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Pirates win District Title
The Prairie Lady Pirates saved some of their best softball of the season for the District Tournament as they rolled through Highland and Genesee to win the District title Friday, May 11 at Lewiston. 
Prairie dispatched Highland 11-0 then beat Genesee 11-1 in the championship game. The opening round game couldn’t have been more different from the league game played against Highland just 3 days earlier. Pitcher Megan Sigler didn’t allow more than one baserunner in an inning until the fifth and allowed just 2 hits as only 1 Highland runner got even as far as third base. The defense also tightened up considerably as there was just 1 error compared to 8 in the game earlier in the week. The only real hard hit ball was on the first pitch of the game as Highland got a leadoff double. 2 strikeouts and a comebacker got Sigler out of the inning without the runner advancing. Highland meanwhile had all kinds of problems fielding the ball in the bottom of the first inning. Sigler opened the game with a double that fell in front of the centerfielder. She went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Savanah Prigge’s single. Tanna Schlader then hit a fly ball to right that was dropped for a 3 base error with Prigge scoring. MeShel Rad followed with a short fly ball to shortstop that was dropped for another error as Schlader scored. Mckenzie Rieman then hit what amounted to a full-swinging bunt up the first base line that Highland hoped would go foul but didn’t as Rieman reached first. Rad then scored as the throw over to third got away for another error. Monica Lustig reached on a fielder’s choice as the play went to second but wasn’t in time. After an out Leah Holthaus was walked to load the bases. Taylor Nuxoll then grounded to short with Lustig being forced at third as Rieman scored to make it 5-0. Prairie added 2 more in the second as Schlader tripled to right field, Rad tripled down the third base line and Rieman doubled up the middle. Prairie made it 9-0 after 3 innings as Nuxoll hit a 1-out double and then after a second out Prigge doubled to right to score Nuxoll and Schlader singled to right to score Prigge. In the fourth inning it appeared Highland might get out of the inning without any runs scoring but Lustig got a second life on what would’ve been the second out when an illegal pitch was called on a slow roller that bounced up and hit her as she headed for first. With her second chance Lustig managed to beat out an infield hit, stole second, went to third on the errant pickoff throw and scored on a passed ball third strike that Highland thought was the third out. Holthaus then singled to center and scored when the centerfielder misplayed Nuxoll’s single to center. In the top of the fifth Highland mounted their only real threat as an error allowed the leadoff hitter to reach and a single and a walk loaded the bases. The next hitter lined out to Schlader at second and she had an easy double play as she tossed to Holthaus at second before the runner could get back. A pop-up to first ended the game on the 10-run mercy rule. Sigler had 6 strikeouts and 3 walks in the game. Prairie had 12 hits as 8 of the 9 hitters had at least one hit. Schlader had a triple and a single, Prigge, Rieman and Nuxoll a double and single each, Rad a triple, Sigler a double and Lustig and Holthaus a single each. Highland 0 0 0 0 0— 0 2 5 Prairie 5 2 2 2 x—11 12 1 Sigler pitched again in the championship game against Genesee and continued her mastery of the Bulldogs holding them to just 3 hits and 1 run as Prairie beat them for  the
7th straight time with 6 of those ending early on the 10 run mercy rule.
Sigler got the side out in order in the top of the first and then led off the bottom of the first by hitting the first pitch to the wall in left for a triple. She scored on Prigge’s single to left. Schlader followed with a comebacker to the pitcher but reached first when Genesee decided to keep Prigge from going to third rather than going for the out at first. Rad then grounded to short for a force at second with Prigge going to third. Prigge scored on Rieman’s single up the middle with Rad going to third and Rieman to second on the throw to third. Lustig then executed a beautiful squeeze bunt to score Rad from third as the play had to go to first. That made it 3-0 after 1 inning. Prairie added 2 more in the second, both after there were 2 outs and without benefit of a hit. Sigler swung at strike 3 after there were 2 outs but the ball got past the catcher and she easily reached first. Prigge then hit a pop up that the shortstop dropped for an error and in the scramble that followed, Sigler wound up scoring all the way from first base. Schlader then popped up to second and that ball was also dropped for an error as Prigge scored to make it 5-0. In the third Genesee managed to push a run across thanks to a walk, passed ball and single but Prairie answered right back with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning. Again all the runs scored after there were 2 outs. Rieman led off with a single to right but a popup that was actually caught and a strikeout made it look like Genesee might get out of the inning unscathed. Holthaus was walked though and Nuxoll hit a 2-run triple to right center field. Sigler then walked and Prigge followed with a 2-run double down the left field line that made it 9-1 after 3 innings. Genesee got a 2-out single in the fourth but the runner was stranded when the next batter grounded out to third. In the bottom of the inning Prairie was hoping to plate 2 more runs so that they could end it in the top of the fifth. Genesee changed pitcher and Rad worked her for a walked on a 7-pitch at bat. She then went to second on a wild pitch. Rieman then grounded to short with Rad having to hold until the throw was made to first. She then went to third and when the return throw from first to third got away Rad was able to score. Lustig then doubled down the left field line and Kendall Schumacher popped up to short where the ball was dropped for another error. The hopes of making it a 10-run margin after 4 innings took a hit when Lustig apparently left second a bit too soon and was called out. Genesee changed pitchers again and the new pitcher got an out to end the inning. An error in the top of the fifth gave Genesee a baserunner with 1 out but a forceout at second on a grounder to short and a groundout to first ended the inning. In the bottom of the fifth Nuxoll led off with a single up the middle and moved to third on consecutive wild pitches to Sigler who wound up walking on 4 pitches. Prigge then picked up the game ending RBI when the throw was too late going home on her fielder’s choice. Prairie had 8 hits in the game and took advantage of 3 Genesee errors. Nuxoll had a triple and a single and 2 RBI while Prigge had a double and a single and 4 RBI. Rieman had 2 singles and an RBI. Sigler had a triple and scored 3 runs while Lustig had a double. Sigler allowed just 1 run on 3 hits with 1 walk and struck out 1. Prairie takes a 16-5 record into the state tournament where Troy will join them from District 2 after beating Genesee on Saturday. Of note, Prairie scored a run in every inning in which they batted at the District Tournament. Genesee 0 0 1 0 0— 1 3 3 Prairie 3 2 4 1 1—11 8 1 
The Prairie Lady Pirates proclaim they are #1 after winning the District Softball title Friday, May 11 at Lewiston. Front from left are Sky Wilson, Jessica Kaschmitter, Andrea Kaschmitter, Mckenzie Rieman, Savanah Prigge, MeShel Rad, Megan Sigler, Monica Lustig and Amanda Dinning. Back from left are coach Steve Wilson, Ashley Cannon, Cheryl Gehring, Taylor Nuxoll, Kelsey Tidwell, Emily McHugh, Marina Rae Evans, Holli Uhlorn, Kendall Schumacher, Leah Holthaus, Tanna Schlader and head coach Jeff Martin. This will be Prairie’s 11th straight trip to state in softball and the 8th straight at the 1A level.  The 1-A State Softball Tournament gets underway at 12 noon MDT Friday, May 18 at the Quad Park in Caldwell. Prairie will play Horseshoe Bend while Troy will play Greenleaf with both games set to start at noon. Second round games will be held at 3 p.m. MDT with the winners in one game and the loser in the other. Unlike District this is a full double elimination tournament with the winner’s bracket winner advancing to the championship game at 12 noon MDT on Saturday. A loser out game will precede that at 10 a.m. If necessary a second championship game would start at 2 p.m. For Prairie this is their 8th straight trip to the 1-A state tournament and 11th straight trip overall to a state tournament. They have reached the state title game in each of the past 7 years and are 4-3 in those games. For Troy this is their first ever trip to a state tournament in softball. Lady Pirates outlast Highland It took 2 extra innings of play before the Prairie Lady Pirates could pull out a 9-8 win over Highland in the regular season finale for both teams Tuesday, May 8 at Cottonwood. 
The win clinched the league championship for Prairie with a 9-1 record. Prairie started the game well as Megan Sigler put the side out in order in the top of the first. She then drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the inning and stole second. She scored on Savanah Prigge’s single up the middle. Prigge stole second and scored when Tanna Schlader’s hit back up the middle deflected off the pitcher and went into left field for a single. Neither team scored in the second or third innings but in the fourth Prairie’s defense fell apart. Highland led off the inning with a double to centerfield. The next hitter reached on an error with the leadoff hitter scoring. Another double to center followed that hit the fence on the fly. After two more errors and another double to the left field corner Highland had taken a 2-4 lead. In the bottom of the fourth Prairie took advantage of a couple of Highland errors to tie the game. Kendall Schumacher led off with a single to right center and Leah Holthaus followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt. She wound up safe at first when the first baseman dropped the throw for an error and Schumacher scored when the throw to third got away with Holthaus taking second. A wild pitch moved Holthaus to third and she scored on Taylor Nuxoll’s groundout to second to tie the game at 4-4. 3 hits and another error in the sixth inning led to 2 more Highland runs as they took back the lead at 4-6. In the bottom of the seventh MeShel Rad reached on an error to lead off the inning. After an out Monica Lustig singled to right as Rad moved to third. Lustig then stole second and both runners scored on Schumacher’s double over the left fielder’s head to tie the game at 6-6. Schumacher moved to third on a groundout and Nuxoll drew a walk but Megan Sigler’s hard hit fly ball was right at the centerfielder and the game moved to extra innings. In softball in extra innings the player who made the last out of the previous inning is put on second base to start the inning. A passed ball moved the runner to third and she scored on a groundout to give Highland the lead in the eighth inning. Sigler started on second for Prairie and scored on Schlader’s bloop single to left. Schlader stole second and then stole third but wasn’t able to score as the game went to another extra inning. Highland’s runner on second scored on a single. Prairie then caught a break as the next batter hit a fly ball to center. The runner got caught as Prigge had a shot at catching the ball. When she didn’t she still had time to field the ball and get the forceout at second. Prairie’s 8th error of the game led to runners on second and third with only 1 out but a strikeout and a flyball out to right ended the inning. Mckenzie Rieman started out on second base for Prairie in the bottom of the ninth and scored on Schumacher’s 1-out triple to right center to tie the game. Prairie then tried a squeeze bunt with Holthaus but Schumacher wasn’t able to score and held at third while Holthaus actually wound up at second on the play. Nuxoll then came up and singled to left to bring home the winning run. Holthaus would have scored too if the run had been needed. Prairie wound up with 13 hits in the game with Schumacher having a single, double and triple and 3 RBI. Schlader had 3 singles and 2 RBI. Nuxoll had 2 singles and 2 RBI. Prigge had 2 singles and an RBI while Sigler, Rad and Lustig each had a single. Sigler gave up 8 hits and 8 runs, only 2 of them earned, and had 9 strikeouts and 1 walk. Prairie ends the regular season with a 14-5 overall record. Highland 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 1 1—8 8 4 Prairie 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 2—9 13 8
March 15—vs. Highland (@ Lewiston), 3:30 p.m., won 4-1 19—vs. Kellogg (@ Lewiston) (2), 3:30 p.m. won 15-10, 13-1 23—at New Plymouth (1), 2:00 MT, lost 5-7, won 6-4 24—at Centennial JV (2), 10 a.m., lost 13-14, won 13-3 26—at Orofino (1), 4:30 p.m., postponed due to weather, not rescheduled as of yet 17—vs. Genesee (@Lewiston), 4:45 p.m. won 16-1 19—Orofino (1), here, 4:30 p.m., lost 2-6 20—vs. Potlatch at Lewiston (2), won 18-0, 13-3 21—vs. Troy (@Lewiston) (2), 11 a.m., lost 8-14, won 9-5 23—Grangeville (1+1), here, 4 p.m., won 11-1 24—at Timberline (1+1), 4 p.m., postponed due to rain, rescheduled to May 4 26—Highland, here, 4 p.m., postponed due to rain, rescheduled to May 8 30—at Orofino, 4:30 p.m., rescheduled from 3/26- cancelled due to rain, will not be made up. 4—at Timberline, 4 p.m., rained out, Timberline forfeited to Prairie rather than make it up 7—at Grangeville, (1+1), 4 p.m.-cancelled so that league game against Genesee can be made up. 8—Highland, here, 4 p.m., won 9-8 in 9 innings 11 &12—Districts (@Lewiston), won 11-0 over Highland and 11-1 over Genesee - District Champs! 18 & 19—State (@Caldwell), vs. Horseshoe Bend at 12 noon MDT 5/18. Second round game at 3 p.m. MDT See bracket above. (1+1) means V & JV |
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