Savage Horsemen split games on home field

The Plains Hot Springs Savage Horsemen split their games last week with one win and one loss.

The Savage Horsemen clobbered the Browning Indians in five innings 19-7 last Monday at the Amundson Sports Complex at Plains, but then got hammered themselves on Thursday by the Polson Pirates 11-0.

The Indians had lost all three of their games this year, but the Pirates had five wins and only one loss before facing off against Plains-Hot Springs.

Against Browning, Garth Parker collected four runs batted in with two hits, including a long hit to the centerfield fence that was almost an in-the-park home run. Parker said he thought about heading home as he approached third, but didn't know where the ball was and head coach Rick Powers signaled him to hold at third.

Savage Horseman Will Tatum took the Browning batters down one, two, three in the first inning, then Plains-Hot Springs turned around and chalked up eight runs in the bottom of the first. The Plains-Hot Springs boys picked up five more runs in the second, but the Indians also got on the board with two runs, which doubled the number of runs they got all season, joked Andrew After Buffalo, Browning's head coach.

Browning came alive in the top of the third when they picked up five more runs before being shut down. They grabbed one more in the fifth, but couldn't get enough to stop the Savage Horsemen from pulling off a mercy rule game. Though they collected seven runs, they had only one hit. Most of the runs were the result of walks, balks and wild pitches. Plains-Hot Springs had nine hits and 11 RBIs. Aiden West and Jodi Page each had two RBIs. Beau Crabb, Matt Thurston and Will Tatum each had one RBI and Sam Feliska had one hit.

It was a different story against Polson later in the week, when the only hit in the game was by Crabb in the fourth inning. The Pirates, nearly all with American Legion level experience under their belt, dominated the game with eight RBIs from six hits in five innings.

Head Coach Rick Powers said his team played a tough and well coached team. "When you play teams like that you can't make mistakes," said Powers, who added that Page pitched well for the team. The Hot Springs junior pitched nearly the entire game, coming out only after reaching the maximum 110 pitches and was replaced by Joe Pullen, a Plains senior. "Jodi Page pitched well for us. We will keep working to improve on all facets of the game," said Powers.

The Savage Horsemen take on the Mission Bulldogs at Plains Friday, April 28, at 4 p.m. and on May 2, they travel to Polson to once again face the Pirates.