Sidney 4th at Memorial Tournament

The Sidney American Legion Post 17 Senior team broke through on Saturday morning for their first win of the season, and dropped the third place game against Cheyenne Sunday afternoon to earn fourth place honors in the 2nd Annual Tyson Herrera Memorial Tournament in Sidney over the weekend. The Prairie View team defeated the Buckley “A” team in the championship game, 8-to-0, to take the tournament trophy.

The Sidney Seniors had a game against Platte Valley Companies team in Gering on Wednesday, June 1, prior to the tournament, and were again unable to gain much traction against their northern rivals. Dalton Wiese started the game for the PVC team on the mound, and after giving up a walk to Austin Wolf and a single to Rhyder Bane, the PVC hurler recovered and struck out the next three batters to end the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Sidney starter Patrick McCartney got into trouble early, giving up a single and double to start the inning, then giving up another double and hitting a batter. After giving up another batter and and a passed ball at home, the PVC team was up 5-to-0 at the end of the first inning.

That would be all the offense the Gering team would need, as both teams offenses could not muster any more scoring until Gering tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fifth, ending the game in an 8-to-0 defeat for the Sidney seniors. Rhyder Bane and Austin Wolf each had a single for Sidney, while Ty Stettner notched four strikeouts in relief.

Sidney again took the field Friday evening in their first game of the Tyson Herrera Tournament at Legion Field against the Buckley “A” team. Sidney’s Micah Schneider started on the mound for the Seinors, and was able to retire the side in the first while Sidney notched a run in their half of the frame to get an early lead. Schneider used his good fastball to pitch out of trouble, leaving two runners on board. After Blaine Russell led off for Sidney with a double, the Seniors were unable to plate the run, and went to the third inning leading 1-to-0. At the top of the third, lightning and light rain caused about an hour delay, and when play resumed, Schneider walked the first batter he faced on four pitches. Schneider bore down and re-focused, and was able to strike out the next to batters with fastballs with good movement, then induced a fly out to left field to end the inning. Sidney was then retired in order in the bottom of the third inning.

After a lead off single to center field and advancing to third on a steal and passed ball, Buckley’s Nolan Hofrock lined a single to score the run and tie the game at 1-to-1. Schneider was able to recover and after a fielder’s choice for the first out, he struck out the next two batters. The first went down looking on a nasty curveball that hit the corner followed by another strikeout looking at Schneider’s fastball. Sidney notched another run in their half of the inning on a Schneider single and RBI, and took the lead, 2-to-1.

Sidney ran into trouble in the top of the fifth, when a lead off single was almost converted into a double play, then an error at first base opened up the scoring for Buckley. A triple was then blasted in the gap between center and right field, scoring two runs and giving Buckley a 3-to-2 lead. Sidney looked like it would get out of the inning without any more damage, but a slow roller went up the first base line, and Schneider tracked the ball hoping it would roll foul, but as it stayed in play he picked it up and threw to first baseman Ty Stettner. But the hurried throw was low, and Stettner couldn’t handle it, scoring the runner from third. Schneider struck out the next batter to end the inning, but the Bombers now had a 4-to-2 lead. Sidney was able to scratch out one more run, but fell to the Buckley team 4-to-3.

On Saturday morning, Sidney’s Blaine Russell took the mound against the Brush, Co., team, and after giving up a double, the next batter reached first on an error, but the runner on second tried to score and was thrown out at the plate, with catcher Zech Roggasch securing the throw and making the tag to get the Seniors out of the inning. Sidney was able to get on the board in the bottom of the second inning, with their batters patiently working out walks to load the bases. Rhyder Bane then laced a single to drive in two runs. Sidney was looking to cash in more runs, but a line drive by Roggasch was caught by the shortstop who was able to double up the runner at second to get out of the inning. After getting the first two outs in the third, Russell hit a batter who then stole second base. Russell’s attention wandered for a moment, and the runner took off for third and was safe. The runner was able score on a passed ball to cut the Sidney lead to 2-to-1.

Sidney struck back in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a single, a walk and a hit batsmen to plate two runs and increase their lead to 4-to-1. Buckley used three singles and a triple to score two runs in the fifth, and were poised to add more when Roggasch was able to throw out a runner stealing third to end the inning. Neither team was able to score again, and Russell did a superb job of varying his pitches and bearing down and getting out of trouble in the final innings. Russell set the Buckley batters down in order in the seventh inning to end the game in a 4-to-3 victory. Russell pitched a complete game, striking out 10 batters and scoring a run in the victory.

Sidney moved on to the third-place game on Sunday against Cheyenne, and Ty Stettner started on the mound for the Seniors. The Cheyenne team’s bats were hot to start the game, leading off the contest with a single and a double. Stettner’s fastball was working well when he located it high and inside in the strike zone, but two runners were able to score before a runner was caught in a run down for the third out, giving Cheyenne an early 2-to-0 lead. Stettner struggled with his control in the second inning, and walks and a hit batter scored a run. Stettner was replaced by Patrick McCartney, and McCartney hit the first batter he faced. Sidney was able to get out of the inning when a passed ball cause the Cheyenne runner on third to try to score, and was thrown out at home to end the inning. But the Cheyenne team extended their lead to 6-to-0. Sidney was able to claw back as the game progressed, with Roggasch scoring twice and Sawyer Dickman, in his first action of the year also scoring twice but Cheyenne added two more runs on a double to pull away for the 8-to-5 victory. Cheyenne earned third place for the weekend’s tournament, with Sidney placing fourth out of the field of six.

Sidney next hosts Bridgeport in junior/senior double header at Legion Field on Tuesday.