By Will Dickins
North Delta finished district play with a series against Indianola Academy Monday and Tuesday in a crucial match up. Needing to win all three games to cement their claim for second place, the Green Wave won two of three games to create a mess in the standings.
On Monday North Delta tied the junior varsity (7-7) and won the varsity game (4-1) at home.  They traveled to Indianola for two varsity games Tuesday and lost the first one (10-3) but won the second game (5-4) in extra innings.  
ND JV 7,Indianola JV 7
North Delta Junior Varsity started off the series with Zach Dugger on the mound.  After keeping Indianola scoreless, they scored three in the bottom of the first inning.  Eli Robb, Dugger, and Luke Noah all walked and scored. Forrest Pierce also walked but was stranded on third. The next Green Wave offensive burst came in the third inning.  Noah, Pierce, and Caleb Tutor (RBI) singled.  Shawn Payne singled after that to bring in Tutor after Pierce was thrown out at home.  Noah, Tutor, Ian Cole, and Payne all scored to bring the score to 7-1.  
Dugger pitched three innings with five strikeouts, two walks, and only one run allowed.  
Indianola fought back in the fourth and fifth innings to tie it up at 7-7.  North Delta was unable to bat in the bottom of the fifth as the time expired.  
No batter dominated but all hit well for the Green Wave.  Indianola’s pitchers struggled for most of the game and allowed North Delta to take advantage of walks with timely base hits.  Getting RBI’s were Tutor, Payne, Drake Barton, and Caleb Capwell.  
Varsity Game one ND 4, Indianola 1
Today was senior day. In the biggest series of the season, North Delta showed will and guts in a game where some would be nervous.  The Wave used early success on offense and sound defense throughout to get past the Colonels.  The stat of the game was that North Delta committed no errors.  
Hunter Houston started the game on the mound pitched the entire game 119 pitches to three batters but only allowed three hits for one run.
In the first inning, Indianola left two runners on base after having them there with one out.  Houston got out of the jam with a fly ball to Hunter Baker in left field and a strike out.  
The momentum was carried into the bottom of the inning, but Bailey Ross was stranded at third.  
Houston kept the Colonels scoreless again in the second inning after he walked two making it hard on himself.  
North Delta punched first in the bottom half with one run.  Ethan Calvert got on base to start the inning and stole second before Cole Devazier hit a sacrifice fly out to center bringing home Calvert.  
With a 1-0 lead for the Green Wave, Indianola answered in the third with run.  A walk got to third and was brought in on an RBI single to tie the game.  
North Delta answered with three runs in the bottom of the third.  Jones Montgomery started things with a single to the shortstop’s backhand side.  With one out and Montgomery on second, Tyler Holland got one over second base for the RBI single to take the lead.  Hunter hit a single between third and shortstop.  Hayden Hankins stepped into the box and slapped one to the right center gap for a two RBI double to bust it open for the Green Wave.
With all of the momentum and a three-run lead, Houston fought through the rest of the game.  He stranded a runner in scoring position each inning.  
North Delta did not do much at the plate for the rest of the game.  Houston was definitely player of the game.  The biggest play of the game belonged to Hankins.  His double came at a time when the game still had a restless feeling.  He hit a ball at his chest to the wall to bring relief.  
North Delta used only five hits in the game.  Four of them came in the big third inning.
The seniors heard a touching goodbye from Coach Haygood resulting in an attempted by the senior against the coach.  It was good game in an emotional setting for an important victory.
Game two @ Indianola: Indianola 10, ND 3
North Delta traveled in the rain to Indianola for the first of two varsity games and lost the first one 10-3.
Indianola started things with one run in the first and two more in the second.   Two runs came in on bad luck when Ethan Calvert slipped making the catch for the third out in the second inning.
North Delta showed life in the third inning with three runs to tie it.  Cole Devazier started the inning with an infield single.  Hunter Houston pinch ran for him and made it to third on an errant throw from a pick off to first.  Jones Montgomery made them pay with a line drive into right.  The second run scored on an error.
This brought Ethan Calvert up with two outs and a runner at second. He hit a hard line drive to right to bring in Baker who reached on an error.  This tied the game up at 3-3.
With emotions high after the third inning answer, the North Delta defense struggled in bottom of the third.  Indianola scored three more runs to crush the Green Wave.  Scorers reached on two errors and one hit.  
North Delta had no answer for the rest of the game. In the sixth inning, the Colonels erased all hope for a come back with two home runs to score four runs.  10-3 was the score.  
Knowing that they probably needed to win three games to get in to playoffs, the mood was low.  Some cried, some stared struggling to keep their mind at ease, and others drowned their sorrows in the form of hot dogs and sugar.  The season’s hopes seemed to be shot.
Game 3: ND 5, Indianola 4
One game was still left to be played.  With the emotions still lingering from game one, Coach Andrew Haygood ended the pre game speech with, “This is what we always talked about.  It is that point where you either lie down or get back up and fight. What are you going to do?”
North Delta fought back.  North Delta won the game.  
They used a three run inning in the top of the third to start things off.  
Bailey Ross kept Indianola at bay in the first two innings. They never advanced past first base.  The top of the third started with a walk from Zack Adams.
Jones Montgomery reached on an error but got Adams home for the RBI. Bailey Ross then reached on a fielder’s choice when Montgomery was thrown out at third.  Tyler Holland came up to bat and hit a two out double to bring in the speedy Ross from second.  
Baker followed with a double of his own to switch places with Holland.  That would be it for the inning, but it was an important start to the game.  Indianola would scrape one across in the bottom half to make it 3-1.
Neither team scored in the fourth.  North Delta added one in the fifth.  Montgomery scored on another RBI from Holland single.
Indianola earned a run in the sixth to bring the Green Wave lead down to two (4-2). The bottom of the seventh.  The score was still the same, and all North Delta had to do was get three outs.  
Things got shaky.  With a four batter streak of two walks and two errors, Indianola tied it and still had a runner in scoring position with one out.  
Ross got out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly out to second.  Nothing could be easy for the last game of the season.  
The game was 4-4. It was a game after the season seemed to be lost.  Another moment to lay down or fight back arose.  
Holland (4 for 4) started the eighth inning off with another single to the right side.  Baker then walked.  
Calvert reached on a fielder’s choice and the next batter struck out to bring us to runners at the corners with two outs.  Lige Simmerman approached the plate.  He saw only one pitch and.
It was a single to right to bring in Holland.  North Delta fought back.  Ross shut Indianola down in the bottom of the inning to win the game.  
It was a story book ending for four seniors who have been the bottom and started the road to the top.  North Delta ended the season winning its last 10 of 12 games.  
They can only wait to see if they made playoffs, but they finished above .500 in district play.  
Haygood said, “It was something that hasn’t been done in awhile.” That was his words before the season.  “We are looking to do something North Delta hasn’t done in awhile.”
Mission accomplished.