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Pirates win District championship
The Prairie Lady Pirates pulled off a miraculous bottom of the seventh with 2 outs rally to beat  Genesee
for the District Championship Saturday, May 15 at Cottonwood.
Prairie trailed 7-9 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning and had never led in the game. Genesee quickly got 2 outs and then Genesee pitcher Brooke Dahmen couldn’t find the strike zone. Prairie coach Jeff Martin had told his players early on in the game after seeing his hitters repeatedly go after the first pitch and get themselves out to not swing until they saw a strike. With 2 outs in the 7th, Megan Sigler walked on 4 pitches, Amber Holthaus walked on 5 pitches and Haleigh Schmidt walked on 4 pitches to load the bases and put the winning run on first. Hilaree VanderPas, arguably Prairie’s best hitter (who had hit a huge double against Genesee in last year’s state championship game) then came to the plate. She took a ball and then a strike. On the next pitch she crushed the ball to the gap between the left and center fielders, all the way to the wall. Sigler and Holthaus scored easily and Schmidt hit the plate with the game-winning run just ahead of the relay from the outfield. Genesee jumped on Prairie for 3 runs in the first inning as they pounded out 4 singles and a walk. Prairie was held scored in the first inning as consecutive grounders to third which led to a forceout and a double play got Genesee out of a 1st and 2nd with nobody out jam. Prairie picked up a run in the second inning as Alena Hoene was hit by a pitch leading off. Savanah Prigge reached on a 1 out walk and Tanna Schlader singled to right to score Hoene. Genesee added a run in the third on 3 hits. It could have been worse as Prigge threw out a runner at second for a forceout on what appeared to be a single to center. Prairie came back with 2 runs in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 3-4. Holthaus walked to lead off the inning but was forced out at second by Schmidt. VanderPas then doubled down the third base line to scored Schmidt. Kelsey Tidwell went in to run for Hilaree and she scored on Sammi Frei’s single to left. Genesee added a run in the third when they had 2 hits to start the inning. The runner on second then scored on a wild pitch. A hit batter and a walk loaded the bases but pitcher Frei got out of the inning with a fly ball to center and a strikeout. Prairie tied it in the bottom of the fourth with another pair of runs. Schlader and Meaghan Bruner were walked to start the inning. After an out, Holthaus forced out Bruner at second with Schlader advancing to third. Schmidt walked to load the bases. VanderPas then reached on an errant throw by the third baseman with Schlader scoring. Hoene then walked to force in Holthaus with the tying run. Neither team scored in the fifth but Genesee came up with 3 in the 6th on a single, walk and a 2-run triple. The third run scored on a wild pitch. Prairie answered back in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs to cut the lead to 1. Schmidt walked to lead off the inning. After an out the Genesee defense ran into problems. Hoene reached on what should’ve been a forceout at second but everyone was safe. Frei then singled to left to score Schmidt but the leftfielder misplayed the ball allowing Hoene to score as well. Prigge then hit a shot that should’ve tied the game but it went right to the second baseman for an out. Genesee added a run in the top of the seventh on a double, stolen base and groundout to set up the Prairie rally in the bottom of the inning. Prairie had just 6 hits in the game with VanderPas having 2 doubles and 5 RBI. Frei had 2 singles and 2 RBI while Schlader had an RBI single and Holthaus also had a single. Prairie took advantage of 13 walks plus a hit batsman and 3 errors. Frei gave up 9 runs on 15 hits while walking 5, hitting 2 and striking out 3. Prairie takes a 16-1 record into the state tournament this weekend. Genesee 3 0 1 1 0 3 1— 9 15 3 Prairie 0 1 2 2 0 2 3—10 6 0 Lady Pirates win District opener About the only drama in the Prairie Lady Pirates’ district opener was having to replace the pitching rubber as Prairie rolled to a 17-2 win over Lewis County in a game called in the bottom of the fourth on the 15-run mercy rule Friday, May 14 at Cottonwood. Prairie got Lewis County out in order in the top of the first inning and Megan Sigler was walked leading off the second inning on 4 pitches. The first pitch to Amber Holthaus was called an illegal pitch, sending Sigler to second. When Lewis County coach Kevin Sheffler came out to ask what was illegal about the pitch he noticed the pitching rubber was too short. It’s supposed to be 24 inches wide and it wasn’t. That led to a 45 minute delay as the rubber was dug up and replaced with one from the baseball field. Prairie went on to score twice in the inning once the game was restarted and then erupted for 9 runs in the second. Lewis County scored twice in the fourth to cut the lead to 2-11 but Prairie came back in the bottom of the inning to score 6 and end the game on the 15-run rule. Prairie had 8 hits in the game led by Savanah Prigge who had three fourths of a cycle with a single, double and triple. Sammi Frei had a double and a single while Amber Holthaus had 2 singles and Meaghan Bruner had a single. 11 walks helped the offensive effort. Frei limited the Eagles to 2 runs on 4 hits. Lewis County 0 0 0 2— 2 4 3 Prairie 2 9 0 6—17 8 1 
The Prairie Lady Pirates are making their 9th straight trip to state after winning the District Championship over Genesee Saturday. Front from left are Ashley Cannon, Tanna Schlader, Sam Spencer, Sammi Frei, Amber Holthaus, Alena Hoene, Hilaree VanderPas and Megan Sigler. Standing from left are coach Jeff Martin, Haleigh Schmidt, Kendal Schumacher, Sheri Schumacher, Savanah Prigge, Monica Lustig, Brianna Bianchi, Meaghan Bruner, Brandee Seubert, Mackenzie Rieman, Kelsey Tidwell, Andrea Kaschmitter, Amanda Dinning and coach Steve Wilson. Prairie to play Horseshoe Bend in state opener The 1-A state softball tournament will be held at Caldwell Friday and Saturday, May 21-22. Prairie will play Horseshoe Bend at noon MDT while Genesee plays Greenleaf at the same time. Second round games are set for 3 p.m. The tournament continues on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with a loser-out game. The winner of that game will advance to the championship game at noon. If the Saturday morning winner should win the championship game, there will be a second, winner-take-all championship game at 2 p.m. Prairie is appearing in their 6th straight 1-A state tournament and 9th straight overall state tournament appearance. This is the longest such string of state appearances for any Prairie team sport.
PRAIRIE SOFTBALL 2010 March 22-at Lapwai, 4 p.m., won 12-0 25-Timberline, here 4 p.m., postponed, rain 26-at Orofino, 4:30 p.m., postponed, rain 27-vs. McCall-Donelly (late schedule addition), won 20-4 15-vs. Potlatch at Lewiston, 2 league games, 4:30 p.m., won 17-0, 23-1 17-Troy, here, 2 league, 11 a.m., played April 19, won 10-4, 11-7 19-at Grangeville, 4 p.m., Cancelled to make up April 17 league games postponed by wet field 20-Lapwai, here, 4 p.m., won 16-0 23-Genesee, here, 4 p.m. lost 11-14 26-at Timberline, Frazier Park, 4:30 p.m., won 27-3 27-Lewis County, here, 4 p.m., postponed due to wet field 29-Grangeville, here, 4 p.m., cancelled, weather 4-at Genesee, Airport Park, Lewiston, 4:45 p.m., won 8-3 6-Orofino, here, 4 p.m., won 5-4 7-Lewis County (2) at Cottonwood, makeup games, won 15-4, 24-8 10-at Kendrick, 2 league, 4 p.m., cancelled, Kendrick dropped their team during the season. 14-15-District at Cottonwood, beat Lewis County 17-2, beat Genesee 10-9 21-22-State at Caldwell, see bracket above. Game times are MDT. |
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