North moves past Sandites in extra-inning affair

Edmond North conquered the Sand Springs Sandites in a three-hour, extra-inning brawl during Thursday’s Class 6A Softball State quarterfinals. The match, held at the Ballfields at FireLake, was ultimately decided by a six-run, top of the 9th inning that saw four different Lady Huskies register RBI hits. After struggling to find scores throughout the majority of the first eight innings on Thursday, North opened the floodgates, drowning the Sandites in an explosive 9th inning showing. Kaitlyn Jones was on fire from the plate all night long, and that carried into Thursday’s finale. She hit a leadoff single, just a batter before Emily Deramus bounced a double off the center field wall. Next up, Amy Crabaugh scored an RBI single to shallow center, breaking the 4-all knot in her fifth at-bat of the night. Crabaugh’s slap pull-started the North offense, and Kamryn Garvie grabbed her second hit of the night — an RBI single — just before Kamri Heath hit a two-RBI double. Jones, up again, grabbed her second hit of the evening after, placing a two-out, two-RBI double just behind third base, and the hit put the Huskies out of reach in Thursday’s quarterfinal. The extra frames saw an electric night from senior center fielder Kaitlyn Jones. She finished 5-for-6 with 3 RBIs, and the only time the Sandites recorded the 2-hole out was on a deep flyball that missed leaving the park by less than 5 yards. Joining Jones for a multi-hit quarterfinal was freshman Emily Deramus. She used a 2-for-4, 3-RBI night that featured a home run and a double. Seniors Amy Crabaugh (2-5, RBI) and Kamri Heath (3-5, double, 2 RBIs) also recorded multiple hits in the win. Evy Aud, who took to the mound with just a single out in the bottom of the 2nd, threw a near seven innings, allowing no earned runs to secure the win. Sand Springs struck first in Thursday’s quarterfinal, though. After Madelyn Blair led off with an infield hit in the gap between short and third, North’s starting pitcher Jacee Minter locked horns with Felicity Horn. The pair dueled over more than 10 pitches in the at-bat, with Horn drawing a walk after fouling through most of Minter’s on-target pitches. The walk put runners on first and second, and a passed ball advanced both to scoring position. The pitch got through, but catcher Amy Crabaugh made a case for the runner. Catching the ball off a strong ricochet, Crabaugh gathered and threw right to Riah Smith’s glove and Smith slapped an immediate tag on the advancing Blair. Blair; however, was called safe. One batter later, Cameron Clemons clobbered a double to left, scoring both runners to take a 2-0 lead, and prompting head coach Rick Nordyke to make the change to reliever Evy Aud. The move payed off. Aud struck out three batters over the next three scoreless innings, and North’s bats answered just a couple innings later. Taking to the plate with two outs in the top of the 3rd, Kaitlyn Jones doubled to center field. It was Jones’ second hit of as many tries, and it moved her into scoring position. The scoring range would have been on any one of the bases, though. Next up freshman Deramus sent a line drive over the left field wall, scoring Jones and knotting it at 2-all. More North offense powered through just a few innings later. Heath slammed a leadoff double to start the 5th, and Rachel Matthews and Minter each followed with walks. The moves Jones — to the plate, and she sent a ball to shallow center, scoring Heath. Next up, Deramus grabbed her third RBI of the night when she was hit by a pitch, scoring one more and giving North a 4-2 lead. The lead wouldn’t hold, though. North would twice allow Sand Springs runners to score on errors. Once, in the bottom of the 5th, and then again with two outs and a one-run lead in the bottom of the 7th. Both allowed Sand Springs to tie it 4-all and force extra innings on Thursday, and both errors were credited to the Husky infield. That set up North’s late-inning explosion. The win sends the Huskies into Friday’s semifinal games. Playing at 1:30 p.m., the Huskies will meet the winner of Yukon and Broken Arrow. The time comes at the same time fellow Edmond team Deer Creek meets Westmoore, with the OSSAA rescheduling the Friday’s game times in an effort to avoid a forecasted 100 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Edmond North High School Athletics

NORTH MOVES PAST SANDITES IN EXTRA-INNING AFFAIR

AARON ALBERTSON

Edmond Sun | 10/12/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Drew Harmon