Tough Stretch for Legion Seniors

Sidney's American Legion Post 17 Senior baseball team battled through the last part of their regular season schedule over the last week, and were unable to pick up a win during the four-game stretch.

On July 2, the Senior squad faced off against Chadron, and after an emotional ceremony honoring the memory of Tyson Herrera, Dante Peterson took the mound to start the game. An infield error allowed Chadron to score a run in the first inning, and the Sidney bats went silent to start the game and stayed quiet throughout the contest.

Chadron added three runs in the third and two in the third to hold a 6-to-1 lead at the end of the fourth inning. Chadron added two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to win the game by a final of 10-to-1. Sidney managed only two hits and committed six errors in the loss.

Sidney tried to rebound on Wednesday and traveled to Chappell to take on the Buckley Bombers, and hopefully earn a win against a team they can't manage to beat. The Seniors started well, scoring a run in the first inning when Zach Holtz was able to score on an error at third base. But again, the Sidney bats fell silent as the second inning ended with Sidney side going down in order via strikeout, then four straight innings where the Seniors managed only two hits and two walks.

Buckley supplied all of the offense they needed in the third inning as they scored three runs off of a double, a single, a triple, then two Sidney errors to give the home team a 3-to-1 lead which held up to be the final score of the game.

Izaak Glanz pitched six innings and gave up three runs on five hits in the loss.

Sidney traveled to Scottsbluff for weekend tournament action, and faced the WESTCO Zephyrs Friday night, and quickly fell behind as the Zephyrs put up four runs in the first inning against starter Jackson Witt. Nothing went the seniors way in the first as the Zephyrs capitalized on errors and used timely hits to build up a lead that Sidney never challenged.

After scoring four more runs in the bottom of the third inning, the Sidney squad had to score in their half of the fifth to keep the game from ending via run-rule. But the Seniors went down in order in their last chance to keep the game alive, and fell to the Zephyrs by a final score of 8-to-0. Grant Campbell had the lone hit for Sidney in the loss.

In their final game of the tournament, Sidney faced the Rapid City Post 320 Stars, and battled hard to keep the game close at 1-to-1 at the end of three innings. Starter Kyler Lenzen was able to pitch around trouble in the first three innings to keep the game close, but his luck ran out in the fourth inning as a double, a single, then a triple led to two runs for the Stars and gave them a 3-to-1 lead.

Sidney was unable to get any traction on offense, and the Rapid City squad hit their groove and scored three more runs in the fifth inning. That was followed by another run in the sixth, then five more in the seventh while Sidney was unable to get any runners on base in the final two innings. The game ended in a 12-to-1 victory for Rapid City. Lenzen pitched four innings in the loss, giving up four earned runs off of eight hits.