Sidney juniors win Gering tourney

GERING – If winning the Gering Juniors Tournament wasn’t enough, Sidney Post #17 put an extra stamp of approval on its accomplishment with three straight wins over district opponents.

After topping Chadron, Alliance and Gering on Friday and Saturday, Sidney had already clinched the tournament championship before it began play on Sunday. Despite letting an 8-2 lead slip away in the finale to Bridgeport in an 11-8 loss, Sidney advanced its record to 9-6 on the year.

“It was a big weekend,” said Sidney head coach Ray Witt. “We played clean baseball all three games on Friday and Saturday with just four errors combine.”

Sidney was led by Keaton Wakefield, who had four hits in six at bats during the tournament. He also drew four walks from the leadoff position over the first three games. He skipped the Sunday affair with Bridgeport to play in the seniors doubleheader in Sidney.

“Keaton’s bat is still hot,” Witt said. “We’ve put him in the leadoff spot for both juniors and seniors and he’s really produced. I know he has a lot of power for a leadoff hitter, but he makes contact, so we’ll probably leave him there for a while.”

Post #17 opened the tournament on Friday afternoon and vanquished Chadron 8-0 as Zack Means picked up the four-inning victory. Offensively, Means and Arik Doty drove in a pair each while Wakefield and Connor Langrell each scored two runs.

Opening play on Saturday, Sidney eked out a 4-3 win over Alliance as Langrell went the distance to get the win. Langrell helped his cause by collecting a pair of hits in three at bats. His RBI-double in the sixth scored Wakefield to break a 3-3 tie. Logan Sircy and Wakefield also had two hits.

“In the second game, there was good pitching on both sides even though we had 11 hits,” Witt said. “There weren’t a lot of walks given up on either side and we didn’t strike out once the whole game.”

Sidney clinched the five-team tournament championship against the host team on Saturday night as it coasted to an 11-1 win over Gering. Wakefield and Langrell again proved a strong 1-2 punch at the top of the order with Wakfield drawing three walks and Langrell going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Mitch Rolls and Doty each knocked in two. Doty also pitched a complete game that was stopped by the mercy rule after four innings.

With much of its starting lineup in Sidney for a seniors doubleheader against Laramie, the young Post #17 lineup let an 8-2 run slip away in the 11-8 setback to Bridgeport.

Among the bright spots for Sidney were two hits each by Jackson Witt, Ryan Onstott and Byron Rowley. Witt also collected three RBIs to lead the team. Rowley went 2 2/3 innings to take the loss. Sircy finished the game on the hill.

The juniors are back at it on Monday as they will travel with the seniors to McCook for a junior-senior doubleheader. The first pitch in the juniors game is scheduled for 4 p.m. CDT.

JUNIOR LEGION BOXES

Gering Tournament

Sidney 8, Chadron 0

Chadron 000 00 – 0 1 2

Sidney 203 3x – 8 5 2

Chadron: Sean O’Brien and Trevyn Waldron. Sidney: Zack Means and Garrett Langrell.

Sidney 4, Alliance 3

Sidney 000 211 0 – 4 7 2

Alliance 002 010 0 – 3 11 2

Sidney: Connor Langrell and Garrett Langrell. Alliance: Peyton Pinedo and Cade Pfeiffer.

2B: Keaton Wakefield (S), Connor Langrell (S), Moises Garza (A).

Sidney 11, Gering 1

Sidney 620 3x – 11 8 1

Gering 000 00 – 1 0 1

Sidney: Arik Doty and Garrett Langrell. Gering: Dylan Radzymski and

2B: Arik Doty (S), Connor Langrell (S), Zach Means (S).

Bridgeport 11, Sidney 8

Sidney 620 00 – 8 9 1

Brideport 227 0x – 11 7 3

Sidney: Byron Rowley, Logan Sircy (3) and Garrett Langrell, Issak Glanz (3), Garrett Langrell (3). Bridgeport: Joe Weibert, Dawson Krihn and Caden Jeffries, Joe Weibert (2).

2B: Joe Weibert 2 (B), Ryan Onstott (S).