The Prairie softball team fell behind early.
The deficit grew in the third inning.
It started turning ugly in the fourth inning.
By the fifth …
Let’s just say it was a rough day on the field for the Falcons.
Not necessarily in the dugout, though.
Not with their attitudes.
Because in sports, these days happen. The Falcons showed that the only way to deal with one of these days, as it is happening, is to take it in stride and look for better things in the future.
Kelso came to Prairie in a battle for first place in the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League on Tuesday. And Kelso left no doubt about which team is deserving of first place with a 20-4 victory.
The Hilanders improved to 4-0 in the nine-game league schedule. Prairie fell to 3-2 — both losses to Kelso.
It was 5-0 after three innings and 9-1 after four. Kelso then had 14 consecutive batters reach base to open the fifth inning, scoring 11 runs.
Kady Bruce went 4 for 4 with a home run, two doubles, and drove in four runs for Kelso.
The mercy rule ended this game after five frames.
Still, even in the fourth and fifth innings, the Prairie dugout was alive with chatter. The fielders had words of encouragement directed at their pitchers.
“It sucks to be down by that much,” senior Jamie Phares said. “But just knowing we have everyone’s back gets us going still and not wanting to give up.”
Prairie coach Ari VanHorn said she just wanted to stay positive and remind her players that she still believed in them. At one point in that long fifth inning, she ran out of timeouts and had to stay in the dugout and let the Falcons fend for themselves.
“They tried to stay positive, and that’s the biggest thing,” VanHorn said.
Assistant coach Bob VanHorn — Ari’s dad — reminded the team in the fourth inning to try to have fun anyway, because there really was not much they could do to win this game. Not on this day. There is always a bright side, he said.
“Nobody’s losing their birthday today.”
Phares said the Falcons will get better because of this game.
“It knocks some sense into us,” Phares said. “It sucks to lose this bad, but it will get us to work harder in practice so we never lose like this again.”
