By Will Dickins
North Delta High School hosted Saint Joseph Catholic School for two District varsity games Thursday night.  The Green Wave won the first game in eight innings 5-4 and the second game 15-0.  
North Delta 5, Saint Joseph 4
The game went down to the wire and required one extra inning of baseball to decide the victor.  North Delta came out on top in the end, but it was hard fought throughout.  
For the first four innings, neither team scored.  Hayden Hankins kept the Irish off of the scoreboard with three strikeouts, four hits, and cruised through the order in those four innings.
The scoring drought ended when St. Joseph’s bats came alive with two runs in the top of the fifth, but their lead did not last long.  North Delta answered with three of their own.  
Hunter Baker led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Ethan Calvert brought him in (after Hankins singled) on a single back up the middle that made it to the outfield.
Hankins came in on a Lige Simmerman RBI sacrifice fly to right centerfield.  The last run came on a strikeout that was dropped by the catcher and was followed by a bad throw to first.
The Green Wave would hope this would be enough to keep the Irish at bay, but they would score two more runs in the sixth.  
The urgency in the Green Wave’s bats returned for a consecutive inning to tie the game up 4-4.  
Bailey Ross earned another single.  He then stole second base but got to third on a bad throw that leaked into the centerfield grass.  
Tyler Holland came up big with a clutch sac fly to deep right to bring in Ross.  The Green Wave struggled to get the bat on the ball with a total of 11 strikeouts, but Holland could be counted on when needed it the most.  
Jones Montgomery came in to pitch in the seventh and neither team scored.  North Delta kept the Irish scoreless again for the top of the eighth inning to set up an exciting finish.  
Zach Dugger entered the game as a pinch hitter with one out.  He lined a much needed shot to left to ignite the Green Wave offense.  
The next two batters were walked to bring up Holland.  The defense’s infielders were all in the grass anticipating a throw home.  The outfielders came in as well.
Holland saw the first pitch into the mitt as a ball.  He then capitalized on fastball he could handle with a long fly ball past the left fielder to bring in Dugger winning the game.  
The dugout cleared and sprinted towards the hero of the game: Tyler Holland.  
Holland had only one hit on the game but ended with the biggest one.  He also had two RBI’s.  Ross, Baker, Hankins, Calvert, Noah, and Dugger all had one hit for North Delta.  
North Delta 15, St. Joseph 0
The second game was much different than the first with one team having the majority of the momentum from the first game.  
North Delta cruised to a three inning 15-0 victory.  The biggest highlight was the rain coming in halfway through the third inning and North Delta scoring enough runs before the field was unplayable.  
The Green Wave scored eight in the second inning and seven in the third.  Zach Adams pitched for North Delta and held the Irish scoreless on three strikeouts and only one hit.
North Delta scored on hits coming from: Ross, one single and one RBI; Baker, one double and two RBI’s; Hankins, two singles and two RBI’s; Simmerman one single and twoRBI’s; Cole Devazier, one hit and two RBI’s; Montgomery, one hit and one RBI.  
Zach Adams was hit by a pitch all three at bats and scored twice.  
The sweep of St. Joseph brought North Delta a step closer to the goal of making playoffs. The last series against Indianola is this week. If North Delta can take care of business, they have a good chance of finishing in second place in the district.
It is all on the line in this final week of the season.