| VanderPas
tosses another no-hitter
Meghan VanderPas tossed another no-hitter as Prairie blanked Lewis County 6-0 at Lewiston Tuesday, April 11. A second league game was halted in the second inning by rain with Prairie leading. That game will be picked up from that point when it is rescheduled. VanderPas struck out 16 batters and issued 4 walks in the game. Prairie got all the runs they needed when Kylie Uhlorn doubled down the right field line in the third for 2 runs. They added a third run in the inning and 3 more in the fifth. Prairie managed 4 hits off Lewis County’s Sarah Savage. VanderPas also had a double while Ashley Schaeffer and Brooke Holthaus each had a single. Prairie 0 0 3 0 3 0 0—6 4 0 Lewis County 0 0 0 0 0 0 0—0 0 3 Lady Pirates shut out Grangeville Meghan VanderPas allowed just 1 hit and hit a solo home run as Prairie blanked Grangeville 14-0 in softball action at Grangeville Thursday, April 13. 
VanderPas was perfect through 3 innings before allowing the hit to the leadoff hitter in the fourth. She allowed only 1 other base runner, a walk to the leadoff hitter in the fifth, in the five-inning gem. She had 10 strikeouts including a run of 7 in a row starting with the third out in the first inning. Prairie meanwhile only had 7 hits but took advantage of walks, hit batsmen and errors. Grangeville’s starting pitcher lasted just 4 batters, walking 2 and hitting the other two while throwing only 2 strikes, before being relieved. Prairie wound up scoring 5 runs in the first inning on just 1 hit, an RBI double by Brooke Holthaus. They added two more runs in the second inning without benefit of a hit thanks to a walk, hit batsman and an error. They had 5 runs in the third on 3 hits, a walk, an error and a passed ball third strike. The big hit was a 2-run triple by Natalie Arnzen into the right-field corner. VanderPas’ homer came in the fifth inning as she pounded the ball over the left-fielder’s head. Kara Guyer followed with a single up the middle and later scored the final run on a steal of home. VanderPas had a single and homer, Kim Schaeffer 2 singles, Arnzen a triple, Brooke Holthaus a double and Guyer a single for the Pirates.  With
the win Prairie improves to 7-2 on the season and are 4-0 in league play.
Prairie also won the JV game 14-4 despite getting outhit by Grangeville 4-5. Prairie scored 4 in the first on 2 walks, 2 errors and a catcher’s interference call. They added 2 more runs in the second on a walk, hit batter and a 2-run error. In the third Ashley Schaeffer was hit by a pitch leading off, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and then stole home. Schaeffer finally got Prairie’s first hit of the game in the fourth as she knocked in 2 runs with a single to left. Rachel Kaschmitter followed with Prairie’s second hit. Kara Guyer added a triple in the fifth and Schaeffer had another single as Prairie scored 4 more runs. On the pitching side Alicia Pepper sailed through the first 3 innings allowing just 2 doubles and 1 run. She ran into trouble in the fourth though as she lost command of the strike zone allowing 3 walks and hitting a batter while giving up 3 runs. In the final inning she managed to allow 4 baserunners but didn’t give up a run thanks to a couple of strange plays. 
The first out came after the first two batters reached on a double and hit batter. The next batter hit the ball up the middle with the ball hitting the baserunner off second. Some confusion reigned as the field umpire called the batter from first out on a force. After the umps got together they ruled, correctly, that the runner off second was out when she was hit with the ball and the ball was dead at that point with the batter awarded a single and any other runners forced to advance allowed to take their base. After an infield hit the game ended on another strange play. The hitter flew out to right then the ball was thrown into first to try to double off the runner, when that failed, first baseman Carolyn Sonnen threw home and catcher Ashley Schaeffer still had time to throw to third to double the runner off there for a game-ending double play. Ashley Schaeffer had 2 singles with Guyer collecting a triple and Kaschmitter a single. Schaeffer played catcher in the JV game because of the game limit on players. Normally Brooke Holthaus catches for both varsity and JV but coach Travis Mader didn’t want her going over the limit on games. Prairie 5 2 5 0 2—14 7 0 Grangeville 0 0 0 0 0— 0 1 4 Lady Pirates win at Kendrick In a game moved to Kendrick due to wet fields in Cottonwood, the Prairie Softball team beat the hosts 12-2 in five innings Monday, April 17. The game was called in the fifth inning on the 10-run mercy rule. Prairie led 1-0 after the first inning but really took control in the second inning when they scored 6 runs. Ashley Schaeffer’s 2-run single got the rally started. The Pirates added 3 more runs in the fourth and 2 runs in the fifth as the game ended. Prairie had 9 hits in the game with Meghan VanderPas and Brooke Holthaus each collecting a single and double. Alli Holthaus had a pair of singles and Tiffany Schaeffer, Ashley Schaeffer and Lindsey Crea each had a single. With the win Prairie improves to 5-0 in league play and 8-2 overall. Kendrick 0 0 0 0 2— 2 3 4 Prairie 1 6 0 3 2—12 9 1 LADY PIRATES SOFTBALL 2006 April 24-Kamiah, here, 4:30 p.m. 25-at Culdesac, (2) 4 p.m. 27-at Timberline, 4:30 p.m. 4-Grangeville, here, 4 p.m. 6, 8, 9-District at Prairie 19-20-State at Caldwell |
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