The future of Douglas varsity baseball put on an offensive clinic for four days on Nida Field. The American Legion “C” Cats littered the diamond with 47 hits, which paid off with a trip July 13 to the Senior Little League State Championship.
The only game in five outings that the Converse County 15U boys did not out hit their foes was in the finals. That’s where they were on the receiving end of great batting when Torrington laid down 18 hits to win the championship 19-4.
It was a tournament that put on full display just how much progress the team has made. They rode a five-game win streak into the finals and have built a lot of momentum into one huge finale last weekend – American Legion “C” State Tournament in Evanston.
Finishing second at the Senior Little League State is just another boost and more proof of the fantastic progess made since May. The Cats’ most important contest was against Rock Springs where they won for the fifth straight game, 12-5, which advanced them to the championship.
Douglas was impressive from the very start against RS. After falling behind briefly 3-0, the squad responded with eight runs in the bottom of the first to grab a lead that was never challenged.
The decisive inning started with Krue Melchor and Parker Geer advancing via errors and William Taylor hit by pitch to load the bases with no outs. Tanner McCarty walked to score one run just before Sam Neugebauer crushed a double to left field which scored Geer and Yates to tie the game at 3-3.
The young bunch was far from finished. Three more walks, an error and pop up scored five more runs to make it 8-3 after just one frame.
The Cats added one run in the second inning and two more in the fifth to take a commanding 11-3 advantage. Rock Springs didn’t score again until the sixth inning which was too late as Melchor picked up the win on the mound and the team only surrendered five hits.
Offensively, Jack Williamson, Amarri Williams, Conlan Mackey, Geer, Yates, McCarty and Neugebauer accounted for all of the hits.
The journey
Douglas kicked off the State tourney with another lopsided decision. Amarri Williams picked up the win at pitcher and his defense only committed one error in throttling Bridger Valley 19-4.
It was close for two innings after the Cats saw their 5-0 lead slip away as BV scored four of its own to get within a run. That only stuck until the third inning where Douglas scored five times and added nine more in the fourth to locked down the mercy rule.
Melchor and Geer paced the offense with two hits each and combined to score seven of the runs.
Douglas was just heating up as it had an even more impressive game the next day. Jack Barry was fantastic on the mound where he went the distance and tossed a one-hitter while his teammates littered Nida Field with 16 hits en route to a 20-4 victory over Pinedale.
The Cats bats were on fire from the opening pitch as they scored four runs in the first and exploded for eight more in the second to jump ahead 12-0 and never looked back.
Parker Gusse, Neugebauer and Melchor feasted on Pinedale pitching with three hits each.
Tripp Crawford and Geer smacked a pair of hits each while Rockne Andrews, Yates and McCarty dished out singles. Melchor also had a double, knocked in three runs and scored three times.
Douglas advanced to a rematch with Bridger Valley. It was much closer the second time but the result was the same as the group rallied for an 11-9 win.
The Cats trailed 9-5 going into the sixth inning before unleashing a stellar comeback. All with two outs, Geer, Melchor and Yates ripped three straight singles and were followed by a huge double to center by Neugebauer which knocked in two runs to get the team within one at 9-8.
Amarri Williams and McCarty drew walks and both scored after an error to give the Cats an 11-9 to lead which held as the final.
Douglas’ offensive luck ran out in the title game with Torrington. The group was held to five hits and committed five errors while the Tigers accumulated 18 hits to lead from start to finish.