Northeast Nodaway did all they could Wednesday night to keep their season going another game, but ran into the Maysville juggernaut and fell 5-1 to the Wolverines to end their season in wet and rainy conditions. With the Bluejays having used up Brayden Stevens Saturday, Lance Runde on Tuesday, and having used Landon Wilmes for more than 30 pitches Tuesday in relief, they turned to Grant McIntyre for Wednesday’s game. The game was moved to Missouri Western due to the rainy conditions and because Plattsburg, Tuesday’s site, was hosting district games of its own.
Maysville had used up Dillon Willis Tuesday against East Atchison, but it didn’t matter because they still had Coy Sobotka and Max Heintz available. Sobotka is their regular catcher, but they were able to move Kris Gabbard behind the plate.
Sobotka came out breathing fire despite the rain, striking out two Bluejays. Reece Gray reached on an error when Gabbard dropped a pop fly in the first, but Grant McIntyre’s hard hit fly ball was right into the teeth of the Wolverines’ dependable outfield and it was snagged by Drake Bennett for the third out.
McIntyre got off to a rocky start, walking four Wolverine batters in the inning. Sobotka scored on a passed ball, and the other run scored on Kris Gabbard’s monster drive that was run down by Tyler New, who closed the monstrous gap in the outfield in a hurry. Similarly, several years ago, when Northeast was playing St. Joseph Christian in sectionals, Dylan Mildfeldt ran down some key drives at Northwest’s field in the Bluejays’ 10-9 win over Christian. That game featured a war of brother against brother as Cody Green was an assistant coach under Proffitt at NEN and his brother Micah was assistant at Christian.
Tyler New’s catch and a strikeout by Carson Bray limited the damage to two runs. Northeast threatened in the second after a pair of Wolverine errors with two outs, but Sobotka showed that he could always get a key strikeout when needed, getting Sawyer Thurman to chase strike three.
The Bluejays caught a break in the second inning when Parker Sollars beat out an infield hit to Brayden Stevens at short, only to get erased stealing by Landon Wilmes. But the Wolverines got a run anyway when three walks and an error let in another run to make it 3-0.
Drake Bennett ran down Tyler New’s drive in the third inning from right field, but Grant McIntyre started settling in despite the rain, getting out of the inning with no damage done. He was helped by third baseman Reece Gray, who ran down Carson Bray’s foul ball for an out.
Parker Sollars hit a shot off Grant McIntyre’s glove and went to second on a wild pitch. Northeast almost got out of the inning despite the heart of the Maysville order coming up as Coy Sobotka was called out on strikes and Max Heintz flied out. But Dillon Willis singled to right to score Bray to make it 4-0. Tyler New ran down Gavin Kennedy’s drive to prevent even more damage.
Outstanding fielding plays from the Bluejays kept them in the game in the fifth as Carter Chapman ran down Carter Harms’ pop fly, coming from his left field spot to the edge of the wall in foul territory. Later, Tyler New ran down his third ball of the night, taking extra bases away from Kris Gabbard. After Carson Bray walked, McIntyre had to give way to Camdain Frisch, but Frisch got Eli Gaiser to pop out to Lance Runde to end the inning.
In the Bluejay sixth, Tyler New singled to center and stole second. Grant McIntyre hit a drive to deep center field that would have left the yard back home at Northeast Nodaway, but Parker Sollars ran it down for a long out. The Bluejays got a run anyway when Tyler New tagged up and took third on the play and the throw got away from third baseman Carson Bray to allow New to score to cut the Bluejay deficit to 4-1.
Parker Sollars collected his third hit of the night when he singled to left; the bottom of the order has been a big key to Maysville’s success in recent years. The top of the order came up and Coy Sobotka walked. Walks lead to runs and sure enough, Max Heintz flied out to put Sollars on third. On the ensuing first and third play, Sobotka took off for second, Grant McIntyre’s pickoff throw got away from third baseman Reece Gray, and Sollars scored to make it 5-1 as Sobotka took third.
With a runner on third and one out, Maysville had a chance to break it open, but pitcher Camdain Frisch bore down to get Dillon Willis, one of the top hitters in the area, on a drop ball and Gavin Kennedy to pop out to Jace Cameron at first to get out of the inning.
Sobotka ran out of pitches and gave way to Max Heintz in the seventh inning. The bottom of the order came through for the Bluejays as Jace Cameron got a bad hop single down the first base line and Sawyer Thurman beat out a slow roller down the third base line to put runners on first and second. But Heintz settled down and struck out the next three Bluejay batters to close out the win.
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