Megan Tracy drove in six runs and Worth County breezed past North Harrison 14-4 Thursday in the first round of districts at Princeton. For North Harrison, they came a long way from last year; they won nine games, up from five the year before, and they return nine out of their 11 players for next year.
Against Worth County, it was a matter of struggling to get the third out; Worth County’s first eight runs were scored with two outs. It started in the first inning; after Worth County’s first two batters got retired, Kristen Tracy kept the inning going with a walk. Audrey Runde grounded to Hali Smith, who threw it down the first base line; it is a long run to chase down errant balls on the Princeton field, and by the time North Harrison got it back in, Runde reached third and Tracy scored to make it 1-0. Megan Tracy walked and stole second and Addison Gray singled to right center to bring in two and make it 3-0.
Shamrock catcher Ava Rinehart picked Gray off first, but that didn’t derail Worth County’s momentum. After the first two Tigers struck out to start the second, Rayleigh Smith walked to keep the inning going and turn the lineup over. Riley Ridge beat out an infield singled and Kambree Briner walked to load the bases. Walks lead to runs and sure enough, Kristen Tracy singled to left. Audrey Runde singled to right center field as Briner scored and Tracy took third. Runde stole second and Megan Tracy singled two more home to make it 8-0.
Addison Milligan finally got the Shamrocks going as she singled. Raegan Hogan walked and Lani Briggs reached on a bad-hop single that tied up Keira Hardy at third to load the bases. Ava Rinehart hit a sinking line drive that Riley Ridge made a sliding catch on in center, and nobody could advance. Hali Smith was tied up by a change and grounded into a force at second as Milligan scored to make it 8-1.
The Shamrock momentum carried over as second baseman Becca Welling, who filled a big hole at that position this year, snagged Rylee Ruckman’s screamer to keep Worth County off the board in the third. Jaxcynn Hansel turned on the first pitch she saw in the top of the fourth and singled to center. Kathryn Parkhurst and Kaydence Lambert struck out, but Addison Milligan tripled into the right field corner to score her to make it 8-2. Raegan Hogan turned on the first pitch she saw and singled to left to make it 8-3.
But Worth County got the runs back in their half when Audrey Runde got a pop fly that dropped in for a base hit with one out. Megan Tracy followed with a home run over Kathryn Parkhurst’s head and into the right field corner to make it 10-3.
North Harrison fought back again as Ava Rinehart and Hali Smith walked and Jaxcynn Hansel reached on an error to load the bases. Kathryn Parkhurst hit a grounder to pitcher Kristen Tracy. She went home for the force play, but Rinehart was safe to make it 10-4. But Audrey Runde threw to first to get Parkhurst to get the second out. Kaydence Lambert lined out to Rylee Ruckman at shortstop to end the inning.
Rayleigh Smith walked on a 3-2 pitch to start the Tiger fifth and Riley Ridge reached on an error to put runners on first and second. Kambree Briner popped out to Lani Briggs at shortstop, but Kristen Tracy hit a ball that took a bad hop on Becca Welling and rolled into right field for a double as both runners scored to make it 12-4. Audrey Runde got her third hit as she hit a soft line drive that Becca Welling stopped, but she didn’t have a play on as everybody was safe; Kristen Tracy took third on the play. Megan Tracy hit what would have been her second home run of the game, crushing a home run into the right field corner. Since the game ended when Runde crossed the plate to make it 14-4, her hit counted as a double.
No comments:
Post a Comment