Rangers in tournament mode

Richard Anderson photo
Laramie manager Sean McKinney, left, talks with Coley Wilson at third base during an early-season game at Cowboy Field.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Summer Solstice has finally arrived, welcoming in the official beginning of tournament baseball for the Laramie Rangers.

The Laramie AA American Legion baseball team began the first of four straight weeks of tournament play by competing in the Rich Hinseth Agency Tournament in Rapid City, S.D. On tap this week in the Dooley Oil Classic at Cowboy Field Thursday through Sunday at Cowboy Field. The Rangers will also host the annual Firecracker Invitational July 2-5, and then compete in the four-day Scottsbluff Wood Bat Tournament July 9-12 in Scottsbluff, Neb.

After a late start to the season, then an on again and off again schedule, the Rangers will get at least 17 games in (weather permitting) in a matter of 15 days of action.

While Laramie manager Sean McKinney likes to practice, he also said that the more his team gets into the flow of the game, the better they will get at it.

“Baseball is a game where you have to play every day to get better at it,” McKinney said. “Games are the best test to work on things. Then we get to come back and have practice at the beginning of the week, which I love, to correct some things from a long tournament, and then go right back and play.”

The Rangers will open the tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. against Broomfield, Colo.

Up until last week’s five games, the Rangers had played just 16 games in about one month. In fact, Laramie went eight days between games when it faced Rock Springs early last week just before beginning the Rapid City tournament.

There will be few breaks in their schedule the rest of the way.

“I think it is good for the kids,” McKinney said. “We did the schedule so we would start out to have some good results and kind of work our way into good competition and each week, the competition gets better and better. We’re trying to get better and win the state title, which is our main goal. We’re trying to climb that hill and bill our program for this year towards our ultimate goal , and I think these tournaments are great to do that in the middle of the summer.”

Laramie, 14-7 overall, finished 2-3 in the Rapid City tournament. The Rangers started slow with two losses (9-1, 7-1) to Watertown, S.D., and Albuquerque, N.M. respectively. Laramie bounced back to thump Cherry Creek, S.D., 12-1, before closing on Sunday with a split, losing to Rapid City Post 22 2-0 and defeating Denver PlayBall Sports, 11-2.

“We had a little problem with the team and that kind of hindered us that first day,” McKinney said. “Once we came out of that, I thought we started playing together against great teams and great competition. I think we rose to the challenge for the most part. That put us in position to get ready for this weekend.”

McKinney added that the Rapid City tournament was a good test for the test, with the caliber of opposition, which is exactly what the Rangers will go up against in the next three weeks.

“We have to some great teams coming to our two tournaments, so it is going to be tough. As always, the Scottsbluff tournament will have good competition, too,” McKinney said. “It’s four straight weeks of great baseball. It really gets us into the flow of the summer.”

McKinney is also getting into the flow now after arriving late in the end of May after coaching his Mesa State team in the NCAA Division II World Series. Again, while he knows his team needs games, he said he still loves those off days where he can work with the young players.

“I love getting with them every day and teaching them the game,” he said. “It is such a great game to learn. I learn something from them every day and they learn things from me every day, so it is a great relationship that we have. It’s good to get back into the flow of things and the kids have to get comfortable with me again and I understand that.”

McKinney is also enjoying bringing new coaching aspects to his Legion program from the collegiate field.

“I think one of the things that I am really happy with is the guys’ willingness to learn new things,” McKinney said. “There is no one right way to do things, but you can always different things about the game and always get better. I’m happy with the kids because they are trying to new things. That what we are trying to lean towards, becoming better ballplayers.”