When the umpires deemed it was too dark to continue, the team ahead on the scoreboard lost.

    Welcome to the 2013 Poky Shoot Out at Capell Park.

    Really, though, the explanation makes sense.

    First the scores. In game one, the Idaho Crossfire roughed up the Idaho Haters’ starting pitcher Kali McMinn and ran off with a 9-2 victory, forcing the decisive title tilt in game two. It gets interesting here.

    In the second game, the Haters scratched out two runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a one-run lead. Since the sun was rapidly dropping behind the skyline, the umpires called the game just before the bottom half of the fourth frame.

    That negated the two runs the Crossfire scored in the top half, and the Haters took the 2013 Poky Shoot Out championship with a final of 2-1.

    Before going any further, let’s introduce the participants.

    There’s the Idaho Haters, a conglomeration of players from Pocatello, Highland, Marsh Valley, Hillcrest and Skyline. For the sake of simplification, we’ll refer to them as either Pocatello or Haters. As for the nickname, more on that later.

    The second team involved is the Idaho Crossfire, a ball club out of Meridian.

    Going into the championship, Meridian had to defeat Pocatello twice, because the Crossfire had already lost once in the double-elimination tournament. Poky was 5-0.

    Not only were the Haters undefeated, but they had Highland High School’s stud pitcher Kali McMinn on the circle.

    But Meridian’s hitters, perhaps in a groove from just defeating the Boise Sliders 9-6 to reach the championship round, tagged McMinn for five hits and seven runs the opening two innings. Each time a bat made contact, the fat, yellow ball seemed to find open grass in the Haters’ outfield.

    Pocatello inserted Morgan Nalley to take over for McMinn.

    The change worked. Over the next eight innings, including the second game, Nalley held the Crossfire to three runs on seven hits while striking out five.

    “I focused on just spinning the ball and getting to my spots so they didn’t get hard hits,” Nalley said.

    McMinn, who moved to left field, was done pitching, but she remained positive. A very good thing considering the Haters needed her bat in the worst way later.

    In the second game, it was clear the sun’s light would not last the length of a full game. Pocatello trailed Meridian 1-0.

    The last opportunity for the Haters to score any runs was the third inning.

    McMinn stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.

    “Exactly where I want to be,” she said. “I like the pressure of the whole situation and just having to stay calm. I just like that kind of thing.”

    In that kind of situation, is there a plan of attack?

    “Just hit it hard. Hit it hard and hopefully something happens,” McMinn said.

    Down 1-2 in the count, McMinn laced a ground ball straight at Crossfire’s shortstop, and she could not handle the heat. The ball ricocheted past her glove. Kylee Jensen and Taylor Hawkes both scored.

    The sky was dark, but the teams tried to force one more inning. Meridian managed to score two runs after a Pocatello infielder could not find a routine infield pop fly.

    Nalley struck out the next batter for the third out, and that’s when the umpires stepped in to end the game — essentially nullifying anything that happened in the first half of the frame.

    A unique ending for the Haters, a club with a unique name (no one seemed sure how they decided on the mascot of a “hater”), unique uniforms (all the players had a different pair of brightly colored socks) and a unique cheer (“Haters gotta hate!”).

    “It’s a fun end to the summer,” Nalley said, “to just go out with a bang.”

Idaho Crossfire 9, Idaho Haters 2

Crossfire    250 002 0 — 9 9 1

Haters    200 000 0 — 2 6 2

Crossfire — Mal Dardis and Jenny Falkner. Haters — Kali McMinn, Morgan Nalley (3) and Makenzie Van Sickle, Taylor Hawkes (3). 2B — Aubrey Creekmore (IC), Jemma Leavitt (IC), Mal Dardis (IC). 3B — Mal Dardis (IC), Taylor Hawkes (IH).

Idaho Haters 2, Idaho Crossfire 1

Crossfire    010 xxx x — 1 3 3

Haters    002 xxx x — 2 1 2

2Crossfire — Mal Dardis and Jenny Falkner. Haters — Morgan Nalley and Taylor Hawkes. 2B — Mal Dardis (IC). 3B — Lil Imbriani (IC).