South O’Brien came out of a close contest with a nice War Eagle Conference win over Unity Christian on Friday, June 16 at Paullina! Unity scored a run in the first inning to go up 1-0, but South O’Brien scored two runs of their own in the bottom of the first to take the 2-1 lead. Payton Farquhar and Maddie Johnson each had singles and we capitalized on two Knight errors that inning. Unity would go on to tie it up 2-2 in the second by scoring one run. Neither team scored in the third inning.
In the top of the fourth Unity drove in a pair of runs to take the lead 4-2. South O’Brien then came storming back with six runs in a big fourth inning to regain the lead at 8-4. Johnson, Alyssa Van Beek and Brooklyn Edwards each had a single this inning and Reese Farquhar laid down a sacrifice bunt. Unity was not giving up and went on to score three runs in the top of the fifth to make the score 8-7 with South O’Brien holding the slim lead.
The Wolverines would not score in the bottom of the fifth and the Knights did not score in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth South O’Brien put up a pair of runs off of a base hit by Payton Farquhar and a bomb of a home run by Johnson to make the score 10-7 South O’Brien. The Knights put up a run and had runners on second and third in the top of the seventh when Edwards struck out the last two batters to end the game.
This was another really fun game to be a part of with two teams battling it out until the end. Edwards came in to relieve Shay Hatting in the third inning and got the win. Hatting pitched 3-2/3 innings and gave up one hit, four runs (two earned), walked six and struck out two. Edwards gave up five hits, four runs (all earned), walked two and struck out four. Both girls pitched well and Edwards really held it together in the seventh in a big situation.
Johnson had a huge night at the dish going 3-for-4 with a home run and two singles, three runs and four RBI’s. Jinger Nieuwenhuis hit a double and a single and drove in two runs. Her courtesy runner Avery Halverson scored once. Payton Farquhar went 2-for-2 with a pair of singles, a run and an RBI. Karlee Warnke hit a base hit, scored once and recorded an RBI. Van Beek had a single and a run, while Edwards had a base hit and her courtesy Kelsee Warnke scored a run.
Unity
1 1 0 2 3 0 1 – 8
S. O’Brien
2 0 0 6 0 2 x – 10