|
Pirates clinch State berth With an 11-10 win in extra innings over Clearwater Valley at Cottonwood Tuesday, May 2, the Prairie baseball team clinched 2nd place in the league standings. That allowed the Pirates to clinch a state tournament berth as they bypassed the single elimination play-in games held on Tuesday, May 9. They will open District play at Orofino at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 12 against an opponent to be determined after the results of the two play-in games.  If they win on Friday they will play for the District Championship on Saturday, May 13, at 5:30 p.m. If they lose Friday they would play for 3rd and 4th place at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The Pirates were to play Lapwai in their final league game on Friday, May 5, but that game was rained out and won’t be made up. Noah Behler started on the mound for the Pirates and walked the C.V. leadoff batter. After a diving catch for an out by Colton McElroy in center, a passed ball moved the runner to second. He then tried to steal third but catcher Cody Kaschmitter threw him out with Dylan Uhlenkott applying the tag. A popup to Kaschmitter got Behler out of the inning. C.V. starter Landon Schlieper set the Pirates down in order in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the second an error and another walk put 2 runners on for the Rams. Behler escaped trouble with a short fly ball out to third and 2 strikeouts. Eli Hinds led off the bottom of the second with a single to right center and Behler followed with a single to right with Hinds going to third. Kaden Duclos subbed in as a courtesy runner for Behler. Hinds scored the first run on a passed ball. Carter Shears and Jake Quintal both walked to load the bases. Duclos scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. C.V. then got out of further trouble with 3 straight outs. The lead didn’t last long as Behler got in trouble in the top of the third, possibly due to the wind and the rain shower that came through. He gave up 2 walks and hit 2 batters to force home a run before getting a strikeout. An error allowed two runs to score. A walk reloaded the bases and another hit batsman forced in another run as C.V. took a 2-4 lead. Phil Schwartz led off the bottom of the third with a bloop single that dropped behind the shortstop and in front of the left fielder against new C.V. pitcher Trebor Altman. He went to second on a passed ball. Kaschmitter single to left to move Schwartz to third and then stole second. A groundout by Hinds score Schwartz. Kaschmitter advanced to third on the throw to first and then scored when the return throw went wide. That tied the score at 4-4. With the rain and wind gone, Behler set the Rams down in order in the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth Owen McIntire was hit by a pitch with 1 out. Colton McElroy singled to left and the runners each moved up a base as the ball got past the left fielder. Schwartz laid down a perfect bunt single that scored McIntire, After a second out, Hinds doubled to the fence in right center to score two more runs. Behler then reached on an error that allowed Hinds to score and make it 8-4 in the Pirates favor. Behler ran into more trouble in the fifth. He hit a batter with 1 out then got a second out. Then the trouble came in the form of a run scoring double to center. After a second hit batter in the inning, an error allowed 2 more runs to score as C.V. cut the deficit to 8-7. C.V. sent Louie Fabbi to the mound for the bottom of the fifth as they were trying to save pitching with 3 more games coming up later in the week. Quintal walked to lead off the inning but was thrown out trying to steal. After a second out, McIntire was hit by a pitch. McElroy singled but C.V. then got out of the inning with a strikeout. With Behler at the pitch limit, Hinds went to the mound for the sixth inning. He walked the first two batters then gave up a 2 run single. After a flyball out, he walked two more to load the bases before getting out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts. However Prairie now trailed 8-9. Kaschmitter led off the bottom of the sixth with an infield single and stole second. Hinds then doubled to right center again to tie the game as Kaschmitter scored. After an out Shears singled to left with an error in the outfield allowing Hinds to score and put Prairie back on top 10-9. In the top of the seventh Hinds got an out then a walk, wild pitch and a single allowed C.V. to tie the score. After another walk, Hinds got out of the inning with 2 strikeouts. Prairie went down in order in the bottom of the seventh Prairie went down in order to send the game to extra innings. Hinds got 2 strikeouts then ran into trouble as he walked 2 batters. Levi McElroy took over on the mound and coach David Shears had the batter intentionally walked to load the bases. McElroy then induced a ground ball to short for a forceout that ended the inning. In the bottom of the 10th Fabbi walked both Schwartz and Kaschmitter. Hinds was intentionally walked to load the bases. Behler then hit a walkoff single through the hole between first and second to score Schwartz for an 11-10 win. Prairie had 13 hits in the game led by Hinds who had 2 doubles and a single and 3 RBI. Behler had 2 singles and 2 RBI. Schwartz had 2 singles and an RBI. Colton McElroy, Kaschmitter and Shears each had 2 singles. Behler pitched 5 innings and gave up 7 runs on 1 hit with 5 walks, 4 hit batsmen and 6 strikeouts. Hinds gave up 3 runs on 2 hits with 8 walks and 6 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Levi McElroy picked up the win despite actually pitching to only 1 batter. Prairie ends the regular season with a record of 11-6 overall, 10-3 in league play. C.V. 0 0 4 0 3 2 1 0—10 3 3 Prairie 0 2 2 4 0 2 0 1—11 13 5  Colton McElroy makes a catch in right center, one of a pair of great catches he made in the game. The other was a diving catch in the first inning that likely saved a run.  Cody Kaschmitter catches a foul popup in the first inning against C.V.  Eli Hinds takes a second to watch his fly ball head toward the fence in right center for the 2nd of his two doubles in the game.  Noah Behler started on the mound and pitched throught some trouble before leaving with the lead after 5 innings against C.V.  Owen McIntire scores a run in the game against C.V.  Eli Hinds digs for third and wound up scoring on a hit by Carter Shears..  Noah Behler catches an infield popup after he went to first base when Eli Hinds came on in relief on the mound.  Phil Schwartz steals second in the bottom of the 8th inning after leading off with a walk. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on a single through the right side by Noah Behler. Prairie Baseball Schedule for 2023
March
11-Kellogg at Lewiston Airport Park, noon & 2 p.m., lost 6-10 and 1-1316-Lapwai at Clarkston Field of Dreams, 4 p.m., won 13-0 21-Pomeroy, there, 2 & 4 p.m., lost 5-8, won 12-6 24-Potlatch at Clearwater Park, Lewiston, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m., won 4-3 and 17-16 April
4-Kendrick, there, JV only, 4:30 p.m., V lost 0-2, JV lost 7-86-JV vs. Orofino JV, there, (2), 4:30 p.m., JV lost 1-16 and 1-10. 11-Lewis County, here, 4:30 p.m., postponed due to weather 14-Genesee, there, 3 & 5 p.m., won 18-2 and 16-5 20-C.V., there, V & JV, 4:30 p.m., lost 1-16 22-Troy, there, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m., lost 1-12, won 3-1 24-Lewis County, there, (2), 3 and 5 p.m at Kamiah--note, moved up 1 day from original schedule, cancelled due to weather, Lewis County forfeited both games rather than make them up 27-Kendrick, here, V & JV, 4:00 p.m., won 2-1 May
2-C.V., here, V & JV,, 4:30 p.m., won 11-10 in 8 innings5-Lapwai, here, 4:30 p.m., cancelled due to weather 12-District at Orofino-C.V. plays Potlatch at 3 p.m., Prairie plays Troy at 5:30 p.m. 13-District at Orofino-Friday's losers play at 3 p.m. for 3rd and 4th while winners play at 5:30 for 1st and 2nd. All four teams advance to state 17, 18 & 19-State at Lewiston's Church Field |
 |