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Pirates sweep Kendrick, win streak at 33
The Prairie softball team extended their winning streak to 33 games with a league doubleheader sweep, 21-1 and 17-5, at Kendrick Tuesday, April 8. That breaks the school record of 32 straight wins set by the girls basketball team from 1976 through 1978. That team won the third place game at state in the 1975-76 season , went 26-0 in 1976-77 and won their first 5 games in the 1977-78 season before losing at Highland, their only loss that year. The opening game saw Tiffany Schaeffer dominate as she got her first complete game as a varsity pitcher this year allowing 1 run on 3 hits and went 5 for 5 at the plate with 6 RBI. Included was a 3-run homer, her first ever over-the-fence homer to straightaway centerfield. 
Schaeffer led of the game with a walk, moved to second when Alena Hoene also walked, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Alli Holthaus’ hit to left that wound up as a fielder’s choice when Hoene was forced out at third. Kendrick scored their only run in the bottom of the first to tie the score on a walk and a double. In the second Rachel Kaschmitter reached on a 1-out single to left, Haleigh Schmidt walked and Tiffany put Prairie up for good with her home run. Prairie managed to load the bases after that but couldn’t score any more runs as they led 4-1 after 2 innings. Neither team scored in the third inning. In the fourth Tiffany led off with a single and Hoene walked. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Hilaree VanderPas scored both runners with a single to center. Brooke Holthaus singled to left and Alli Holthaus walked to load the bases. Kim Schaeffer drove in one run with a groundout to short. Another run scored when Leora Laurino reached on a passed ball on strike three. A double to left by Kaschmitter brought in another run and Tiffany made it 10-1 with an infield single. Prairie added 11 more runs in the fifth as they got Kendrick’s pitcher figured out as they pounded out 9 hits in that inning with 1 walk and 3 errors also figuring in. Brooke Holthaus led off with a double, Alli Holthaus followed with a run-scoring single and Kim Schaeffer doubled to right to bring in another run. Leora Laurino then tripled to the right field corner and came in to score when the right fielder’s throw got away from the second baseman. She dove in past the catcher and missed the plate but scrambled back to tag the plate before the catcher could tag her out. Kendra Dinning doubled and Tiffany Schaeffer got a pair of singles in the inning as Prairie sent 16 hitters to the plate. After Tiffany’s first single of the inning, coach Travis Mader sent 6 straight pinch-hitters to the plate as he got his JV players some varsity at-bats. Tiffany walked 4 batters while striking out 6 in the game. Prairie had 17 hits led by Schaeffer with a homer and 4 singles. Brooke Holthaus and Kaschmitter each had a double and a single. VanderPas had 2 singles, Laurino had a triple and Dinning and Kim Schaeffer each had a double. Meaghan Bruner and Samantha Spencer each had a single. The only starters without a hit were Hoene and Schmidt but they each walked 3 times. In the second game Sam Frei pitched for the Pirates and had a rough third inning but otherwise pitched well.  Neither
team scored in the first inning but Kendrick took their only lead of the
game in the second as Frei had trouble finding the plate, walking 3 batters
and hitting another. An infield single scored the only run of the inning.
Prairie answered big in the bottom of the second with VanderPas’ grand slam homer highlighting an 11-run inning. Kendrick’s pitcher had her own troubles finding the plate as Prairie took the lead without benefit of a hit as the first five hitters reached base on either a walk or by being hit, forcing in two runs. Tiffany Schaeffer then came within a couple of feet of her second homer of the day as she clubbed one off the fence in left for what turned out to be a 2-run single as the base runners held up on the fly ball. Hoene was then hit by a pitch to reload the bases. VanderPas then came up with her grand slam, hitting it over the fence in almost the same spot as Schaeffer’s in the first game. Three more walks and a single led to another run and then Schmidt pounded a double down the right field line that brought in two more runs to make it 11-1. Kendrick came right back with 3 hits and 3 free passes, 2 walks and a hit batter, in the third for 4 runs that cut the lead to 10-5 but Frei settled down after that allowing only 1 more hit and no more runs. Prairie added a run in the third as Alli Holthaus hit a 1-out double off the fence in left. Kim Schaeffer and Laurino each walked and then Holthaus scored when Kaschmitter forced Laurino at second. In the fourth Prairie added 5 more runs that allowed them to end the game after the top of the fifth on the 10-run mercy rule. Tiffany Schaeffer led off with a walk and VanderPas reached when the shortstop threw the ball away trying to get her at first. Schaeffer scored on the play. VanderPas went to second on a wild pitch and then stole third with the catcher’s throw going into left allowing her to score. Brooke Holthaus and Kim Schaeffer both walked and Laurino doubled up the middle to score Amber Holthaus, who was running from Brooke. Kaschmitter then reached on an error which scored Schaeffer and Laurino scored when Shmidt reached on an error. Frei allowed 5 runs on 5 hits with 10 walks and 2 hit batters. She struck out 4, all on called third strikes. Prairie had 6 hits in the game. VanderPas had a homer and 5 RBI, Schmidt had a double and 3 RBI. Laurino had an RBI double, Alli Holthaus had a double, Tiffany Schaeffer had a 2 run single and Kim Schaeffer had an RBI single. With the wins Prairie improves to 10-0 on the season and 6-0 in league play. Game 1 Prairie 1 3 0 6 11—21 17 2 Kendrick 1 0 0 0 0— 1 3 3 Game 2 Kendrick 0 1 4 0 0— 5 5 4 Prairie 0 11 1 5 x—17 6 0 Prairie Girls Softball 2008 schedule March 7-At Orofino Tournament-vs. St. Maries, won 11-7; vs. Orofino, won 7-6 8-At Orofino Tournament, due to weather delays, didn't play 11-at Culdesac, won 15-1 13-at Lapwai, rained out. rescheduled to April 22 as part of doubleheader 17-at Kamiah, won 24-0 18-vs. Timberline at Sunset Park in Lewiston (2 games), won 17-1, 12-0 19-at Orofino, 4:30 p.m., won 11-10 April 1-vs. Potlatch at Lewiston, 4 p.m. won 13-10 3-Lewis County at Airport Park in Lewiston won 17-7 8-at Kendrick, 2 games won 21-1 and 17-5. 14-Grangeville here, cancelled due to weather 15-Culdesac here, won 8-7, details next week 17-Kamiah here 19-Troy, 2 games, 11 a.m. Moved to Airport Park in Lewiston 21-at Grangeville 22-Lapwai here (2) 24-vs. Genesee at Airport Park, Lewiston, 2 games 28-at Lewis County May 3, 5, 7-District at Prairie 16-17-State at Caldwell |
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