The Worth County was on top of the world after its first two games. After going on the road to beat Trenton and North Andrew, they were named the Cliff's Notes Team of the Week. But then they came back down to earth as they fell 6-2 to Princeton. After scoring 10 runs against Trenton and 12 runs against North Andrew, they were still putting the ball in play, but they were hitting it right at people in their 6-2 loss to Princeton. Disaster struck as Kennedy Murphy broke her thumb, bringing the Tigers down to nine players. They were supposed to breeze past King City at the Albany Tournament and contend for a championship, but King City is a much better team this year, with 20 girls out for softball. The competition for starting positions, the ability to have JV games, and the ability to scrimmage gives them a big advantage over other teams and they went on to finish third. King City showed they belonged in the upper bracket, playing Stanberry and Princeton tough to finish fourth.
It looked like it would be more of the same for Worth County when North Andrew jumped on them 2-0 right off the bat. But then Riley Ridge slapped her way on base and the Tigers were able to get one of the runs back and they later tied it 2-2. Finally, a key triple late in the game by Keira Hardy, with one of her best friends Autumn Cousatte watching, turned the tide and the Tigers pushed across two runs and got the 4-2 win.
That pitted them against Pattonsburg, who beat North Harrison 10-7 in its rematch to get to the consolation finals. But it was Tigers all the way as Keira Hardy got her second triple of the day, Rylee Ruckman turned two double plays against a dangerous hitting Pattonsburg squad, and the Tigers were able to break out of their slump and win 12-3.
The Tigers turned their first double play in the first after Addie Iddings hit a grounder and Keira Hardy's throw pulled Megan Tracy off the bag. But Isabelle Burger hit a grounder to pitcher Kristen Tracy, who turned a 1-6-3 double play, with Ruckman making the turn to first.
Pattonsburg pulled everyone in, but Riley Ridge slapped a single to right anyway and stole second Kambree Briner singled to left to put Ridge on third and stole second. Kristen Tracy tripled off the right field wall to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Audrey Runde singled to right to score Tracy and make it 3-0 and stole second. Megan Tracy reached first on an error as the second baseman lost a pop fly in the sun to put Runde on third. Tracy stole second. Runde scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 as Tracy took third. Addison Gray walked and Rylee Ruckman flied out as Tracy scored to make it 5-0 and Gray took third. Keira Hardy tripled to score Gray to make it 6-0.
Pattonsburg got one back in the second when Kaitlyn Estes doubled off the wall in left and Emsleigh McCrary singled her home with two outs. McCrary tried for second, but catcher Audrey Runde cut off the throw home and threw her out trying for second.
Kambree Briner singled to center to start the Tiger second. Kristen Tracy walked and Audrey Runde hit a shot off the bag at third for a base hit as Briner scored to make it 7-1 and Tracy stopped at second. They successfully stole second and third. At that point, Pattonsburg coach Bill Pottorff made wholesale changes to his lineup, having Kaitlyn Estes pitch and moving Addie Iddings to second to shore up his infield. He had already moved Jayden Goble from catcher to shortstop while putting Isabella Berger behind the plate. That seemed to slow the bleeding for the Panthers.
Megan Tracy struck out, but the ball got away. Pattonsburg retired Tracy at first, but Kristen Tracy came home to score to make it 8-1, while Runde took third. Addison Gray grounded out to score Runde to make it 9-1. Rylee Ruckman hit a grounder to Addie Iddings. She tried to flip it to first but flipped it in the air and it got away as Ruckman took second. Keira Hardy singled her home to make it 10-1.
Pattonsburg got some good swings against Worth County in the third, but two of them were caught. First, Rosalynn Cameron hit a screamer, but right at Megan Tracy for an out. Finally, Cheyenne Miller got Pattonsburg on the board with a home run to right field to cut the Panther deficit to 10-2. Jayden Goble singled to right, stole second, and went to third when the throw got away. Addie Iddings grounded out to third to get her home to make it 10-3. Kaitlyn Estes hit a screamer, but right at Rylee Ruckman at short, who took extra bases away from her.
Riley Ridge beat out a slow roller to second to start the Tiger third. She took second on a wild pitch and stole third. Kambree Briner hit a grounder that rolled through the second baseman's legs for an error to score Ridge to make it 11-3. Briner stole second and took third on a passed ball. Kristen Tracy grounded out to short and Briner escaped a rundown and scored to make it 12-3.
Kara Bernardino singled in the Pattonsburg fifth with one out, but Worth County ended the Panthers' last threat as Rosalynn Cameron hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
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