Class ‘AA’ Legion Baseball State Tournament Day 1 Recaps [VIDEOS]

The first day of the Wyoming American Legion Baseball ‘AA’ State Championships saw the East Conference sweep the West in the first round in Laramie.

Sheridan, Gillette, Cheyenne, and Laramie beat their opponents to move on in the winner’s bracket.

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The Troopers opened the tournament with a 9-2 victory over Evanston. Sheridan scored two runs in each of the first three innings for a 6-0 lead. They closed it out with three more in the seventh. Caden Steel finished with three hits and three RBI’s and Cody Kilpatrick added three hits, which included two doubles, and two RBI’s for Sheridan. Dalton Nelson got the win on the mound. He allowed the two runs on four hits over seven innings.

Nelson and Kilpatrick reacted to the victory after the game in a visit with WyoPreps.

The second game of the day went extra innings. Gillette held off the Casper Oilers, 5-4 in eight innings. The Riders scored two runs in the first inning. Casper answered with two runs in the second. The game stayed that way until the eighth. Jason Fink singled to center field with one out. That broke the tie and made it 3-2 Gillette. Matt Newlin followed with a two-run single to left field. The Oilers responded with a two-out rally in the eighth. Braden Barr’s single to right field trimmed the Riders’ lead to 5-4. Fink got Morgan Pickett to fly out to shortstop Kaden Race in shallow left field for the final out.

WyoPreps caught up with Fink and Race after the dramatic win.

Cheyenne began defense of their title with a 12-0 victory over Rock Springs. The game was scoreless through three innings. The Sixers broke through with three runs in the fourth. They added five more in the fifth and led 8-0. The game concluded in the sixth when Keldon Hastings hit a grand slam to left field. Hastings had two hits and drove in five runs. Kaden Anderson added three hits and two RBI’s. Garrett Oswald was the winning pitcher. He and Ben Bohlmann combined on a five-hit shutout.

Oswald and Hastings spoke with WyoPreps about Cheyenne’s opening victory.

The nightcap on Day 1 was also filled with drama. Laramie, the host team, scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh and rallied for a 5-4 win over Jackson. The Giants claimed a 4-1 lead in the sixth. After Laramie got one back in the sixth, the Rangers rallied with an RBI single by Tayton Moore. That cut it to 4-3. With the bases loaded, Riley Hogsett hit a fielder’s choice ground to the shortstop. The throw to get an out at second was dropped. Moore scored to tie the game. The error by Jackson allowed Garrett Dodd to score from second with the game-winning run. Aidan Morris paced Laramie with two hits and one RBI.

Ben Malone, who walked twice in the game and scored both times he did, and Moore, whose base hit started the rally in the seventh talked to WyoPreps following the comeback.

The games on Day 2 (Tuesday) start with a pair of elimination games. Evanston will face Rock Springs at 10 a.m. That’s followed by Casper versus Jackson at 1 p.m. In the winner’s bracket, Sheridan takes on Cheyenne at 4 p.m. with Gillette against Laramie at 7 p.m.