Plumas Pirates win it all! Claim their first Santa Clara Baseball League Championship since 1999

By Eoin Devereux Neepawa Banner & Press

It’s a moment of celebration the players and coaches of the Plumas Pirates have been waiting for all season. But for the community of Plumas, the wait has been much longer, which likely makes the celebration that much sweeter.

For the first time since 1999, the Plumas Pirates are, definitively, the best team in the Santa Clara Baseball League, as they have won the 2023 league championship. They earned the title with a 3-games-to-0 series win over the Minnedosa Mavericks. The series sweep was capped off with a 7-1 win at home on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Plumas came close to ending the extended drought last year, but fell to Portage in the championship series. On top of that, the Pirates have been a consistently solid club over the years, but unable to make that next step. All that changed on Wednesday night, in front of a huge crowd of supporters at the Plumas Ball Diamond.

Zac Yandeau sealed the win for Plumas, pitching a complete game and giving up just four hits, while striking out eight. After the game, Yandeau told the Banner & Press, that those stats don’t tell the whole story, as his team mates came up with some clutch fielding throughout the game, and the series as a whole. He also added that winning it all in front of the hometown fans, makes the victory even better.

“It’s nice to finally bring

[a championship] back home, especially for the fans. They’ve been so sup -

Schettler went 2-for-4 at the plate, and brought in 3 RBIs. John Hutton, mean- while brought in the lone RBI for Minnedosa while going 1-for-3 at bat.

Across the region, Plumas is known by many, as being ‘the baseball town’. A huge reason for that could be attributed to coach Tom Yandeau, whose commitment to the game on every level is well known. After wrapping up the series, Tom said seeing the reaction from the players, and even more so, the fans, make it all worth it.

“It’s awesome to see the kids here celebrating the win. I haven’t played in about 15 years, so to see them win once before I’m gone, it’s pretty cool,” said Tom. “[The team] got off to a good start this year, and we knew we had a legitimate chance to win.”

Yandeau also singled out the support of the fans, not only this year, but throughout the entire existence of the baseball club. He said to bring one home to Plumas is pretty special.