Northeast Nodaway built a big lead against Worth County in summer softball action Thursday, but Worth County, playing with 8 players and with 7 at one point, came back to force an 8-8 tie in the 18 & under game. The Tigers were without Rayleigh Smith, Riley Ridge, and Keira Hardy (State Track).
Northeast started the scoring when Baylie Busby was hit by a pitch, took second when a pickoff throw got away, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on Hadley DeFreece’s single. But Tiger pitcher Kristen Tracy settled down and showed a newfound ability to keep people off balance by mixing up her pitches and changing speeds. She got out of the inning with two called third strikes and a defensive assist when new catcher Audrey Runde threw out DeFreece trying to steal third.
The Bluejays added to their lead in the second when Lindsey Jackson beat out shortstop Addison Gray for an infield hit and stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Sasha Deardorff walked and stole. Makenzie Pride singled to left and drove in both to make it 3-0.
Both teams sailed through the next two innings, but Worth County cut into their deficit in the fourth. Hadley DeFreece shut out the Tigers in her three innings of work, but Worth County greeted Lindsey Jackson with a single from Kristen Tracy, a steal, and another single from Addison Gray to score her. Gray stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Arenna Galanakis hit a tricky pop fly that dropped in and everybody was safe as a run scored. Northeast tagged out Braelyn Fletchall trying to come home on a wild pitch, and then Arenna Galanakis was shaken up trying to go from second to third and was tagged out as Northeast got out of the inning still up 3-2.
With Worth County down to seven players with Galanakis shaken up, Northeast took full advantage as Sadie Hall was hit by a pitch and Baylie Busby singled her to third and stole. Kristen Tracy froze DeFreece on the outside corner for the second out, but then Blair Nelson singled, Brianna Meyer doubled, and Hayley Yost flew around the bases for a home run as the Bluejays emptied the bases to take an 8-2 lead.
But consecutive singles from Audrey Runde and Kristen Tracy and a Bluejay error loaded the bases in the Tiger fifth. Braelyn Fletchall, who posed in a fierce game face for her traveling team, backed it up with a screamer to Blair Nelson that she snagged for the first out. But Arenna Galanakis returned and reached on a bad hop single that third baseman Brianna Meyer couldn’t handle to cut the Tiger deficit to 8-4.
Down to their final chance in the sixth, Audrey Runde beat out an infield hit with one out. There followed a stretch where pitcher Lindsey Jackson got to two strikes easily enough, but couldn’t push past the third strike. With two strikes on her, Kristen Tracy hit a single and made it all the way to third on an error to score Runde and she scored on a wild pitch to cut it to 8-6. Addison Gray walked. Braelyn Fletchall hit a screamer to left field; Hayley Yost made a diving try for a shoestring catch but missed and it rolled in for a double as Gray scored to cut it to 8-7. Arenna Galanakis beat out an infield hit to third as Fletchall took third. Evalyn Gilland struck out but Galanakis stole second. Kambree Briner then reached on an error as the tying run scored before Megan Tracy struck out and the teams agreed to call it a tie.
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