Little League all-stars drop two at state tournament

The Big Horn County (Lovell) Little League All-Stars gave it their all but saw their post-season run end in two games at the Wyoming State Majors Little League Tournament in Torrington last week.

Lovell opened with East District top seed Laramie Thursday evening and fell to the eventual state champions 8-4. The Mustangs took a 4-3 lead with three runs in the top of the third inning after taking an early 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first.

Jamen Crosby was hit by a pitch in the first inning, tagged up and reached second on a Hayden Harshman fly out, then scored on a Kooper May single. In the third, Cayden Dickerson singled with two outs, and Crosby walked. Dickerson scored on a Harshman double, and May ripped a two-bagger to score Crosby and Harshman.

Laramie plated one run in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score 4-4, then scored four more in the bottom of the fifth to take charge of the game.

“The bottom of the fifth really sunk us,” coach Nicc Crosby said. “We just had the top of the sixth (to try to rally). We had good at-bats and hit the ball well. We had opportunities to score a couple more runs.

“Our defense was solid, and we made ‘em hit the ball, didn’t have a lot of walks. They had to earn their runs.”

Laramie was a strong team that defeated Douglas and Cody to win the state title.

“They were pretty aggressive tagging up on fly balls, and sometimes our throws were off, but other than that we played a solid game,” Crosby said. “That’s the team representing Wyoming at the regional tournament, and we were tied with them after the fourth inning. We were right there and did a really good job.”

Lovell banged out nine hits in the game as Harshman, May and Hudson Morgan had two hits each, Dickerson, Taysom Butler and Luke Bischoff one apiece. May had three RBIs, Harshman one.

Logan Timpany started on the mound and pitched one inning plus two batters in the second, allowing three runs, two earned, on two hits and two walks, striking out one. May pitched four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and one walk, fanning one.

Cody loss

Douglas had upset Cody in the first round Thursday, and the Lovell nemesis clobbered the Mustangs 12-1, scoring three runs in the first inning, five in the third and four in the fifth.

Crosby said the game wasn’t as lopsided as the final score might indicate, noting that Lovell had nine hits to Cody’s 14.

“We hit the ball better than we ever had against them,” he said. “Our hits seemed to find guys (for outs), and they found some holes against us. They scored three runs on walks in the first, and the top of the order wore us out (in the third).

“They’re really solid, a really good team. The strike zone was pretty tight, and that benefitted them more than us. Cody is really disciplined at the plate. They wait for you to make a mistake, and they don’t miss many mistakes. They got some soft contact, and when you play good teams, you need bloop hits to go your way. We hit some shots right at ‘em and couldn’t get the hits we needed to get runners in.”

Dickerson had two hits for the Mustangs, Harshman, Jace Jameson, Timpany, Spencer Walker, Butler, Bischoff and Jace Grant one apiece. Walker had the lone RBI, knocking in May in the fourth.

Jameson and Crosby handled mound duties for the Lovell squad, allowing 14 hits and walking six while fanning four.