Gilman City took a wild 11-9 win over East Harrison as the Bobcats stranded the tying runs on second and third before the Hawks could walk away with a win. The Hawks were down a key player; shortstop Kayleece Puls was injured in the Tri-County win (ankle). Gilman City pulled away from the Mustangs for an 18-7 win as Alli Burke and Hailey McClure homered, but her absence was felt in the next again against perennial powerhouse Plattsburg. With people playing out of position, the Hawks played the Tigers tough before Plattsburg pulled away late for the 8-0 win.
Playing a game for the third straight night, the Hawks jumped out to an early lead. Tenley Griffith had a big night with her bat and Alli Burke went deep with a home run. Ellie Smith, pressed into service with Puls out, beat out two scratch hits, one of which brought in two runs when the Bobcats threw it away. But then fatigue set in, East Harrison teed off on Griffith, who was pitching her third straight night, and the Hawks had to cling by their fingernails to get the win.
The Hawks started the scoring in the first when Avery Gregg walked and stole second. Tenley Griffith crushed a double to left center field and Gregg came around to score to make it 1-0. Griffth caught Sloane McClain's screamer and froze Taylor Whitaker and Shayla Vandiver to get out of the second.
Gilman City had trouble chasing Bobcat pitcher Lainey Thompson's rise balls for the first two innings. But when they quit chasing, they started hitting the ball better and scored in every inning after that.
The third inning was set up after Khloey Sperry, who struck out her first time up, went from 0-2 to 3-2 before finally walking and stole second. Tenley Griffith got her second hit, singling to center. Sloane McClain bobbled it and Sperry scored as Griffith took second. Tenley took third on a wild pitch. Alli Burke hit a pop fly to right center field; everybody was chasing it, but it dropped in for a base hit as Griffith scored to make it 3-0. Hailey McClure laid down a perfect bunt that was thrown away as Burke reached third. McClure stole second and Parker Crabtree's pop fly to left field dropped in for a base hit as Burke scored to make it 4-0. Crabtree took second on the throw home to put runners on second and third. Ellie Smith beat out a slow roller to shortstop and the ball was thrown away as two more Hawks scored to make it 6-0.
In the Bobcat fourth, Lainey Thompson singled and Aspen Zerbe beat out an infield hit as Thompson went all the way to third. Sloane McClain hit a pop fly between Parker Crabtree at second and Ellie Smith in right. The two tangled up, the ball dropped, and Thompson scored to make it 6-1. But Gilman City threw out McClain trying to take second and then Zerbe trying to score to kill the rally.
Tenley Griffith got a pop fly single in the Hawk fourth with one out and then Alli Burke crushed a home run to the left field wall, flying around the bases and nearly catching Griffith as she was thinking home run the whole time. That made it 8-1.
But East Harrison was just getting started and they started getting hits up and down the lineup. The lower part of the order came through to start as Jalyn Cain singled and took second and third on wild pitches. Addy McFall walked, turning it over to the top of the order. Avarie Thompson grounded out to Alli Burke, playing lights out defense at her new shortstop position. Cain scored on the play to make it 8-2. Taylor Whitaker singled to move McFall to third and stole second. Lainey Thompson hit a ball that Burke knocked down but had no play on as McFall scored to make it 8-3. Aspen Zerbe hit an apparent single to center, but Hawk center fielder Avery Gregg made a great play by throwing to second for an apparent force play. But the umpire called Lainey Thompson safe at second. Sloane McClain singled in Lainey Thompson and Taylor Whitaker to make it 8-5.
Khloe Ponjavic finally popped out to Caitlynn Chalfant at first for the second out, but then the bottom of the order came through as Shayla Vandiver and Jalyn Cain singled to make it 8-7. Instead of going home early, the Hawks were clinging to a one-run lead.
The Hawks had two outs in the fifth with nobody on, but Khloey Sperry ripped a double down the left field line and Tenley Griffith got her fourth hit to bring her home to make it 9-7. But East Harrison got it back in the sixth when with two outs and nobody on, Lainey Thompson crushed a triple to the left field wall and came home on a wild pitch despite the short backstop when the ball squirted away along the first base side to make it 9-8. There was a heartstopping moment when Aspen Zerbe hit what looked like a routine grounder to Burke at short for the final out, only for the umpire to call her safe and the inning continued. But Tenley Griffith caught Sloane McClain chasing three high pitches for the final out with Gilman City still up one.
The bottom of the order was coming up for the Hawks in the sixth, but Parker Crabtree hit a perfect slap bunt to third base and beat it out for a scratch hit. Caitlynn Chalfant hit a pop fly behind the second baseman that dropped in and Crabtree scrambled to second to avoid the force. Emily Chalfant reached on a throwing error to load the bases. Ellie Smith grounded into a force at home to retire Crabtree and Avery Gregg hit a slow roller to the right of second. She beat out the scratch hit and the ball got away as two runs crossed the plate to make it 11-8. Khloey Sperry hit a screamer to center field, but Sloane McClain ran it down for the third out. Three of Sperry's hardest hits have been right at people for outs.
The bottom of the order was coming up for East Harrison, but everything they hit somehow found its way through all evening. Sure enough, what looked like a routine grounder by Khloe Ponjavic to Hailey McClure at third took a bad hop and found its way into left field for a base hit. Shayla Vandiver walked. Jalyn Cain hit a slow roller to McClure at third, but she alertly turned and flipped to Alli Burke at third for a force. Addy McFall grounded out to the mound, but the top of the order was up. Avarie Thompson singled to cut it to 11-9 and went second on the throw home as Cain stopped at third. But Tenley Griffith struck out Taylor Whitaker for the final out.
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