All-Stars headed to SoCal
Some things just never change.
Once again, the Laramie 11- to 12-year old All-Stars will represent Wyoming at the Little League Western Region Tournament in San Bernardino, Calif.
The Laramie All-Stars were crowned the state champions on Saturday in Wheatland with a 3-1 victory over Platte County. It is the fourth straight state championship for Laramie and 16th state title since the Little League Western Regional format was used in 1972.
Going into the tournament, Laramie manager Casey Campbell knew the chances of another title would have to come from a younger team than in year’s past with seven 11-year-olds and six 12-year-olds.
But Laramie ended up beating Torrington (4-0) and Riverton (10-6) in pool play and Powell (6-3) and Cody (6-4) en route to prevailing in the championship game and give Platte County its first loss in the tournament.
“We just played Laramie baseball,” Campbell said. “I don’t know if it was because we have the bus that was fixed by Wyo Tech and GM or if it is the ‘Laramie’ on the front of our shirts with all the championships that we’ve won. But there maybe an intimidation factor when we get out on the field.”
The Little League Western Region Tournament is scheduled for Aug. 7-16 at Al Houghton Stadium.
Laramie’s Nate Hill and Joseph Legerski combined their efforts on the mound to hurl a no-hitter. Hill worked the first four innings for the win, and Legerski was called on for the final two frames for the save.
“We just played awesome defensively. We may not have hit the ball quite as much as we were wanting to, but our pitching was superb. We gave up very little hits for the whole tournament,” Campbell said. “We have a lot of good pitchers on this team, and those two today were just on fire with a lot of good pitches, mostly on the outside corner to make them reach for the ball. We had a lot of ground outs to second base and back to the pitcher.”
Laramie scored two runs in the third inning as Austin Bandemer knocked in Hill and Marshall Stewart with a double. Stewart then recorded an RBI in the fourth inning when he singled in Tye Brown.
“We have to start getting ourselves ready to go to work with not quite a week and half worth of practices to prepare for California,” Campbell said. “They are ready and want to go to work. With seven of our kids being 11 years old, I’m sure we’ll be one of the youngest team in California, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to go out and try to do what we got to do.”
—
LARAMIE 3, PLATTE COUNTY 1
Platte County 000 100 — 1 0 2
Laramie 002 10X — 3 9 1
Platte County hitting: none. Laramie hitting: Cameron Campbell, 1B, 1B; Austin Bandemer, 1B, 2RBIs; Jerry Looney, 1B; J.T. Jackson, 1B; Cole Olsen, 2B; Tye Brown, 2B; Nate Hill, 1B; Marshall Stewart, 1B, RBI. Platte County pitching: Myles Hixson (L), 5IP, 3R, 2ER, 9H, 0BB, 2K. Laramie pitching: Nate Hill (W) 4IP, 1R, 0ER, 0H, 3BB, 2K; Joseph Legerski (S) 2IP, 0R, 0ER, 0H, 2BB, 3K.
Laramie 9-10 comes up short
Laramie’s bid to sweep the both Little League state titles fell one run short as the 9- to 10-year old All-Stars were defeated 3-2 by Gillette on Saturday, also in Wheatland.
After cruising through the 9-10 state tournament with wins over Torrington (16-3) and Platte County (7-0) in pool play and Rock Springs (25-9) and Riverton (16-2) in the bracket, the Laramie squad faced an equally tough opponent in Gillette, especially from a pitching standpoint in the low-scoring contest.
The Gillette squad mustered all the offense they would need with three runs in the top of the third inning.
“Jayson Lackey had a double to lead them off, then they continued to put the ball in play as we had a couple of miscues on some real tough plays,” Laramie manager Clint Campbell said.
Laramie scored first with a run in the bottom of the first inning and tried to rally with a run in the bottom of the fifth.
Behind the pitching of Grant Wrhel and Taylor Dodd, Laramie held Gillette to just two hits in the game. The Gillette combo of Jayson Lackey and Colter Langdon kept the hot bats of Laramie in check by giving up just four hits.
“It was a tough game. The kids battled and played real well for a great tournament,” Clint Campbell said. “I had a blast coaching these kids. It was just a real tough game to end it.
“With six 9 year olds and six 10 year olds and seven of those players coming from the Minor’s League, they were a great bunch of kids with wonderful parents and families. They really worked hard and put in a lot of time and effort. They laid it all out on the line in every game and did a real good job in this tournament. I am really proud of them.”
—
GILLETTE 3, LARAMIE 2
Gillette 003 00 — 3 2 2
Laramie 100 01 — 2 4 1
Gillette hitting: Jeremy Sylte, 1B; Jayson Lackey, 2B, Colter Langdon, RBI. Laramie hitting: Taylor Dodd, 3B; Eli Bryant, 1B, 1B, RBI; Connor Beeston, 2B. Gillette pitching: Jayson Lackey, (W), 3IP, 1R, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 3K; Colter Langdon, 2IP, 1R, 0ER, 0H, 0BB, 5K. Laramie pitching: Grant Wrhel, 1 1/3 IP, 0R, 0ER, 1H, 4BB, 3K; Taylor Dodd, (L), 3 2/3 IP, 3R, 1ER, 1H, 2BB, 4K.
David Watson’s e-mail address is davidw@laramieboomerang.com
Reader Comments
Leave Your Comments
There is a 100 word limitation per post.
Comments are not posted until after being approved by Laramie Boomerang staff.
Comments may be rejected by the Laramie Boomerang staff at their discretion.
The comments posted on the Reader Comments section are not necessarily those of the Laramie Boomerang.
If you would like to report an offensive post, please contact us.