Maggie Collins homered twice for Platte Valley as they built up a big lead, but then had to weather a frantic rally from NEN to get the 7-4 win and clinch the Highway 275 Conference Tuesday, September 26th. After shaking off the rust from a six day layoff, the Bluejays showed they had come a long way from the team that got run ruled by Platte Valley earlier this year. But they still couldn't get Maggie Collins out, and they still couldn't put the ball in play against pitcher Delaney Wolf until it was too late.
Collins singled to start the Platte Valley first and Brylie Angle hit a fly ball dropped by Gracie Kohlleppel and reached third as Collins scored. Angle scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. They added to their lead in the second when Mackenzie Swinford doubled off the wall with one out. Kenzie Redden grounded out for the second out, but then the top of the order came up and Maggie Collins hit a seeing eye single into center to score one. She took second on a passed ball and then Brylie Angle singled her home to make it 4-0 after two.
But unlike the first game between the two teams in which the Bluejays would make one mistake after another, they would still make mistakes, but would play through them. In the third, Maleeah Bliley singled, made it to second when the ball rolled under left fielder Sasha Deardorff's legs, but then the Bluejays got catches from Jill Boswell at short, Hadley DeFreece in center, and Sasha Deardorff in left to get out of the inning with no damage done.
The Bluejays got a run back in the fourth when Haley Yost and Makenzie Pride walked. Walks lead to runs. The Bluejays have had their share of baserunning struggles the last two years, but they used some good baserunning to get a run as Lindsey Jackson flied out to center to advance Yost to third and Blair Nelson flied out to right to score her.
In the Platte Valley fourth, Mackenzie Swinford reached on Brianna Meyer's throw in the dirt, but the team picked her up as Kenzie Redden hit a hot shot right to Blair Nelson, who doubled Swinford off first. Lindsey Jackson pitched for the Bluejays and kept them in the game, had a lot of movement on her pitches, and kept Platte Valley off balance with a changeup. But it didn't matter what anyone threw at Maggie Collins, who turned on a change and yanked it out of the yard to make it 5-1.
Maleeah Bliley doubled off the wall in left and went to third on Tina Turpin's groundout. Emmalee Langford singled to left to make it 6-1, and Platte Valley threatened to make it a lot more after Delaney Wolf's pop fly down the third base line was dropped by Jackson in fair territory to put runners on first and second. But Lindsey Jackson had a short memory as she caught a shot from Mackenzie Swinford, second baseman Mylee Wilmes was able to scramble to the bag, and Jackson doubled Langford off second for the third out. It was Jackson's second double play in the last two games.
Collins' second home run made it 7-1 in the sixth, but once again, NEN made a stand despite the heart of the Platte Valley order coming up. Brylie Angle walked and Kali Redden hit a tricky grounder, only for Blair Nelson to grab it and Mylee Wilmes to hustle to first base to cover for the second out. Lindsey Jackson struck out Maleeah Bliley for the third out.
The Bluejays had a hard time solving Delaney Wolf, as they were turning their heads and hoping to get a hit instead of watching the bat hit the ball, resulting in a lot of strikeouts. But all of a sudden, with one out, Blair Nelson beat out a slow roller hit between first and second. Sasha Deardorff was up, and everybody was expecting her to slap it somewhere and try for a scratch hit. But nobody expected her to crush it to left, where it rolled under the left fielder's legs as Nelson scored and Deardorff made it all the way to third. Mylee Wilmes beat out an infield hit to score Deardorff and made a wild turn at first. Platte Valley tried to pick her off and threw it away, putting her on second. Hadley DeFreece bunted to move her over to third, and Jill Boswell reached on an error when Wolf's throw was in the dirt to score Wilmes and cut it to 7-4. Brianna Meyer was next, but her hard-hit grounder was right at the shortstop for the final out.
The junior varsity lost 5-4. Mackenzie Pride hit a double. Sasha Deardorff tried her hand at third and made a couple of plays there. Blair Nelson, who has caught a few times in the past, was the catcher and tagged a runner trying to score on a passed ball.
The junior high lost 11-2. Paizlee Norman got a single and a triple for the Bluejays.
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