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Pirates take second at District
The Prairie Lady Pirates finished up their regular season with a 19-4 win over Highland at Cottonwood Tuesday, May 6 then won 2 of 3 games at District to take second place and advance to State for the 13th straight season. They opened with a 10-3 win over Troy Thursday, May 8 then lost to Genesee 0-14 in the District championship game Friday, May 9. They bounced back to beat Troy again, 10-0, to earn second and a trip to state. Highland had taken the early lead with a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. A leadoff single and a 2-out error turned into a pair of runs as the next batter doubled to right to score both runners. 
It looked like Highland would still lead after a full inning as they quickly got 2 outs but Hailey Danly started a rally with a 2-out bloop single to left. She then stole second and scored when Sarah Seubert followed with a solid single to left. Seubert stole second and moved to third when Kylie Tidwell reached on an error. Natasha Gimmeson then tripled to right to score both runners and scored herself on Jessica Kaschmitter’s single to right. Kaschmitter stole second and scored when Faith Uhlenkott reached on an error. Kellie Heitman struck out on a pitch in the dirt but kept the inning going as the ball got past the catcher. Sky Wilson then singled to score Uhlenkott and give Prairie a 6-2 lead. Pitcher Leah Holthaus gave up a walk and a single in the second but induced a 2-out pop up to herself to get out of the inning. Prairie plated 3 more runs in the second to make it 9-2. Seubert hit a looping single over first with 1 out and moved to second when the rightfielder misplayed the ball. With 2 outs, Gimmeson reached on an error as Seubert scored. Kaschmitter also reached on an error and moved to second as Gimmeson moved to third. An illegal pitch call, equivalent to a balk in baseball, scored Gimmeson and moved Kaschmitter to third. Kaschmitter then scored when Uhlenkott reached on an error. Highland cut the lead to 9-4 in the top of the third when an error, walk and a single led to 2 runs. Prairie got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third as Holthaus beat out a bunt single and scored on Seubert’s 2 out single to left. To this point all 10 Prairie runs had scored after there were 2 outs. Holthaus gave up a walk but was otherwise unscathed in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth Prairie gott on a roll as the first 9 batters all reached base and scored. Gimmeson and Kaschmitter both reached on errors. Uhlenkott blooped a single over the second baseman to score Gimmeson. Heitman beat out an infield hit to score Kaschmitter. Wilson doubled down the left field line to score Uhlenkott. Heitman then scored on a wild pitch. Holthaus worked a walk after fouling off three 2-strike pitches. Danly then looped a single into right to score Wilson and Seubert was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Tidwell then doubled to left to score both Holthaus and Danly. After an out, Abbie Uhlenkott singled to right to score both Seubert and Tidwell to make it 19-4. Holthaus then retired Highland in order in the top of the fifth to end the game. Prairie had 14 hits lead by Seubert who had 3 singles and 2 RBI. Wilson had a double and single and 2 RBI. Danly had a pair of singles. Gimmeson had a triple and 2 RBI. Tidwell had a double and 2 RBI. Abbie Uhlenkott had a single and 2 RBI. Kaschmitter, Faith Uhlenkott and Heitman each had a single and an RBI. Holthaus had a single. Holthaus gave up 4 hits and 4 unearned runs with 3 walks with 8 strikeouts. Highland 2 0 2 0 0— 4 4 8 Prairie 6 3 1 9 x—19 14 2  For
the second time within a week the Lady Pirates scored 10 runs against Troy.
This time they gave up just 3 as they won their District opener 10-3 to
advance to the district championship game.
Prairie got off to a good start as Holthaus was hit by a pitch with 1 out and stole second. She advanced to third on a wild pitch. Danly followed with a walk and stole second. Seubert then pounded a ball to the right centerfield gap for a 2-run triple. Seubert then scored to make it 3-0 when Tidwell reached on an error. Prairie almost gave the lead right back in the bottom of the first. The leadoff hitter struck out on a low pitch but reached when the ball got past the catcher. A hit batsman and 2 singles followed as Troy scored 2 runs. A groundout to third and a fly ball to left got Prairie out of the inning with a 3-2 lead. Prairie added 2 more in the second as Heitman led off with a walk and scored on Danly’s 2-out double. Seubert then picked up her third RBI as she singled up the middle to score Danly and make it 5-0. Meanwhile Holthaus settled down and allowed just 1 hit, 2 walks and a hit batsman over the next 5 innings. In the fifth inning Prairie exploded for 5 runs as they strung together 5 straight hits. Tidwell starting things with a 1-out single and stole second. Tidwell scored on Gimmeson’s single to right. Kaschmitter looped a single over the second baseman. Sensing a big inning, Jeff Martin put the speedy Krista Hess in to pinch run for Kaschmitter. Uhlorn was sent up as pinchhitter and beat out an infield single to load the bases. Heitman then singled up the middle to score Gimmeson and Hess. A wild pitch advanced Uhlorn and Heitman and Uhlorn wound up scoring on the throw to second. Heitman later scored to put Prairie up 10-2. That score held until the bottom of the seventh. Troy got a 1-out triple and that runner scored on a ground out to short. After a single Holthaus induced a fly ball that was caught by Faith Uhlenkott in right for the final out. Prairie had 10 hits in the game with Seubert having a triple and a single and 3 RBI. Kaschmitter had 2 singles. Danly had a double and an RBI. Heitman had a single and 2 RBI. Tidwell and Gimmeson each had a single and an RBI. Wilson and Uhlorn each had a single. Holthaus allowed 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks, 2 hit batters and 7 strikeouts. Prairie 3 2 0 0 5 0 0—10 10 0 Troy 2 0 0 0 0 0 1— 3 5 1 
Prairie had just 2 baserunners the rest of the game, a double by Gimmeson in the second inning where she was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple and a walk by Uhlorn in the fifth. Genesee meanwhile had little trouble scoring. They plated 1 run in the first on 2 hits and then pounded out 6 hits for 5 runs in the second inning, knocking Holthaus out of the game. Wilson came in to pitch and got Prairie out of the inning and sailed through the third. Genesee figured her out in the fourth though as they came up with 7 hits and 8 runs. It was probably a good move for Prairie to give Holthaus a break from pitching as she was fresher against Troy in the second place game. Prairie had just 2 hits in the game while Genesee had 16. The loss breaks Prairie’s string of 4 straight district titles. Prairie 0 0 0 0 0— 0 2 1 Genesee 1 5 0 8 x—14 16 0 Prairie did struggle offensively in the first 2 innings against Troy. Danly had a 2-out triple in the 1st inning but was stranded at third. Gimmeson was hit by a pitch in the second but was out at the plate trying to score on a passed ball that bounced right back to the catcher. Meanwhile Holthaus bounced back from a bad outing against Genesee and set down Troy in order in the first inning and got out of a bit of a jam in the second inning without any runs scoring. Prairie finally found some offense in the third inning but only after there were 2 outs. With 2 outs and nobody on, Wilson doubled down the left field line to get a rally started. She went to third on a wild pitch. Holthaus walked and Danly followed with a  double
off the fence in right center to score the game’s first 2 runs. She went
to third on a bad throw back to the infield and scored on a wild pitch.
Seubert kept the rally going with a walk and Tidwell followed with a bloop
single to right. Gimmeson was again hit by a pitch to load the bases. A
wild pitch moved all the runners up with Seubert scoring. Kaschmitter walk
to reload the bases. Uhlorn reached on an error with Tidwell scoring. Heitman
singled up the middle to score both Gimmeson and Kaschmitter and Wilson
got her second hit of the inning on a single to right to score Uhlorn and
make it 8-0.
Holthaus set down Troy in order in the third. In the fourth Danly led off with a single. She had a triple, double and single, each on the first pitch of the at-bat. She went to second on a passed ball and scored on Seubert’s double to right. Seubert stole third and scored on Tidwell’s sacrifice fly to center to make it 10-0. In the bottom of the inning Troy got a leadoff single but Holthaus got the next 3 batters. In the fifth Wilson had a 2-out single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch but did not score. In the bottom of the fifth Holthaus got two quick outs on a strikeout and groundout. She then walked the next two batters before ending the game with a comebacker and easy toss to first for the final out. Holthaus held Troy to just 2 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. Prairie meanwhile pounded out 9 hits led by Danly with a single, double and triple and 2 RBI and Wilson who had 2 singles and a double and an RBI. Seubert had a double and an RBI. Heitman had a single and 2 RBI. Tidwell had a single and an RBI. Prairie takes an 18-7 record into the state tournament. Prairie 0 0 8 2 0—10 9 0 Troy 0 0 0 0 0— 0 2 2 Lady Pirates open State against Horseshoe Bend The Prairie Lady Pirates will play in their 13th straight state softball tournament this weekend at Caldwell. Prairie’s first game will be at 12 noon MDT Friday, May 16 against Horseshoe Bend, the first place team from District 3. Genesee will play Notus at the same time on an adjacent field. Win or lose, Prairie will play again at 3 p.m. in either a winner’s bracket game or loser out game. Another loser-out game will be played at 10 a.m. Saturday with the winner of that game playing again at noon. If the team coming through the loser’s bracket wins the game at noon, there will be a winner-take-all championship game at 2 p.m. Over the past 9 years Prairie has won 5 championships and finished second the other 4 years. They lost twice to Jeff Martin coached Culdesac teams before beating Culdesac on the third try for their first state title. Martin had taken a job with the Prairie School District at that time and the next season took over the Prairie program and beat Genesee 3 of the next 4 years in the championship game. In 2012 they beat Greenleaf in the title game and last year they lost to Genesee. 
SCHEDULE FOR 2013-14Prairie Softball 2014 March 15—Kellogg (2) @ Lewiston Airport #2, 12:00, won 11-1 and 20-2 18—vs. Highland @Culdesac, 4:30, won 21-1 21—McCall, here (2) 4:00, won 17-6 22—Asotin Tournament: Kendrick, 1:15, won 10-7; Asotin, 3:30, won 13-7 25—Troy, here, 5:00, won 11-6 11 & 12—Glenn’s Ferry Tournament: Friday: beat North Fremont 23-0; beat Soda Springs 11-4; lost to Malad 0-5; beat West Side 9-4 15—vs Genesee at Lewiston, lost 4-10 21—CV, here, 4:00, won 12-0 22—Highland, here, 4:30, postponed due to rain to May 6 24—Troy, there, 5:00, POSTPONED TO MAY 3 29—Genesee, here, 5:00, lost 0-5 3—Troy, there, 11:00 a.m. + JV game, lost 10-11 5—Colton, there, 5:00, lost 2-11 6—Highland, here, 4:30 p.m., won 19-4 8 & 9—Districts @Lewiston, beat Troy 10-3, lost to Genesee 0-14, beat Troy 10-0, 2nd at District 16 & 17—State @Caldwell, vs. Horseshoe Bend, noon MDT at Caldwell May 16 |
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