Avery Gregg thrived in the 92-degree heat and Gilman City got back on track Monday with a 12-1 win over North Harrison. Both teams had been bludgeoned by Worth County and in addition, Gilman City had been routed by a suddenly red hot King City team, which went on to beat East Buchanan 15-0 in its next game. The focus of the game was to see which team would recover most from being manhandled.
Gregg was called out on strikes and Gilman City worked Khloey Sperry around to third with one out in the first, but couldn’t score her. But from there, Gregg could do no wrong and carried the Hawks on her shoulders the rest of the way.
It started in the first after Lani Briggs reached on an error as a ball got away from Parker Crabtree at second. Hali Smith forced her at second and then Ava Rinehart hit a drive to deep center field. But Avery Gregg tracked it perfectly, leaned up against the wall, and robbed Rinehart of a home run to keep the Shamrocks off the board.
Kayleece Puls, now back at full strength, hit a shot down the right field line that dropped fair and sliced away from Raegan Hogan for a double. Parker Crabtree grounded out to advance her to third. Hali Smith blew one past Hailey McClure for strike three, but Caitlynn Chalfant hit a seeing eye single that bounced past Smith on the mound and Becca Welling at second into center for a base hit to make it 1-0.
Raegan Hogan hit a shot off Tenley Griffith’s glove for a scratch hit, but Griffith bore down and struck out the next two and got Kathryn Parkhurst on a grounder to end the threat.
Avery Gregg singled to center to start the Hawk third and stole second. Alli Burke hit a pop fly single that dropped into center for a base hit and Gregg scored to make it 3-1. Alli Burke grounded out to advance her to third and Parker Crabtree hit a seeing eye single that somehow got past Lani Briggs as Gilman City took a 3-1 lead. It was death by a thousand cuts that night.
A pair of Hawk errors could have proved costly, but for the second game in a row, North Harrison ran itself out of a big inning as Hali Smith crushed a double, only to get thrown out in a rundown after Ellie Smith, her cousin, made a great throw to get it in and Lani Briggs stopped at third instead of going home. North Harrison scored a run anyway when Ava Rinehart grounded out to score Briggs to make it 3-1. But Addison Milligan hit a pop fly that drops in nine times out of ten for a base hit. But Avery Gregg came in on the dead run to snare it behind second base for the final out.
The bottom dropped out for the Shamrocks after Caitlynn Chalfant hit a pop fly single that dropped in before Jaxcynn Hansel could get there. Ellie Smith laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out as Chalfant went all the way around to third. Khloey Sperry walked and Avery Gregg grounded to Lani Briggs. She threw to third for a force, but a run scored to make it 4-1. Tenley Griffith crushed a triple over Raegan Hogan’s head to make it 6-1 and Alli Burke singled to right to make it 7-1.
Hawk first baseman Caitlyn Chalfant made a great play to scoop Kayleece Puls’ throw out of the dirt and save her from an error on Kaydence Lambert’s grounder to keep North Harrison off the basepaths in the fourth.
Caitlynn Chalfant reached on an error to lead off the Hawk fifth to reopen the floodgates. Ellie Smith laid down a perfect sac bunt to move her to second and then Khloey Sperry beat out a tapper in front of the plate to put runners on first and third. Shamrock catcher Ava Rinehart nearly had Chalfant out at first, but she was called safe, which prompted plenty of chirping from the Shamrock side, but the call stood.
Avery Gregg was right in the middle of things as she hit what looked like a routine single to left, but stretched it into a double as two Hawks scored to make it 9-1. Tenley Griffith hit a pop fly to right center field. Gregg had to hold up to make sure it wasn’t caught and then made a dash home despite the ball being back in, and dove in safely headfirst as Griffith took third on the throw. Alli Burke singled Tenley in to make it 11-1, Kayleece Puls hit a shot off Hali Smith’s glove into center, and Parker Crabtree reached on an error to make it 12-1. It would have been worse had not Shamrock first baseman Andi Nail, who always seems to keep it together when everything else is imploding, caught Caitlynn Chalfant’s screamer and doubled Puls off third to end the inning.
In the Shamrock sixth, Andi Nail followed it up with a fly ball behind Parker Crabtree at second. She appeared to lose it in the sun when all of a sudden, Avery Gregg flew in out of nowhere to make the catch for the first out. Kathryn Parkhurst grounded out, but Lani Briggs singled just past the diving Puls to keep the game going. Anything could happen with the dangerous Shamrock bats coming up, but Hali Smith’s screamer was snared by her cousin Ellie Smith for the final out.
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