Black Sox fall to Hot Springs in championship

Matt Unrau

Valley Press

In the second consecutive week Sanders County hosted a little league tournament. And, for the second consecutive week Plains saw its team lose in the championship game. This time however, the minors team had to rebound from an early loss and fight back hard to even make it to the main game on Saturday night.

“The fact that we lost Friday night and came back to beat Noxon and fought back and beat Thompson Falls… well they never gave up. They could’ve hung their heads but they didn’t give up,” says head coach Randy Wood.

Plains dropped its first game to Thompson Falls on Friday by a score of 6-9. It took Plains until the fourth inning to score a run and by that time they were already down by seven runs. Although, they scored five runs in that inning they weren’t able to climb out of the hole. Alec Cole had two hits in the game, both singles in Plains five-hit effort.

Plains then looked to rebound Saturday morning against Noxon. “I want you guys to take a look around,” said Wood in a pregame talk to his team. “It’s a beautiful day. We’re playing some baseball, let’s have some fun! That’s what this is all about.”

His speech worked as Plains beat Noxon 14-2 behind an eight-run fifth inning. Noxon led for the first three innings but couldn’t match the offensive pace set by the Black-Sox. The Black-Sox matched the 14 runs with 14 hits including a four hit performance by Alec and two triples by Jourdan Weeks.

The next game featured a rematch with the Thompson Falls Rangers who had beaten them on Friday. This game turned into a grinder as Plains jumped ahead early leading 10-3 in the fifth inning. However, the Rangers held a furious rally scoring seven runs in the sixth inning capped off by a grand slam that tied the game.

Plains rebounded as the first two batters walked in the bottom of the sixth inning and Alec singled to seal the victory.

Plains big inning came in the fourth behind a double by Karsen Cribbs and a single by Jordan. Plains ended the game with six hits. Karsen had two of them including a home run in the third inning.

It then set up the championship game between Hot Springs and Plains. It was close until the fourth inning where Hot Springs scored four runs to seal the 9-3 victory behind the dominant pitching of Trevor Paro who pitched three innings helping hold the powerful Black-Sox offense down.

Jordan had the only hit for the Black Sox, a triple in the fourth inning. Plains hitters had four walks during the game.

With the end of the Sanders County Tournament All-stars are right around the corner.

The team is made up of players from Noxon, Thompson Falls, Plains and Hot Springs.