11U Worland Baseball has an up and down first day at regional tournament

MERIDIAN - The 11U Worland Baseball opened the Cal Ripken Regional Tournament on the wrong foot, losing to Willamette Valley 23-0.

In the first inning alone Worland gave up 11 runs due to three errors. After that onslaught the team could not rebound and the game was over in the third inning.

Worland manager Jerry Leyva didn't hide the fact his team played poorly but found a way to motivate the boys for their next game against Langley. "We gave them about 10 outs in the first inning, missed a lot of routine plays and they took it to us," said manager Leyva. "But after the game we told our boys to forget about this game and move on to the next one. It's over so we need to move on, regroup and play tough in the next one. At this level there's nothing weak about any of these teams."

During the talk after the game, manager Leyva liked the relit fire he saw in the team. "We asked them if we were done for the weekend after one game or are we going to dig down deep and fight for the remainder of the tournament? They got fired up when they said they were going to keep fighting and it is exactly what you want to see from your team after a loss like that," said Leyva.

Worland's final game on Thursday would be against Langley. While the team played better than in their first game, Langley defeated Worland 5-2.

After Worland's game against Langley, the team watched the Boise Hawks who are a minor league affiliate for the Seattle Mariners, play against the Spokane Indians. The team was gifted the tickets through Worland's Mark Osbon, whose son Matt is a trainer for the Hawks.

Worland's next games will be today against Whatcom Americans at 10:30 a.m. and Middleton at 6:00 p.m.