The Prairie baseball team qualified for State with a 6-3 win over Kendrick Tuesday, May 10 in a District play-in game. They then knocked off Troy 6-4 at Orofino on Thursday, May 12 to advance to the District Championship game. Things fell apart for them in a 0-14 loss to Clearwater Valley on Friday, May 13, also at Orofino as they wound up as the #2 seed into State from our District.
Prairie will open State play against Rimrock, the #3 seeded team from southern Idaho, at 11 a.m. PDT (noon Boise time) on Thursday, May 19 at Capital High School in Boise.
In the play-in game at Kendrick, Chase Kaschmitter had one of his best overall outings of the season on the mound as he shut down the Tigers, limiting them to 2 hits and 1 earned run over 8 innings.
Prairie got on the board right away as Reece Shears opened the game by reaching on an error by the Kendrick shortstop. After a couple of pop-ups for outs, Colton McElroy doubled to right center to score Shears.
In the bottom of the first Chase Kaschmitter set the side down in order.
In the second inning Prairie got a 2 out base hit from Jake Quintal but he wound up stranded at second after a steal.
Shears led off the third with a single and stole second but was put out at third base trying to advance on a flyball out.
Kaschmitter made it 9 straight outs  as he set down Kendrick in order in the both the second and third innings.
In the fourth, Prairie got a 1 out single from Eli Hinds, who went to second on a balk. Two fly ball outs left him stranded.
Kaschmitter ran into trouble in the third as he hit the leadoff batter and walked the next two to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to right tied the game at 1-1.
Prairie got out of a jam when the Kendrick runner on third got too far off the bag on a ground ball to Hinds at third base. Prairie wound up getting the runner out in a rundown. Kaschmitter then got out of the inning with a strikeout.
The score remained tied until the top of the 6^th inning. Cody Kaschmitter led off with a single but was forced out at second by his brother Chase. Chase Kaschmitter moved up on a groundout by McElroy. Hinds then double to left center to score Chase Kaschmitter and give Prairie the lead. Noah Behler then hit a fly ball to center that was dropped for an error, allowing Hinds to score and make it 3-1.
Prairie took that 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 7^th inning where the infielders apparently started feeling the pressure of clinching a trip to state as 2 errors started the inning. A hard grounder to second got the first out but the runners advance to second and third. A walk loaded the bases and a single scored 2 runs to tie the game. On the play Prairie got an out as the runner on first tried to advance. Kaschmitter then struck out a pinch-hitter to send the game into extra innings.
In the top of the 8^th Hinds led off with a double to left and Behler followed with a single to right. Hinds scored on Travis Alfrey’s groundout to short. Behler then scored on Quintal’s infield single. Quintal then stole second. After a second out, Shears singled to right to score Quintal and make it 6-3.
Kaschmitter still had enough pitches available to come out and pitch the bottom of the 8^th. He got a strikeout to open the inning then gave up a walk. It appeared Kendrick might score on a deep fly ball to left but Trenton Lorentz was able to run down the ball and make the catch. Kaschmitter then got the final out on a pop up to Behler at first base sending Prairie to the District finals and the state tournament.
Prairie had 12 hits in the game. Hinds had 2 doubles and a single and an RBI. Shears had 3 singles and an RBI. Quintal had 2 singles and an RBI. Cody Kaschmitter had 2 singles. McElroy had a double and an RBI. Behler had a single and Alfrey had an RBI.
For Alfrey it was his first action of the season as he was recovering from a broken leg suffered during basketball season.
Of note, Tucker Ashmead, grandson of Loycie Sonnen of Cottonwood, had both of Kendrick’s hits in the game.
Prairie      1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3—6 12 2
Kendrick 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0—3   2 2
With a state tournament berth clinched, the games at Orofino were to determine seeding into State.
Prairie had to play #2 seeded Troy on Thursday and got off to a good start. Cody Kaschmitter reached on a 1-out walk. After a second out, Colton McElroy singled to right to put runners on first and third. McElroy stole second and then Kaschmitter scored on a wild pitch. Hinds singled to right to score McElroy and give Prairie a quick 2-0 lead.
Behler pitched for the Pirates and gave up a leadoff single and after 2 outs hit a batter but got out of the inning with the runners still on the bases.
Prairie added 3 more runs in the second inning. Quintal led off with a single up the middle and Lorentz followed with a single to right. Reece Shears grounded to short with Troy forcing Quintal at third. Cody Kaschmitter then grounded to second with Lorentz being forced at third. Chase Kaschmitter then dropped a flare behind the shortstop for an RBI single. Colton McElroy then ground to short with the shortstop but an error allowed both Kaschmitters to score and make it 5-0.
In the bottom of the second, Behler gave up a leadoff double and then an error on a ground ball allowed the runner to score.
Prairie didn’t have a baserunner in either the third or fourth innings while Behler gave up 2 baserunners each inning but allowed no runs to score.
In the fifth inning Chase Kaschmitter led off with a double to the gap in left center. After an out, Hinds singled up the middle but Kaschmitter was held at third. Hinds stole second then Behler picked up an RBI on a ground ball to short. That made it 6-1.
Troy answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth. After an out, Troy got 3 straight singles, scoring a run. After a strikeout, a walk loaded the bases but Behler then got out of the inning with a grounder to short as the runner off second was forced out at third.
Behler got 2 quick outs in the bottom fo the sixth then gave up a walk, RBI single and RBI double to cut the lead to 6-4.
Priarie got 2 runners on in each of the 6^th and 7^th innings but was unable to score.
In the bottom of the seventh Alfrey made his first pitching appearance of the season. He got a comebacker for an out, got a called strike 3, gave up a walk and then ended the game on a groundout to short. That put Prairie into the championship game.
For the game Behler gave up 4 runs on 8 hits with 3 strikeouts, 4 walks and 1 hit batsman in 6 innings. Alfrey gave up no runs and no hits in 1 inning with 1 walk and 1 strikeout and picked up a save.
The Pirates had 9 hits with Chase Kaschmitter having a double and a single and an RBI. Hinds had 2 singles and an RBI. Behler had a single and an RBI. Cody Kaschmitter, Colton McElory, Quintal and Lorentz each had a single.
Prairie 2 3 0 0 1 0 0—6 9 2
Troy   0 1 0 0 1 2 0—4 8 3
For the second straight year the District Championship game featured the 2 teams that had to win play-in games while the #1 and #2 seeds battled it out for third place.
The championship game was all C.V. who went on to win their first ever District baseball championship 0-14.
Chase Kaschmitter was unable to pitch due to maxing out on Tuesday and you need to take at least 3 full days off when you do that according to pitch count rules.
With several options, coach Kyle Westhoff went with Alfrey, who had looked good in his first outing of the season the day before against Troy.
Unfortunately Alfrey struggled against Rams and wasn’t helped by a defense that committed 6 errors behind him.
C.V. jumped out to a 0-2 lead in the top of the first with 2 singles and a double.
In the bottom of the first Cody Kaschmitter had a 1-out double but only got as far as third before the inning ended.
C.V. added 4 more runs in the second inning on 3 singles, 3 errors and a hit batsman.
In their half of the second, Alfrey had a 1-out single, his first hit of the year, but was stranded.
Alfrey put the side out in order in the third inning. In the bottom of the third Prairie had probably their best scoring opportunity. Lorentz led off with a single but was forced at second by Reece Shears. Cody Kaschmitter walked and Chase Kaschmitter beat out an infield hit to load the bases with just 1 out.
Colton McElroy then hit the ball hard but it was right at the C.V. shortstop who then tossed to second to double off Cody Kaschmitter and end the inning.
In the fourth C.V. sent 12 hitters to the plate and scored 8 runs on 7 hits with 3 errors and 2 hit batsmen. Reece Shears went to the mound to get the final out of the inning.
Shears then struck out the side in the top of the fifth.
Prairie meanwhile had only 1 hit in the final 2 innings, a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth by Quintal.
Prairie had just 5 hits in the game. They had a double each by Cody Kaschmitter and Quintal and a single each by Chase Kaschmitter, Alfrey and Lorentz.
Alfrey pitch 3 2/3 innings allowing 14 runs on 13 hits with 3 hit batsmen, no walks and 1 strikeout. Shears pitch 1 1/3 innings allowing no hits and no runs with 3 strikeouts and no walks.
Out of the six District tournament games played, including the play-in games, the only time the higher seeded team won was when Genesee beat Troy in the 3rd place game.
Prairie will take an 11-11 record into the state tournament.
C.V.    2 4 0 8 0—14 13 6
Prairie 0 0 0 0 0—  0   5 0

Pirates to open against Rimrock at State
The Prairie Pirates baseball team will open State play this Thursday, May 19 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time at Capital High School in Boise.
Their opponent will be Rimrock of Bruneau, the #3 seed from southern Idaho. Rimrock finished their league in fourth place but finished third at District as #3 seeded Horseshoe Bend didn’t make it out of District. Rimrock has an 11-13 overall record.
If Prairie wins they would play the North Star Charter-Troy winner at 2 p.m. PDT Friday, May 20. If they lose they would play at 8 a.m. PDT on Friday. North Star Charter at 21-2 is the #1 seed from southern Idaho while Troy is the #4 seed from the White Pine with a record of 12-6.
In the other half of the bracket Clearwater Valley (15-9) will play Garden Valley (8-7) at 2 p.m. PDT while Genesee (14-3) will play Glenns Ferry (14-9) the #2 seed from the south at 5 p.m. PDT.
On Friday the consolation bracket games will be played at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. PDT while the winner’s bracket games will be a 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. PDT.
On Saturday the consolation final will be played at 8 a.m. PDT. The third place game will be played at 11 a.m. and the state championship game will be played at 2 p.m. PDT.
As far as tickets go, since the state baseball tournament is not run by the IHSAA you can probably get your tickets at the gate and don’t have to purchase them online ahead of time.