the game ended. With the bases loaded and the heart of the Shamrock order coming up in the third, the game was called due to time. "I was not happy with the drop dead rule; I would not have been happy with it if it had been the other way around. We've never played that way before," he said.

The game started off well for the Shamrocks, who jumped on the Tigers early. Raegan Hogan has grown like a weed since last year, and she had been working on her game ever since the last season ended. She has turned into a good slap hitter, and she got a slap hit to drive in a run. Gracie Young singled to drive in another, and she scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 after one.

But Worth County countered in their half as Megan Tracy and Kennedy Murphy got scratch hits, Kaydence Downing had a groundout to drive in a run, and the Tigers took advantage of a Shamrock error to score two. Jane Hawk was hit by a pitch to force in a run as the Tigers led 4-3 after one.

North Harrison knotted it up at 4 as Raegan Hogan got her second slap hit of the day to score Bentley Glenn. But Megan Tracy grounded out to score Brooklyn Smith and Audrey Runde got a monster hit, a triple to the wall in left center, to score Braelyn Fletchall. Runde later came home on a wild pitch to make it 7-4.