Pirates complete perfect season with big win

PLAINS – The Plains Pirates achieved a rare feat this spring, compiling a perfect season. The Majors division team won every one of their 15 games without losing a single contest.

At the beginning of the Plains Day Majors tournament, the Pirates were a perfect 12 and 0, but with an all day tournament and the prospect of playing three or more games in one day, it was not going to be easy to reach their goal of perfection.

Nevertheless, the Pirates kept their eyes on the prize, stayed focused and won the final games of the season to complete an extremely memorable run.

Not only did the Pirates end their season undefeated, they completed the year as champions of the Clark Fork Valley Babe Ruth League Majors.

Plains Head Coach John Curry was modest about his team’s success highlighting the importance of fundamentals to any baseball team.

“There is a basic rule in baseball; the team who catches the best, pitches the best and hits the best wins the game,” Curry said.

The Pirates held true to this baseball maxim and did the little things enough to ensure 15 consecutive wins.

The team was notably strong on defense, an area of the game which can lead to unearned runs, the undoing of many great teams at all levels of the sport.

Coupled with impressive pitching and timely hitting throughout the year ensured the successful season the Pirates experienced.

Staying focused was also a big part of the year for the young team. When any team gets on a winning streak, games have the habit of becoming trivial and it is easy to lose focus and find yourself and your team in the midst of a formidable slump.

Curry noted the team took the season one game at a time practicing hard, having fun and playing well.

“The season is a marathon and not a sprint,” Curry said.

The head coach noted that a lot of baseball is about having fun and this is something the coaching staff had conveyed to the team from the beginning to the end of the season.

“We have focused on getting them to not be anxious and just enjoy the game,” Curry said.

It certainly is not difficult to relax and have fun when you enjoy the kind of winning streak the Plains Pirates had this spring.

The Pirates got off on the right foot early in the year coasting to a 12 to 2 victory over the visiting Noxon Diamondbacks on their first day of the season.

The dream run finished with another win, over the Thompson Falls Hawks, by a score of 5 to 1, ensuring the Pirates even more hardware as they took home first in the Clark Fork Valley tournament.

The season was not without its scares and the Pirates nearly saw the chance at an undefeated season slip away in a doubleheader against Superior on May 17.

Nevertheless, as they have done all year, the Pirates found a way.

Down to their final out and trailing 8 to 7 to the Rockies, Tristan Subatch narrowly beat out a ground ball, scoring the game’s tying run. Subatch proceeded to deftly make his way around the bases, coming home to score the game’s winning run on a ball in the dirt.

The team will look to carry over their winning streak to next season, when the ball fields of western Montana are once again filled with kids.