It took 10 innings but South O’Brien came away with an 8-7 War Eagle Conference win over Trinity Christian June 23 at Paullina. The Wolverines started out the game hot at the plate in the first inning when Karlee Warnke doubled and Maddie Johnson ripped a homer to score two runs. South O’Brien held the slim lead through four innings of play as neither team scored in the second, third or fourth frames. In the top of the fifth Trinity scored two runs off of three hits to tie the game at 2-2.
The Wolverines came storming right back in the bottom of the fifth when Johnson and Jinger Nieuwenhuis hit back to back singles and Reese Farquhar had a base hit bunt to load the bases with no outs. Later Marissa Ebel hit in a run and Alyssa Van Beek hit in two runs. The Wolverines were now leading 5-2. Trinity tacked on a run to trim the lead to 5-3 in the sixth and in the seventh inning they put up two more runs to tie the game up again at 5-5. South O’Brien had the winning run on third in the bottom of the seventh, but could not push the run across.
In the top of the eighth the Tigers had two hits and a Wolverine error that helped them to score two runs and jump in front 7-5. Things were looking bleak as the first two Wolverine batters of the inning were retired. Then Johnson got hit by a pitch, Nieuwenhuis singled and Reese Farquhar walked to load the bases. Ebel then hit a two-run double to tie the game at 7-7. Once again runners were on secend and third, but the Wolverines could not push the winning run across.
In the ninth Shay Hatting struck out the first and second outs and coaxed a ground out to Payton Farquhar. South O’Brien did not get a runner on base in the bottom of the ninth. In the top of the tenth Abby Nelson took a ground out from shortstop to first for the first out. Hatting struck out the next batter. Then a Tiger batter had a base hit and moved to second when the next batter was intentionally walked. Hatting struck out the following hitter.
In the bottom of the 10th with one out Nieuwnhuis doubled and Avery Halverson came in to courtesy run. Halverson stole third. Reese Farquhar walked and stole second to put runners at second and third. The Tigers intentionally walked Ebel to load the bases and allow them to have a force out at home, but Van Beek drilled a hard line drive to the right center gap on her first pitch and drove in the winning run!
Shay Hatting went the full 10 innings and picked up the win! She gave up 12 hits, seven runs (four earned), walked seven and struck out 10. She had five of her walks in the first two innings of play and only one over the next eight innings, as one of her walks was an intentional walk. She also had five of her 10 strikeouts in the last three innings. She was definitely better at the end of the game than at the beginning. Nelson at shortstop and Payton Farquhar at second base both had big defensive games, as they were each involved in making 10 outs and neither one had an error.
Nieuwenhuis went 4-for-6 at the dish with a double and three singles. Her courtesy runner Halverson scored three times. Johnson was 3-for-5 with a home run, two singles, two RBI’s, two runs and a run by her pinch runner Ashlynn Gunnerson. Van Beek had three singles on the night, along with two RBI’s. Warnke ripped a double and a single and scored a run. Ebel hit the double and had three RBI’s. Reese Farquhar had a single and a run. Brooklyn Edwards added a base hit.
Trinity
0 0 0 0 2 1 2 2 0 0 – 7
S. O’Brien
2 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 1 – 8