A series to share #smiles across our community through the achievements of our local youth, brought to you by Olsen Orthodontics.
(Cowley, WY) – Out of 19 Legion C teams in Wyoming, the Post 33 Lander 15u Legion baseball team finished a respectable third place Sunday at the Legion C State Tournament held in Cowley.
Lander started the double-elimination tournament strong with a dominating 7-1 victory over Gillette. Starting pitcher William Oland was efficient, throwing only 75 pitches in 7 innings, and lead-off batter Grady Eagle led the team with three hits.
Game two had Lander facing Cheyenne. Lander jumped out to a 3-0 lead and kept their foot on the gas. Cheyenne did take a late 9-8 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Lander rallied with three runs in the 7th started by a spectacular diving slide into home by Pruitt Weaver and a key double by Gage Toups to beat Cheyenne 11-9 in the seventh inning.
The third game brought Lander and Laramie to the diamond, but due to an intense thunderstorm the game was delayed until Sunday morning. In the rain-delayed game, Grady Phillips pitched 4 innings and struck out 7, only allowing 3 hits. Isaac Oland pitched two innings in relief giving up one hit. Gage Toups had a key 2 RBI double, and Lander out-hit Laramie 9 hits to 4. But in the end, Laramie was able to scramble together 5 runs and come out on top of Lander 5-4.
With only one loss each, Cheyenne and Lander met again right after the Legends’ loss to Laramie. The Legends had Cheyenne on the ropes after taking an early 3-0 lead but couldn’t hang on even after tying the game 9-9 in the bottom of the 6th inning, and eventually losing 17-9. 
Head Coach Brian Oland was positive after the losses. “I’m very proud of this team, they have really come a long way. We played every team tough in this tournament and had chances to win. The kids had to keep battling through adversity and difficult situations. I’m excited to see what we can do next year knowing we were able to hang with, and beat, the bigger programs in the state.”
The Post 14 Laramie Rangers won the State Title Monday morning over the Post 6 Cheyenne team 10-7.
