Northeast Nodaway’s softball pulled off a 10-2 win over Stanberry, one of the top hitting teams in the area Thursday, as Hadley DeFreece shut them down by striking out ten. Northeast came into the game shorthanded, with Hayley Yost breaking her hand while sliding back to first during the Stanberry Tournament and Lindsey Jackson favoring her knee and playing at half strength. But they still had Hadley pitching, while Stanberry’s regular pitcher was injured, leaving Stanberry to use the game to break in two different pitchers. Stanberry came into the game scoring nine runs a game, but Northeast used DeFreece’s pitching and strong defense to shut them down. Meanwhile, the bats came alive and the Bluejays scored in each of the first four innings to put the game away.
Stanberry threatened to make it a long day against the makeshift Bluejay lineup. Blair Nelson had to play a new position at second to fill Yost’s spot while Bristol Hicks was pressed into service in left field. Starting off against a team like Stanberry with two errors was not the way to go for the Bluejays, but they caught a break when Josi Moffat’s shot off Hadley DeFreece’s glove caromed right to Mylee Wilmes at shortstop and she threw to first to put out the fire with no damage done.
Baylie Busby walked and Hadley DeFreece tripled to the left center field wall to score Busby to make it 1-0. She later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. Later, Brianna Meyer scored on a wild pitch and Sasha Deardorff was hit by a pitch to force in a run to make it 4-0.
With two outs in the second, the Bluejays struck again as Brianna Meyer and Blair Nelson walked. They took second and third on a wild pitch, and came home on Mylee Wilmes’ single to make it 6-0.
With one out in the Stanberry third, the heart of the Bulldog order came up again and Kynzee Adcock hit a shot off first baseman Makenzie Pride’s glove and Dami Van Draska walked. Up stepped Allie Schieber, Stanberry’s top hitter, and she crushed it to deep right. Sasha Deardorff overran the ball and it dropped in for extra bases as Stanberry cut their deficit to 6-2. But Deardorff stuck with the play and Northeast made a perfect relay to third to get Schieber to get the second out. The ball frequently has a way of finding fielders playing out of position, but new second baseman Blair Nelson fielded Josi Moffat’s grounder cleanly and threw to first for the final out.
Makenzie Pride was plunked by a pitch to start the Bluejay third and Bristol Hicks walked. They took second and third on a wild pitch, and Sasha Deardorff grounded out to score Pride. The return throw to the pitcher got away, and Hicks came home to score as well.
Bristol Hicks walked to force in a run in the fourth, but Stanberry may have found a solution at pitcher as Kenzi Santa Cruz came in. She gave up Baylie Busby’s single to score Mylee Wilmes to make it 10-2, but didn’t give up another run. But Hadley DeFreece got stronger as the game progressed, retiring the last 13 Stanberry batters, including a strikeout of Allie Schieber.
Given that Stanberry is a district opponent, the win gives Northeast a better seeding when district pairings come out. The Bluejays play East Buchanan, Platte Valley, and DeKalb this week. The magic number for a winning season is three games. Wins against Platte Valley and DeKalb mean that Northeast clinches at least a tie for the Highway 275 title.
At the North Andrew tournament Saturday, the Bluejays split, beating King City 8-4, but dropping a 12-2 game to Albany. In the tournament, Hadley DeFreece struck out her 500th career batter. She is now the all time strikeout leader at NEN.
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