North outlasts Memorial

Two Edmond softball teams went extra-innings on Thursday, with North hitting a walk-off single in the bottom of the 8th inning to win 6-5. The North Lady Huskies hosted Memorial on Thursday in an Edlam match-up between the two rival teams. Memorial jumped on North early when Memorial’s Kendall Murphy was able to reach from the leadoff slot after an error from North’s middle-infield. The Lady Bulldog’s next batter, Crimson Davis, would send it to shortstop, but the middle-infielders would fail to record an out after a miscommunication on the play. Both runners would advance to scoring position after a sacrifice bunt, and then would cross the plate after yet-another infield error from North when a Beth McAnally ground ball slipped into left field. Memorial’s 2-0 lead would be all the Lady Bulldogs could get early, as the North defense would tighten down the screws and keep Memorial off home plate for the next three innings. That revitalized defense was led by middle-infielder Kaitlyn Jones. Jones, at shortstop, had her fair share of participation during the first innings hi-jinks. After the initial frame, however, she became a black-hole of a fielder, as she was responsible for the majority of the fielding outs over the duration of the game that included an over-the-shoulder grab in shallow left to retire Davis in the top of the second. North would use an explosion of offense in the bottom of the third to help get the score back in their favor. After the Lady Huskies leadoff batter reached on a four-pitch walk, Jones would bunt her to second. Jones’ well-placed bunt rolled down the baseline, buying enough time for her to leg out the throw. After the leadoff scored from second on an error from first base that also advanced Jones to third, the shortstop would score after Memorial misplayed a delayed, double-steal. North’s Riah Smith would hit a double to centerfield, scoring one and pushing the lead to 4-2 before the Lady Bulldogs could get out of the inning. North plated one more in the bottom of the fourth before Memorial made a run of things towards the end of the game. Memorial scored one in the top of the fifth, before taking advantage of their loaded bases in the top of the sixth. Crimson Davis would hit the box with the bases juiced after North intentionally walked Kendall Murphy. Davis hit double to the gap of right-centerfield scoring two, tying the game and setting the stage for late-game heroics in the bottom of the eighth. After a handful of scoreless half-innings, North’s Amy Crabaugh would take the leadoff slot for the Lady Huskies. Crabaugh sent a grounder right back through the middle for a single, after a miscommunication with the home-plate umpire left her with a 1-2 count. Crabaugh took advantage of her catcher-counterpart, stealing second before being sacrificed to third. With Crabaugh on third, North’s Rachel Mathews hit a single to left field, scoring Crabaugh and ending the game 6-5. Rick Nordyke, head coach for Edmond North, said his team’s resurgence after the early deficit was due to leadership from some of his girls. “We had a couple ladies step in and be leaders for us and help us get the win,” Nordyke said. “We’re a good hitting team and we knew that and we just stayed in it and got a hit at the end.” Leadership was seen from a majority of the squad, but none more so than that displayed by Jones and Crabaugh, according to Nordyke. As for the final hit, Nordyke said he had very little advice for his seven-hole hitter, Mathews. “She’s so hard on herself — sometimes that you don’t want to say anything when you know what she’s capable of,” said Nordyke, of the exchange. “I just told her to go up there and have fun.” If having fun is beating a cross-town rival on a walk-off in extras, then Mathews had a blast on Thursday. As for Memorial, Thursday’s contest showed promise of tomorrow’s team, especially between a sophomore/freshman combo at pitcher and catcher. Janet Chartney, Memorial head coach, said that she was proud of her pitcher Mary McKey, and that her performance on Thursday was everything the Lady Bulldogs could have asked. “She’s a competitor,” Chartney said of McKey. “Last year she had to pitch every single game as a freshman. She pitched a heck-of-a-game, and she threw well-enough to give us a shot at winning the game.” McKey tossed every inning for Memorial in Thursday’s loss. Memorial has been forced to pair the underclassmen pitcher with an even-younger catcher this season. With no true catcher on the team, freshman Emerson Heron, a natural outfielder, volunteered to fill the gap on the roster. “She came up to us in a scrimmage and offered to do it since we didn’t have one true catcher in our entire organization,” said Chartney, of the pre-season exchange. She’s confident that, with time, those two can be a staple to build their team around in the future.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Edmond North High School Athletics

NORTH OUTLASTS MEMORIAL

AARON ALBERTSON

Edmond Sun | 8/25/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Edmond North Athletics