ELLISVILLE - After five hours and 12 hard-fought innings, Northwest ultimately fell short of completing a 10-run comeback in a late night loss to Northeast, 19-18, in the Rangers' MACCC Tournament finale.
It was the second extra-inning contest of the day for the Rangers, who had defeated Itawamba earlier on Friday in a 10-inning showdown to punch its ticket to next week's NJCAA Region 23 Tournament. The loss also dropped Northwest to a 31-13 overall record, while the win improved Northeast to 31-19 on the season and allowed the Tigers to advance to a Saturday elimination game with Jones College.
Northwest had trailed Northeast 11-1 in the top half of the fourth inning, only to rally back with three runs in the home half of the fourth and eight in the fifth that tied the game at 12-12. The two teams continued to trade blows the rest of the way, until Northeast finally got the winning run on Tori Harrison's RBI-single in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Like Northwest had done earlier in the day against ICC, Northeast came out swinging the sticks early and scored its first three runs in the top of the first on an RBI-double and a pair of RBI-singles. Trailing 3-0, the Rangers got a run back in the home half of the first inning, thanks to
McKaylee Polk's solo homer.
Northeast picked up where it left off in the top of the second inning, as Alexie Griffin's RBI-single to right and Demi Lindsey's three-run homer right field pushed the Tigers to a 7-1 lead. After a mostly quiet third inning from both teams, Harrison blasted a grand slam in the top of the fourth to stretch the Northeast advantage to 11-1.
Northwest began to battle back in the bottom of the fourth, as
Laila Armstrong cleared the bases with a triple to left field, closing the gap to 11-4. After Northeast scored on a passed ball in the top half of the fifth, the Rangers struck back with the eight-run rally, which began with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to
Caylee Comer. From there,
Kaitlyn Bednarek made it a 12-7 deficit with her two-run single and an error coupled with a bases-loaded walk to Armstrong brought the score down to 12-9.
That's when
Saige Koczka delivered one of the many highlights of the evening, driving in two runs on a triple into the right field corner. After the outfielder mishandled an attempt to glove the ball, Koczka rounded third and wound up scoring on the same play for the tying run, stunning the Tigers and knotting up the game at 12-12.
To the Tigers' credit, Northeast responded well in the sixth, delivering two runs on back-to-back doubles to jump back ahead 14-12. Armstrong would have something to say about that however, as her two-run single into left center scored Bednarek and
Meredith Owen to tie the game up once again at 14-14.
In a relief effort,
Gabby Dickerson struck out the side in the top of the seventh to give the Rangers a chance for the walk-off winner. However, two pop-ups and a fly-out sent the two teams to extra innings.
After both teams went down in order during the eighth inning, the offense came back to life in the ninth. A leadoff walk paved the way for the Tigers' go-ahead run, as Emme Muizers doubled to left field, scoring Lindsey Coffey from second base. A couple of walks then set up a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Cassidy Duskin, sending another run around for Northeast and a 16-14 lead.
However, Northwest was not ready to give in, as a leadoff walk to Armstrong came back to bite the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth. From there, Polk blasted another home run to left field, tying the game once more at 16-16 with no outs. A pair of singles from Koczka and
Maddie Brower would eventually move the pair into scoring position with two outs, but the Tigers got out of the jam after intentionally walking Bednarek and forcing Owen into a line-out to left field.
Northeast struck back again in the top half of the 10th inning, as Lindsey sent a leadoff solo homer to left field, putting the Tigers back in front. After a single and two walks loaded the bases, Northeast scored another run on a sacrifice fly, pushing the Rangers back into an 18-16 deficit.
Once again, the Rangers refused to go away in the home half of the 10th, as
Bailey Russell led things off with a single. Two batters later, Polk blasted her third home run of the game, a two-run shot that tied the game up at 18 apiece. However, Northwest was unable to get anything else going, keeping the game tied up and into another inning.
Neither team was able to put the game away in the 11th inning, but Northeast finally took the lead for good in the top of the 12th. With one out and a runner at third base, Harrison delivered a single to score the go-ahead run for the Tigers. Northwest would threaten to tie it up once again in the bottom of the 12th, thanks to a leadoff single from Russell and two walks to Armstrong and Koczka to load up the bases. However, the Tigers would catch
Molly Harris swinging for the third out and the 19-18 victory.
For both teams, the postseason battle went down as one for the ages. Northeast finished the game with 21 total hits, while the Rangers came away with 16. The Tigers also committed four errors, while Northwest finished with two.
Koczka and Polk led Northwest with 3-for-7 efforts at the plate, with Polk earning three home runs and five RBIs. For her credit, Koczka finished with a triple and two RBIs, while Armstrong came away with six RBIs after a 2-for-5 showing.
Charly Clanton went 4-for-8 to lead Northeast, finishing with a double and an RBI in the process. Harrison went 3-for-4 with six RBIs and Lindsey finished 2-for-7 with a pair of RBIs, as the Tigers finished with 10 extra base hits.
Meagan Allen was handed the loss in the circle, falling to 8-6 on the season. Allen started the first couple innings of the contest, but came back out in extra innings to finish things off for the Rangers. Dickerson provided the most eye-popping relief effort, going 4.1 innings with six strikeouts after a solid complete-game effort in the 10-inning win against Itawamba earlier in the day.
Emma Dempsey went 11 innings in the circle for Northeast, starting the contest before re-entering after the Rangers' big comeback. She struck out seven batters, despite allowing 10 runs on 12 hits, moving to 8-5 on the season.
Although the loss ended the Rangers' MACCC Tournament run, both Northwest and Northeast had already qualified for the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament prior to the contest. The tournament will begin Wednesday, May 11 and is scheduled to run through Saturday, May 14. (More details about brackets and other tournament information will be revealed on Monday.)
