Lady Pirates take second at District
The Prairie Lady Pirates had a short stay at the State Tournament as they were eliminated in two games Friday, May 21 at Caldwell.
They lost a tough opening game to Rimrock 16-17 and later that day had their season ended by Potlatch 9-24.
It was a tough end to the season for a team that went through so much just to get to State. They didn’t even know whether they would have a team at the beginning of the season until they recruited a ninth and later a tenth player.
Their opening game saw Prairie fall behind several times in the game and each time they would rally back.
Prairie was the home team against Rimrock and the Raiders got to Mackenzie Key for 3 runs on 2 hits plus a walk and an error.
Prairie however came right back as their first 5 batters all reached base. Madison Shears led off with a single and scored on a double by Key. Key then scored on a single by Eve Uhlenkott. Josie Remacle walked and Tara Schlader singled to scored Uhlenkott to tie the game. The next 3 batters were all put out leaving 2 runners on base.
Key got two quick outs in the second inning then Rimrock got to her for a pair of runs on 2 walks, a single and an error.
Prairie again was able to tie the score as Shears hit a 1-out double and scored on an error by the pitcher. Key singled and stole second and third and scored on a groundout by Uhlenkott to tie it at 5-5.
Neither team scored in the third inning but Rimrock again took the lead with a 3-run fourth inning on a single 2 walks and 3 errors.
Prairie was unable to answer this time although Shears had a 1-out double but wound up still at third as the inning ended.
Rimrock stretched their lead to 8 runs with a 5-run fifth inning on 5 walks, 2 singles and a hit batsman plus another error. They now led 5-13.
Prairie got their offense back in gear in the bottom of the fifth with a 6-run outburst to trim the lead to 2 runs.  All of the damage was done after the first two batters were put out. Riley Enneking walked and Gracie Farr was hit by a pitch. Laney Forsmann doubled to score both runners. Ember Martin singled to score Forsmann. Shears reached on an error with Martin scoring. Key also reached on an error. Uhlenkott then singled to score both Shears and Key before the inning ended on a fly ball to left by Remacle.
Rimrock came right back and extended the lead back to 6 with 4 runs in the sixth inning on 3 singles, a walk and a hit batsman.
Prairie was unable to score in the bottom of the sixth but kept Rimrock from scoring in the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh Prairie tried to rally for the win. Shears walked to lead off the inning. Key then singled and Shears scored on an error on the play. Eve Uhlenkott singled and another error allowed Key to score. Remacle singled and Schlader walked to load the bases. Uhlenkott scored on a passed ball with the other 2 runners advancing. After a popup and a strikeout, Forsmann singled to score both Remacle and Schlader to cut the deficit to just 1 run. However Rimrock then got the final out to end the game and send Prairie to a loser out game.
Prairie had 13 hits in the game with Shears collecting 2 doubles and a single. Key had a double and 2 singles and an RBI. Uhlenkott had 3 singles and 4 RBI. Forsmann had a double and a single and 4 RBI. Schlader had a single and an RBI and Remacle had a single.
Rimrock had 9 hits.
Rimrock 3 2 0 3 5 4 0—17   9 6
Prairie    3 2 0 0 6 0 5—16 13 6
In their loser out game Prairie met a familiar foe in fellow White Pine League team Potlatch which had been beaten by eventual champion Glenns Ferry in their first game of the tournament.
Prairie scored a run in the top of the first as Key hit a 1-out single. She scored when Uhlenkott reached on a 2-base error.
Potlatch took the lead in the bottom of the first on 4 walks and 2 singles.
Prairie scored 6 runs in the second inning to retake the lead. Amelia Uhlenkott led off with a single and Forsmann and Martin both walked to load the bases. Shears walked to force in a run. Key singled to score a couple and then Eve Uhlenkott and Schlader both walked to force home another run.
Enneking walked and Forsmann walked to force in more runs as Prairie took a 7-3 lead.
The lead didn’t last long though as Potlatch put their first 9 runners on base in the bottom of the second and wound up scoring 12 runs to take a 7-15 lead. 10 walks and just 3 hits plus a couple of errors led to the big inning.
Prairie added a run in the third inning as Eve Uhlenkott singled and stole second with 2 outs. Schlader walked and Remacle singled to score Uhlenkott. Enneking singled but Schlader got put out in a rundown to end the inning.
Potlatch added 5 more runs in the third on 4 more walks plus 3 hits as they now led 8-20.
In the fourth Farr led off with a walk and stole second. Forsmann walked and a double steal moved the runners up. Farr then scored on a passed ball for Prairie’s final run of the season.
In the bottom of the fourth Potlatch added 4 more runs to end the game on the 15-run mercy rule. 3 walks and 2 singles accounted for the runs as they scored the game-ending run on a single.
Prairie had 7 hits in the game, all singles. Key had 3 singles while Eve Uhlenkott, Amelia Uhlenkott, Enneking and Remacle each had a single.
With all the walks in the game, coach Jeff Martin commented that “We just couldn’t find the umpire’s strike zone.”
Prairie ends their season with a 13-7 record and finished 6^th at State.
Prairie    1   6 1 1—  9   7 4
Potlatch 3 12 5 4—24 11 1

16-at Culdesac, 4:30 p.m.-postponed to April 27 to be part of a doubleheader at Cottonwood
18-at Lapwai, 4:30 p.m., suspended after 6 innings tied at 21-21, to be finished April 15 at Cottonwood
25-at Kendrick, v & JV, 4 p.m., postponed

12-at Grangeville, (2) 4:30/6:30 p.m., won 13-11, 16-13
13-Nezperce, here, 4:30 p.m., won 40-0
15-Lapwai, here, resume suspended game from March 18, followed by regular game, 4:00 p.m., won 32-22 and 20-5
16-Kamiah/CV, here, 4:30 p.m., won 25-2
19-at Kendrick (2), 4:30/6:30 p.m. , won 13-10, lost 10-20
24-at Potlatch (2), noon, postponed by weather
26-Culdesac, here, (2) 4:00/6:00 p.m., won 11-1, second game rescheduled
29-at Nezperce, 4:30 p.m., won 20-7
30-Troy, here, (2), 3:30/5:30 p.m. Troy has cancelled the rest of their season
30-Culdesac, here, 4:00 p.m., Senior Night, won 18-3

3-at Genesee (2), 3:30/5:30 p.m. lost 6-11, won 24-4
6-at Kamiah/CV, 4:30 p.m., won 12-8
7-at Potlatch (2), 4:30 & 6:30 p.m., rescheduled from April 24, lost 3-16 and 8-10
12-District Play-in, #6 at #3 and #5 at #4, 4:30 p.m., beat Lapwai 15-10
13-District at Genesee, 3 and 5 p.m., beat Kendrick 18-13, lost to Potlatch 1-11, 2nd at District
21-22-State at Caldwell, lost to Rimrock 16-17, lost to Potlatch 9-24.