Historically, the North Harrison vs. North Nodaway game has been a good predictor of rain. Every time it was scheduled for the last 10-12 years, rain would invariably come and wash it away. But the sun shone bright and clear Friday, and the two teams faced off.
Both teams came in with high hopes despite falling on hard times over the past several years. North Nodaway has not had a winning season since the departure of Jake Shipman for Mound City, but the numbers and enthusiasm were up this year. The Shamrocks were the same way; they have not put together a winning season since the graduation of Brett Emig. But they showed flashes of promise last year, and the numbers are up for them as well.
But the Mustangs feel like a cursed franchise; during Aydan Blackford’s years, he would be out for an extended period of time in basketball with injuries, and the team would have to play catchup all year; the one year he was healthy, they had a winning season. Now, they will have to deal with life without their best player, Blaine Clements, for a time. He had an appendix operation during football that caused him to miss a big chunk of the season, and it flared up again during basketball, causing him to miss the last week and a half of the season. It was not completely healed by Friday, and it was discovered he had an arm injury from football that had never properly healed.
Without Blaine, the Mustangs struggled in all three areas against the Shamrocks, falling 16-0 in three innings. It was so one-sided that North Harrison did not have to bat the third inning. They had baserunners against Tate Richardson, but could never get the big hit to get them home. They struggled to throw strikes, and walks and errors are directly related. The Mustangs committed seven Friday. If they are to start winning, the walks and errors will have to come down.
A bright spot for the Mustangs was the play of Stetsyn Brown. He had never come out for baseball until this, his senior year. But it didn’t matter as he got two sharp hits off Richardson and the Shamrocks.
One of the big issues for the Mustangs the last few years was the lack of numbers, meaning they had trouble putting a JV team on the field. But they were finally able to get one in for the nightcap. The junior varsity lost to North Harrison 6-0, but they showed a lot more fight and made several outstanding defensive plays in the field to keep the game close.
Tate Richardson shut down North Nodaway with seven strikeouts. The fielders played errorless ball behind him, and there were several times that the Mustang batters shook their heads in disbelief at his pitches. The Shamrocks had nine hits for the game.
North Nodaway threatened in the top of the first, with Weston Alexander walking and Stetsyn Brown getting the first of two hits. But Richardson struck out Jackson Keho to get out of the inning.
The Mustangs never had another chance. After Tate Richardson and Ryker Fortner walked, Gage Fortner hit a line shot dropped by the second baseman and into right field as the first two Shamrock runs scored. Andrew Craig singled to right and the ball rolled through his legs as he took second and Gage scored to make it 3-0. Dustin Hamilton, or “Roy,” as his teammates kept calling him, walked. Gage Fortner and Dustin Hamilton took second and third on a wild pitch. Wyatt Maize singled just past short to plate two more and make it 5-0. Maize stole second and Kellan Craig singled him home to make it 6-0. Landon Johnson reached on a throwing error as Craig took third. Johnson took second on a wild pitch. Kyler Kimbrough singled to right center to score Johnson and Craig to make it 8-0. He stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Tate Richardson grounded out to score him and make it 9-0. Ryker Fortner walked, stole second, and took third on a wild pitch. Gage Fortner popped out to Jackson Keho at second, but Fortner tagged up and scored to make it 10-0.
Hayden Marriott walked with one out in the Mustang second, but Richardson struck out Marek Stevens and Owen Coleman to get out of the inning.
Even when the Mustangs made good pitches, they couldn’t buy a break. Wyatt Maize spoiled a good breaking ball and rolled it under the shortstop’s legs for an error. A hit and run play could have been a disaster, but Kellan Craig shot it just over Keho’s glove for a base hit as Maize took third. Craig stole second. Landon Johnson was jammed, but he hit a slow roller to short; he would have beaten it out and scored Maize, but the throw was in the dirt and got away, scoring Craig as well to make it 12-0. Kyler Kimbrough reached on another errant throw, putting runners on first and second. They took second and third on a wild pitch. Tate Richardson was jammed, but he hit a slow roller to third that he beat out. The throw got away, allowing two more runs to score to make it 14-0. Ryker Fortner walked. Gage Fortner forced Jackson Smith (running for Richardson) at third. Ryker and Gage took second and third on a wild pitch. Andrew Craig singled them both home to make it 16-0.
Ridge Clements and Kaeden Nave made catches in the field for the Mustangs to prevent further damage.
Clements walked and Stetsyn Brown got his second hit with two outs, but Richardson struck out Keho for the final out.
In the junior varsity game, both teams emptied their bull pens. First, Dustin Hamilton worked around two walks to get two strikeouts and a groundout to get out of the inning. North Harrison looked to pick up where they left off in the varsity game, but North Nodaway turned a perfectly-executed 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning and keep it scoreless.
Wyatt Maize came on for the Shamrocks and looked sharp, getting a strikeout and a groundout. Jackson Keho hit one hard, but right at first baseman Meric Hansel for the third out.
North Harrison finally got on the board when Kellan Craig hit a home run to left field with one out in the second to make it 1-0. With two outs, Tate Richardson doubled over the left fielder’s head, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. A pair of errors put Cole Hartschen on second and Meric Hansel singled him home to make it 3-0.
Cole Hartschen pitched and got Ridge Clements to fly out to Tate Richardson in center. He struck out the next two. Hamilton, Maize, and Hartschen combined on a no-hitter and retired the last nine Mustangs.
Landon Johnson got a single and stole second. Kyler Kimbrough got a bad-hop double to score Johnson. The next three batters walked to force in a run to make it 5-0, and Cole Hartschen reached on an error to make it 6-0.
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