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Pirates score 2 wins over Sandpoint
The Prairie softball team swept a doubleheader for Class 4-A Sandpoint Tuesday, April 10 at Lewiston. Prairie won the first game 8-2 then edged Sandpoint 12-11 in the second game. Meghan VanderPas pitched both game for Prairie allowing just 7 singles in the opening game but a combination of fatigue and Sandpoint’s familiarity with her pitching allowed the Bulldogs to pile up 10 hits including a homer and 3 doubles in the second game. 
In the opening game Prairie took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning as the Pirates put together 4 hits. Kylie Uhlorn and Kim Schaeffer each singled to open the inning. After an out, Tiffany Schaeffer singled home Uhlorn. Then Kara Guyer knocked in 2 runs on a deep sacrifice fly to centerfield with both Schaeffers scoring. VanderPas followed with a double but Prairie wasn’t able to score her. Sandpoint finally put a run on the board in the fifth inning on a pair of singles and a ground out and added another run in the sixth to pull within 3-2 on another pair of singles. Prairie put the game away though in the bottom of the sixth as they erupted for 5 runs. Prairie’s first seven hitters of the inning each reached base. Guyer and VanderPas each singled to open the inning. Alli Holthaus then doubled both runners home. Hilaree VanderPas was hit by a pitch and Brooke Holthaus doubled to score Alli. Uhlorn was hit by a pitch and Kim Schaeffer singled in another run. Brooke Holthaus came in on a fielder’s choice by Rachel Kaschmitter, beating the throw home. For the game Meghan VanderPas had a double and a single while Kim Schaeffer had 2 singles. Alli and Brooke Holthaus each had a double while Tiffany Schaeffer, Guyer, Hilaree VanderPas and Uhlorn each had a single. VanderPas allowed the 7 hits with no walks and 1 hit batter while striking out 4. Where the first game was mostly dominated by pitching, the hitters dominated the second game. Sandpoint scored twice in the first inning to take the lead on a hit batter and 2 singles.  Prairie
promptly tied the score though as Guyer hit a 1-out triple to the centerfield
fence. Meghan VanderPas walked and Guyer scored on Alli Holthaus’ groundout.
Hilaree VanderPas then scored her sister with a single to tie the score.
Prairie took their first lead in the second when Kim Schaeffer beat out an infield single and scored on Tiffany Schaeffer’s single to left center. Sandpoint took a 3-5 lead in the top of the third as they put together 4 hits, all after 2 were out. A 2-out double and a single were followed by a 3-run homer over the fence in right center. A double and 2 hit batters loaded the bases but Meghan VanderPas then got out of the inning with a strikeout. Prairie tied the score at 5 in the bottom of the inning as Alli Holthaus walked and Hilaree VanderPas reached on an error. Brooke Holthaus singled home Alli and Hilaree scored when Uhlorn reached on a passed ball third strike. Prairie took back the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a 4-run rally. Hilaree VanderPas led off with a single and Brooke Holthaus followed with another single. Uhlorn then hit back to the pitcher but she threw the ball away trying to catch VanderPas at third allowing Hilaree to score. Kim Schaeffer then singled home Tabitha Seubert, who was running for catcher Brooke Holthaus. Kaschmitter grounded out to short with Uhlorn scoring on the play. Schaeffer also scored when the first baseman threw to third to try and catch her advancing on the play and the ball got away. Prairie’s lead didn’t last long though as Sandpoint came right back with their own 4-run rally on 3 singles, a walk and a hit batter to tie the score at 9-9. Sandpoint changed pitchers to start the sixth and Alli Holthaus greeted her with a single to left. Hilaree VanderPas followed by golfing a low pitch over the left field fence for a 2-run homer. Prairie looked to end the game in the top of the seventh but 2 errors and a double allowed Sandpoint to tie the score at 11. The tying run came when Sandpoint’s leadoff hitter pushed a bunt past the pitcher toward third. Both third baseman Guyer and shortstop Alli Holthaus had a shot at the ball but neither could come up with the play. Prairie got out of the inning when Brooke Holthaus gunned down the runner trying to steal second. Needing just a run to end the game, Guyer led off the bottom of the seventh with a bloop single to right. Meghan VanderPas doubled to left but Guyer was stopped a third. Alli Holthaus then pounded a ball into the dirt in front of home and reached first when the catcher held onto the ball to keep Guyer from scoring from third. After an out, Brooke Holthaus popped a 1-0 pitch deep enough into left field to score Guyer with the game-winning run. Hilaree VanderPas had a homer and 2 singles in the game while Guyer had a triple and a single. Brooke Holthaus and Kim Schaeffer each had 2 singles while Meghan VanderPas had a double and Tiffany Schaeffer and Alli Holthaus each had a single. VanderPas allowed 10 hits, 1 walk and 4 hit batters while striking out 7. Game 1 Sandpoint 0 0 0 0 1 1 0—2 7 0 Prairie 0 0 3 0 0 5 x—8 10 0 Game 2 Sandpoint 2 0 3 0 0 4 2—11 10 2 Prairie 2 1 2 0 4 2 1—12 12 3 Lady Pirates sweep Timberline The Prairie Lady Pirates swept a league doubleheader from Timberline 10-0 and 15-1 at Lewiston Wednesday, April 11. In the opening game Meghan VanderPas dominated from the pitching circle as she tossed a 1 hitter with 9 strikeouts. No Timberline hitter got past second base. The only one that tried was gunned down at third trying to steal by Brooke Holthaus. Holthaus also picked a runner off first in the second inning. Timberline had only 6 baserunners, 1 on an error, 3 on walks and 1 was hit by a pitch in addition to the 1 hit. 
Meanwhile Prairie scored all the runs they needed in the first inning. Tiffany Schaeffer led off with a bunt single and Meghan VanderPas was hit by a pitch. Hilaree VanderPas then hit a pop fly double down the left field line that scored both runners for a 2-0 lead. Prairie made it 3-0 in the third when Meghan was walked, stole second and scored on Alli Holthaus’ single down the left field line. Prairie scored 3 in the fourth when Leora Laurino led off with a walk and stole second. She moved to third on a ground out and scored on an error. Tiffany Schaeffer drew a walk, stole second and scored when Meghan VanderPas’ 2-out popup to second was dropped for an error. VanderPas went all the way to third on the play. Alli Holthaus was hit by a pitch and she stole second. Timberline didn’t try to throw her out but VanderPas took off for home when the catcher lobbed the ball back to the pitcher and she beat the return throw. In the fifth inning Timberline’s pitcher lost command of the strike zone and walked for batters and hit another. 2 of the walks forced in runs and another run came in on an error. Justina Mader then ended the game with a great at-bat. She got to 2 strikes then fouled off 2 pitches before lining a shot into right field to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.  Prairie
had 4 hits in the game,a double by Hilaree VanderPas and a single each
by Tiffany Schaeffer, Mader and Alli Holthaus.
In the second game Tiffany Schaeffer pitched for the Pirates and she allowed just 1 run on 6 hits, all singles. She had 1 walk and 1 strikeout. The only run was unearned as an error put that runner on base. Timberline meanwhile tried two different pitchers in the game and neither had much luck throwing strikes as Prairie benefited from 23 walks and 4 hit batters. Prairie had only 3 hits in the game, 2 singles by Hilaree VanderPas and a single by Kim Schaeffer. Prairie scored 4 runs in the first inning on jut 1 hit as Timberline’s pitcher had just 7 pitches go for strikes. She had 5 walks and 2 hit batters. Prairie was able to load the bases in the second inning on 2 walks and a hit batter but couldn’t score. In the third Tiffany Schaeffer walked with 2 out, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. In the fourth Prairie put 7 runs on the board. Hilaree VanderPas and Kim Schaeffer had back to back singles but Hilaree was thrown out at third on Schaeffer’s single. 6 straight walks followed. After an out, 3 more walks followed leading to the total of 7 runs before the third out was made. In the fifth Prairie added 3 more runs on 5 more walks and a hit batter. With the wins Prairie improves to 4-0 in league play and 10-2 overall. Game 1 Timberline 0 0 0 0 0— 0 1 2 Prairie 2 0 1 3 4—10 4 1 Game 2 Prairie 4 0 1 7 3—15 3 3 Timberline 0 0 1 0 0— 1 6 4 Lady Pirates sweep Genesee The Prairie softball team swept a league doubleheader from Genesee 10-0 and 14-1 Saturday, April 14 at Lewiston. Meghan VanderPas tossed a 5-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts in the opening game and then allowed just 1 hit and an unearned run with 9 strikeouts in a rain shortened second game. In the opener Prairie scored just 3 runs in the first 4 innings and broke the game open with a 6-run fifth inning. Tiffany Schaeffer scored the first run when she led off the game with a single to left, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and was forced home on a bases loaded walk to Brooke Holthaus. Prairie had the bases loaded with just 1 out but managed just the one run as a pop-up to short and a strikeout got Genesee out of the inning. Prairie added 2 more in the second. Kim Schaeffer walked to lead off the inning. After 2 strikeouts, Kara Guyer pounded the ball to deep right center for a triple to score Schaeffer. VanderPas followed with a double to right to score Guyer and make it 3-0. In the 6-run fifth, Hilaree VanderPas was hit by a pitch with 1 out. She wound up on third when the catcher’s throw on a steal attempt got into centerfield. Brooke Holthaus followed with a walk and rounded first after taking her base. She got into a rundown with VanderPas scoring from third, then beat the throw back to first base. Alli Holthaus followed with a single and after a second out, Kim Schaeffer blooped a single to right that scored Tabitha Seubert, who had gone in as a courtesy runner for Brooke. Rachel Kaschmitter then singled to right center to scored both Alli Holthaus and Kim Schaeffer. Tiffany Schaeffer followed with a 2 run inside the park homer to the wall in right center to cap off the scoring. Prairie added 1 more run in the sixth to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule. Hilaree VanderPas singled with 1 out and a single by Brooke Holthaus and a walk to Alli Holthaus loaded the bases. Carloyn Sonnen then hit an infield grounder with VanderPas beating the throw home to end the game. Prairie had 9 hits in the game as Tiffany Schaeffer had a homer and single, Guyer a triple, Meghan VanderPas a double and Hilaree VanderPas, Brooke Holthaus, Alli Holthaus, Kim Schaeffer and Kaschmitter each had a single. The second game was almost entirely played in a light rain with things getting slick enough that the game was called after 4 innings. Prairie took a 1-0 lead in the first as Guyer and Meghan VanderPas each had singles. Brooke Holthaus walked to load the bases and Guyer scored when Alli Holthaus reached on an error. Genesee got their only run of the day in the bottom of the first when a throwing error allowed the batter to reach and advance to second. A single followed to advance the runner to third and the run scored on a comebacker to the pitching circle. Prairie took back the lead with a 5-run second inning. Carolyn Sonnen walked to start the inning and Kim sChaeffer followed with a single. Kaschmitter grounded to second with Sonnen scoring on the play. Tiffany Schaeffer walked and Guyer grounded to second to score Kim Schaeffer. Meghan VanderPas then singled past the third baseman to score Tiffany. After she stole second and went to third on the catcher’s throwing error, Hilaree VanderPas singled up the middle to score her. Brooke Holthaus was walked and Alli Holthaus singled down the left field line to score Hilaree to make it 6-1. Prairie added 3 more runs with a 2-out rally in the third inning. Tiffany Schaeffer doubled down the right field line, stole third and then scored on a wild pitch. Guyer followed with a walk, stole second and scored when Meghan VanderPas doubled down the left field line. Meghan scored on another single by her sister Hilaree. Genesee changed pitchers in the fourth inning and she had trouble finding the strike zone as she walked 5 batters and hit two others. The only 2 hits in the 5-run inning were a 2-run single by Meghan VanderPas and an RBI single by Alli Holthaus. Prairie had 11 hits in the game, 4 by Meghan VanderPas who had a double and 3 singles. Hilaree VanderPas and Alli Holthaus each had 2 singles while Tiffany Schaeffer had a double and Guyer and Kim Schaeffer each had a single. Brooke Holthaus walked 4 times in the game. With the wins Prairie improves to 6-0 in league play and 13-2 overall. Game 1 Genesee 0 0 0 0 0 0— 0 5 3 Prairie 1 2 0 0 6 1—10 9 0 Game 2 Prairie 1 5 3 5—14 10 3 Genesee 1 0 0 0— 1 1 4 PHS Softball Schedule April 21-Troy, there, (2 games), 11 a.m. 23-Lapwai, here, 4:30 p.m. 24-Culdesac, here, 4:30 p.m. 3-Kendrick there, 4 p.m. (reschedule of cancelled March 12 game) 5, 8, 10-District at Prairie 18-19-State at Lewiston Games in italics are additions to the schedule. |
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