Wildfires show heart for Father's Day tourney

WORLAND - The Worland Wildfires 14U and 10U fast-pitch softball teams hosted Lander and Riverton for a three team round-robin tournament on Father's Day.

The 14U Wildfires dropped both games to Lander and Riverton. Against Riverton, the Wildfires had a bad defensive inning that gave their opponents an 8-0 lead. Worland chipped away at Riverton's lead on offense while battening down the hatches on defense, unfortunately, the comeback effort came up short. The time limit for the game had been reached and the girls lost 9-8.

The Wildfires went against Lander's 16U team for the final game of the day and a few mistakes led to the 4-0 defeat. Even in the loss the girls played with heart, determination and never lost the faith that they could pull out the win against an older and more experienced team.

The 10U Wildfires also lost their two games against Lander, 18-10, and Riverton, 16-13. Just like the older team, the 10U team battled and played hard until the final inning.

Coach Dave Coronado was pleased with the effort both teams showed on Sunday, "Each team played hard, we didn't have the results we wanted, but the girls gave it their all and got better. The girls are improving and overall we felt good about how the teams did."

"It was a good day, the girls had fun and talking with the coaches from Lander and Riverton their teams also enjoyed themselves," said coach Coronado.

Speaking about Riverton and Lander coach Coronado praised both teams, "We've played them before and they're excellent teams. When you can play quality teams like these two it is going to make your team better in the long run."

These were also the first home games of the season for the Wildfires and coach Coronado thought it gave the girls a boost, "First off it was just nice to be home for once and not worry about traveling. Some of the girls were a little nervous playing in front of a larger group of family and friends. After a while though they settled down and you could see they enjoyed playing in front of the home crowd."

Sunday's games were the 20th and 21st games played this season for the Wildfires, which is the most games played in the program's history. "Having played 21 games so far is excellent. Usually we're playing 10 to 12 games plus state in a single season. It's been great for the girls and they've gotten better with each game," said coach Coronado.

Next up for the Wildfires will be a free weekend, followed by Riverton city league games on Tuesday.