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Pirates drop two games at State
The Prairie Lady Pirates softball team ran up against tough pitching as they were shut out twice and eliminated in 2 games from the State 2-A Softball Tournament held May 20-22 at Orofino. In their opening game they faced defending state champion Parma, who wound up second this year, and lost 0-7. They were eliminated Friday by New Plymouth 0-3. New Plymouth went on to take third. 
In the opening game against Parma a nervous Prairie team committed 3 errors in the first inning. They got out of the inning allowing just 1 run thanks in large part to a great defensive play. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Parma’s Kelsea Loosli hit a fly ball to right field. Natalie Arnzen caught the ball and threw home where Maureen Tacke caught the ball and tagged out Katie Hartley for a double play. Tacke did a great job of blocking the plate as Hartley never did touch the plate on the play. Prairie had a chance to score in the second when Tacke was hit by a pitch and Meghan VanderPas followed with a single to left. Arnzen followed with a ground ball to second that advanced the runners but a strikeout ended the inning. Lindsey Crea led off the third inning with a double to right field but never advanced any farther. In the third VanderPas was hit by a pitch on her hip and had to leave the game. Sarah Forsmann went in to pinchrun and went to second on a passed ball. Arnzen beat out an infield single but another strikeout ended the threat. Karel Wassmuth picked up Prairie’s only other hit on a line drive between first and second that the Parma second baseman almost made a spectacular play on. Kayla Holthaus allowed 8 hits and 7 runs with 3 walks, 1 hit batter and 5 strikeouts. Prairie had 4 hits, a double by Crea and a single each by VanderPas, Arnzen and Wassmuth. Friday morning’s game against New Plymouth was delayed just over an hour by rain with tournament officials only managing to get one of the two fields in playing shape. Things started promisingly when Lacey Wargi struck out but reached base on a passed ball. After a pair of outs, Wassmuth and Tacke each walked to load the bases but a strikeout ended the inning. Neither team scored until the third when New Plymouth’s leadoff hitter beat out an infield hit. After a sacrifice bunt and another infield hit, New Plymouth got their first run when an illegal pitch was called. Prairie was intentionally walking New Plymouth’s big hitter and Tacke was called for leaving the catcher’s box too early. It could have been avoided if Prairie had just told the umpire they wanted to give the walk. New Plymouth added single runs in the fourth and fifth with both runs scoring due to errors. Prairie had only one other real scoring threat and that came in the fourth when Wassmuth led off with a walk and Tacke singled to left. A pop-up, fly ball to right and a strikeout ended the inning with no runs scored. The game was called after the top of the sixth due to the time limit imposed by the weather situation. Tacke had Prairie’s only hit of the game. Holthaus allowed just 5 hits and 3 runs with 2 walks and 1 hit batter and 4 strikeouts. In the fifth inning Wargi left the game with an injury. A New Plymouth player barreled into Wargi at second base on a steal attempt. Wargi wound up breaking a couple bones in her right hand. The Lady Pirates ended their season with a 13-13 record. Vs. Parma Parma 1 1 2 3 0 0 0—7 8 0 Prairie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0—0 4 4 Vs. New Plymouth Prairie 0 0 0 0 0 0—0 1 2 N.P. 0 0 1 1 1 x—3 5 0 |
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