Rams upended in district first round

By MARK SCHAFER mschafer@iowainformation.com

ALLEMAN

Greene County chased one pitcher off the mound and had a gem of a game turned in by sophomore Noah Hinote. 

That wasn’t enough for Greene County to pull off the upset last Friday night against North Polk in the first round of the class 3A district tournament. The Comets, the No. 2 ranked team in class 2A prior to the tournament, were able to make the most of the five hits they had en route to a 6-1 win over the Rams. 

Greene County only mustered one hit in the contest as North Polk threw different pitchers in the game. 

The Rams also threw two different pitchers after sophomore ace, Noah Hinote, allowed just four hits against a North Polk squad that had batted around most of their Raccoon River Conference opponents throughout the season. 

A day of rain in the area cooled temperatures for the game last Friday, but the field, and the sky, dried out just prior to game time. 

Right away the Greene County bats tried to get things going. The first inning flew by as the Rams started the game with a infield poppet, followed by a ground ball to third and a strikeout. In the bottom of the first Hinote silenced the North Polk bats with good defense. A long fly ball to center field was easily caught. From there the Comets hit into back-to-back groundouts to the left side of the field. 

North Polk’s pitching would cut off hits for the Rams in the next two innings as they struck out in six-straight at bats. 

North Polk did all of the damage they would need to do in the bottom of the second. After a hit-by-pitch started the inning after another long fly to deep center, the Comets had a batter reach off a walk, and then a single brought in the first run of the game. 

A second walk in the inning loaded the bases. After a groundout to the shortstop, an errant throw allowed two Comet runs to score. A wild pitch brought in the fourth run of the inning before an unassisted out at first ended the inning. 

North Polk added to their 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third. 

A single and then a hit batter put the first two batters on. After Hinote struck out the third batter, a sac bunt RBI to the shortstop brought in a run. The inning ended with a slow ground ball back at Hinote. 

The Rams broke the streak of consecutive strikeouts at eight when a Brayden Roberts was able to draw a walk. He wasn’t able to do much after the top of the fourth ended with a strikeout. North Polk put two runners on in the bottom of the fourth, one off an error, and another off a single. The inning ended with back-to-back catches at shortstop. 

Two outfield fly balls and a strikeout was all that the Rams had in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth North Polk had a short two out rally which loaded the bases, and then scored a run. 

The sixth inning started off well for the Rams as Dakota Mobley was hit by a pitch. He later stole his way to second, and then gained third base off sleepy defense from North Polk. 

After a strikeout, Mobley was able to score a run when a ground out was hit to the shortstop. 

The Comets had a single in the bottom of the sixth for the only base runner. 

There were thoughts of a seventh inning rally for the Rams. After two quick outs, the only hit of the game came from Hinote who hit a single to right field. One batter later Adam Bills was hit by a pitch. 

Jaron Jacobs, who was running for Hinote, stole his way to third, but a strikeout ended the game before anymore runs could score for the Rams.

The Rams finished with one hit, from Hinote, which was a single. 

Camden Jacobs had the RBI ground out. 

Bills and Mobley were both hit by a pitch. Roberts was walked. 

Mobley and Jaron Jacobs had a stolen base in the game. 

Hinote pitched for five and a third innings. He gave up four hits, six runs, three of them earned. He struck out one batter, walked three and hit three. 

Camden Jacobs pitched for two thirds of an inning. He allowed one hit, no runs. He didn’t walk or hit any batters. 

North Polk struck out 15 Greene County batters as both Reece Wrage and Drew Owen pitched all seven innings for the Comets. 

The Rams finished the season at 3-19. 

North Polk was able to go on to beat Webster City 14-4 in the semifinals of the class 3A substate tournament. The Comets and Gilbert played in the substate final game for a right to go to the State tournament.