Richard Anderson photo
Laramie Rangers manager Sean McKinney waives home Rylan Harding Friday night from third base against the Colorado Bandits in the Dooley Oil Classic Tournament at Cowboy Field.
Laramie uses seven-run fifth for big win
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
The Laramie Rangers know the feeling, having had the misfortune of giving up big innings to opponents, including Thursday night in the 10-run loss to Wheatland.
Laramie, however, turned the tables Friday night with a seven-run fifth inning that propelled it to a 12-4 win against the Bandits in six innings.
The Rangers said it felt good to be the giver of bad news instead of the recipient, especially being able to score with two outs. Five of the seven runs in the fifth inning for Laramie came with two outs.
“We’ve had that happen to us a lot, so it feels good to get to the other side,” Laramie shortstop Skyler Joy said. “Even though there are two outs, you take the same approach and they still have to get the third one (out) on you.”
Deadlocked in a 4-4 tussle, Laramie took advantage of a couple of Bandits mistakes and pieced together several big hits to break the game open. The Rangers watched Wheatland do the same to them the night earlier, albeit on a larger scale with the aluminum bats compared to the wood bats on Friday night.
The Rangers remembered the consequences by trying to forget.
“They had a very short memory and they came out with the attitude that they were going to play hard and play tough,” Laramie manager Sean McKinney said. “I’m so proud of the kids. I credit the kids for how they came out tonight. Now, we need to take that attitude to our game tomorrow.”
Thursday’s loss to Wheatland was the third in four games against the Lobos. Joy said it was more embarrassing than frustrating.
“We were excited to get back after them, but things just didn’t go our way and we made a couple of bad plays and didn’t hit the ball two well. It was good to get back,” Joy said. “It’s certainly a humbling sport. You can have a bad day and the sun comes up again and you can have a great day. Hopefully, we can keep this going against Alabama … they are a good team, so we’ll see what we can do.”
After the Laramie pitching staff gave up 21 hits to Wheatland the night before, starter Srihari Sritharan struggled early, giving up three runs and six hits in the first three innings. But Sritharan settled down and gave up just one more run in the next two innings as Laramie found its offensive game.
“I want to credit Srihari. He pitched a great game, even tough he started off a little shaky,” McKinney said. “He kept us in it. When you allow just four runs at this level, it’s a great night.”
Mike Garner came on to pitch the final scoreless inning. Despite picking up the victory, Sritharan wasn’t pleased with how he started the game.
“I think I took a little too long to get there, get to the strike zone,” Sritharan said. “I can’t take three innings to warm up and start throwing strikes. I have to come out and be ready to go.”
Sritharan, however, like the idea of pitching in a wood-bat tournament.
“Things are a little slower and they don’t hit the ball as hard,” Sritharan said. “It’s more of a mental thing; I don’t mind it as much, actually.”
The Rangers finished with 11 hits in the contest, with Joy and Coleton Wilson leading the way with three hits each. Joy had three RBI and second baseman Rylan Harding added two RBI.
“Yesterday, we kind of had a rough day,” Joy said. “Wheatland came out and put 21 on us. We felt like we needed to come out with a little more fire and maybe turn around and get some runs on our side of the ball. I think we did a good job of putting the ball in play and playing defense behind our pitcher. Everything came together.”
The wood-bat format is a return to a more purist form of baseball, something that McKinney is excited to play. It seemed to do the trick for the Rangers Friday night.
“I love wood bats and I love to get players in motion; you can run, bunt and run and double steal. That’s a great part of baseball,” McKinney said. “I think it helps get the kids loose. It worked out for us, as we got the big hits when we needed them.”
Laramie will look to keep the momentum Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Dothan, Ala., which beat Wheatland earlier in the day, 11-5. Dothan has qualified for the American Legion World Series in two of the last four years.
“It was fun watching them,” McKinney said. “They are a solid team and they do a lot of things right. We just have to play well. With Coley (Wilson) on the mound and with the way we hit the ball tonight, we should beat anyone. We’re going to go right after them and not back down. I look at this as a great opportunity to play a great team, so we’re going to go at it with everything that we got.”
Thursday’s Game
Wheatland 21, Laramie 11 (five innings)
Friday’s Games
Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) vs. Sand Creek (Colorado Springs), late
Cheyenne Mountain 9, State Farm (Boulder) 3
Dothan, Ala. 11, Wheatland 5
Wheatland 4, Colorado Bandits (Denver) 1
Laramie 12, Colorado Bandits 4
Saturday’s Games
9 a.m. -- State Farm vs. Cheyenne Post 6
11:30 a.m. -- State Farm vs. Sand Creek
2 p.m. -- Cheyenne Mountain vs. Cheyenne Post 6
4:30 p.m. -- Dothan vs. Colorado Bandits
7 p.m. -- Laramie vs. Dothan
Sunday’s Games
9 a.m. -- Cheyenne Post 6 vs. Sand Creek
11:30 a.m. -- Match play: Fourth-place finishers in each pool
2 p.m. -- Match play: Third-place finishers in each pool
4:30 p.m. -- Match play: Second-place finishers in each pool
7 p.m. -- Match play: First-place finishers in each pool
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