Plains outscores MAC in first matchup of season
Pitcher Chance Bockman aims for home plate during the Mission-Arlee-Charlo game last Thursday. (Christa Umphrey photo)
Jake Helser makes the play at home during last week's MAC-Plains contest. (Christa Umphrey photo)
Rhain Gonzales slides into base during last Thursday's home game against Plains. (Christa Umphrey photo)
The Plains Horsemen combined solid pitching, both starting and relief, with timely hitting as they outscored Mission 14-8 last Thursday.
Mission/Arlee/Charlo or MAC as the tri-co-op is called, plated three runs in the bottom of the first on their home field after holding visiting Plains scoreless in the opening half of the inning.
Plains pitcher Joseph Pullen Pullen gave up five hits in his three innings of work and surrendered four earned runs in the process, giving MAC a 4-0 lead by the end of the second inning.
But Plains struck back in the top of the third. After a quick ground out by the leadoff batter Allen Peters, Zander Czifro lined a double to left field. He then moved to third on a wild pitch.
Aiden West drew a base on balls. Both he and Czifro would score for the Horsemen, Czifro from third on a wild pitch, West on a double error by the Bulldogs. Sophomore Wyatt Butcher, who’s mishandled grounder led to the first two Plains run, stole third base, giving the Horsemen runners on first and third when Pullen walked.
Butcher scored on a sacrifice grounder, pulling the Horsemen within one, 4-3, by the end of the top half of the third.
MAC pushed across one run in the bottom of the third, boosting their lead to 5-3, but the Horsemen matched that with a solo run of their own in the top of inning number for.
The Bulldogs were scoreless in the fourth, and an offensive explosion in the top of the fifth resulted in six runs that gave the Horsemen a 10-5 lead. Mission fought back in the bottom of the fifth, adding three runs to trim Plains lead to 10-8.
Plains pitcher Garth Parker took the mound for the final two innings, and proceeded to strike out all six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh while holding the home team hit-less and scoreless.
Plains added four insurance runs in the top of the sixth to produce the final score and give the Horsemen their first win of their first season.
Plains picked up 10 hits for the game, and took advantage of unsteady Mission pitching that put 11 runners on base via walks. Mission had six hits for the game and committed five errors.
