Northeast Nodaway ran its way out of its district game with East Atchison, killing four rallies on the basepaths and falling 8-4 to the Wolves in the rematch in a game placed in conditions that resembled the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. The wind was howling in from left to right, whipping up dust that wreaked havoc on the playing conditions, and knocking down balls hit to left. The temperature started off at 79 at gametime but plunged down to 68 as the game ended and it felt more like 45-50.
The first rally-killer happened in the first inning. Chase Allen, who had been hitting the ball well in practice recently, earned the leadoff spot and beat out an infield hit when his slow roller bounced off the bag at third. But he was promptly erased when Reece Gray lined out to Alex Erickson at short, who doubled Allen off first. The next two batters walked, only for Landon Wilmes to line out to Cameron Kephart to end the inning.
All the momentum was in East Atchison's favor and Reece Gray started off fighting the strike zone in the difficult conditions. Two walks and a wild pitch put runners on first and third and then Northeast threw it around on the next play, letting in a run and putting runners on second and third. Luke Morey walked, and River Dow crushed one high to right. Gaige Bodle came in on the run expecting it to drop into his glove, only for it to sail over his head for a three-run triple that made it 4-0. Axyl Slemp's sac fly made it 5-0. With two outs, Carter Oswald's pop fly single kept the inning going, only for Bluejay second baseman Jake Redden to show a burst of speed and run down Brody Wennihan's pop fly in foul territory to end the inning.
The Bluejays then ran their way out of another inning. Gaige Bodle walked to start off the second, only for him to take off before Wolves pitcher River Dow delivered it to the plate and he was thrown out at second. An argument ensued and the Bluejays contended that Dow had balked to no avail.
The game threatened to get out of hand after Owen DeRosier reached after hitting it sharply to Redden, who bobbled it. Alex Erickson hit a towering popup down the first base line, and everybody was chasing it before Bodle ran it down for the first out. Tate Johnson singled between third and short and Gray plunked Luke Morey to load the bases. River Dow hit a grounder to second and Redden atoned for his error by throwing a strike to catcher Landon Wilmes to get a force at home for the second out. Gray plunked Slemp to force in a run but then froze Gabe Harms for the third out to keep it at 6-0. After that, Reece Gray settled in and kept the Bluejays in a game that had threatened to end early.
Brayden Stevens tripled off the wall in right to lead off the Bluejay third. Camdain Frisch went after a high pitch and grounded it slowly up the middle. Alex Erickson made a great diving stop to retire Frisch at first, but Stevens scored on the play to break the shutout. Carter Chapman walked to restart the Bluejays. Landon Wilmes forced him at second for the second out. He stole second and Jace Cameron doubled him home to cut it to 6-2.
The bottom of the order came through in the third for the Wolves as Carter Oswald singled to lead off. Brody Wennihan pulled off a perfect fake bunt and hit it sharply, but Jake Redden made a great heads-up play at second to retire Wennihan for the first out as Oswald took second. Owen DeRosier tripled off the wall in right to make it 7-2, putting him on third with one out, but Reece Gray came back to freeze Erickson and got Tate Johnson to chase a big breaking ball to get out with no further damage done.
Northeast got a run back in the fourth but ran its way out of more. With one out, Reece Gray walked and stole. Lance Runde beat out a slow roller down the third base line that put Gray on third. Lance Runde stole second. Brayden Stevens hit a grounder to short that would have scored Gray, but Runde, who was not forced to run, got tangled up with Alex Erickson and was called out for interference, returning Gray to third. Northeast scored anyway when Camdain Frisch worked a four-pitch walk and Carter Chapman ducked but was plunked in the helmet anyway to force in a run and made it 7-3. It would have been more, but Wolves right fielder Gabe Harms made a great catch of Landon Wilmes' tricky pop fly to get them out of the inning.
The Wolves threatened after Luke Morey doubled to lead off the fourth. But Jace Cameron ran down River Dow's pop fly in foul territory for the first out. Reece Gray plunked Axyl Slemp to put runners on first and second. Gabe Harms hit a shot that third baseman Lance Runde could not hang on to. But he atoned for his baserunning miscue in the previous half-inning as he stuck with the play, knew the situation, and stepped on third for a badly needed out. Gray won a big battle with Carter Oswald, striking him out after he had fouled off four pitches to get out of the inning.
Axyl Slemp took over on the mound for the Wolves, and he features one of the slowest changeups and slowest pitches in the area. But everything he throws has as much movement as any pitcher in the area; it threw the Bluejay batters off in the first meeting and it threw them off in Friday's game. And he showed a willingness to change speeds, which kept batters even more off balance. Meanwhile, Alex Erickson started a two out rally for the Wolves in their half of the fifth with a base hit, stole second, and came home on Tate Johnson's single to make it 8-3.
Northeast threatened to make things interesting against Slemp in the sixth when they worked two straight walks, finally laying off his big breaking balls and forcing him to throw strikes. Finally, Carter Chapman caught hold of one and split the gap between right and center, scoring Brayden Stevens to make it 8-4. Jace Cameron caught hold of one, only to see it carom off Chapman for the third out to erase another rally. Slemp settled down in the seventh and while Chase Allen worked a walk and stole second, nobody else could solve his pitches that were moving all over the place.
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