Worland 13U Baseball closes out best season yet

WORLAND - The 2018 baseball season turned out to be the best season to date for the Worland 13U Baseball team. Not only did the team take excellent, and at times jaw-dropping, strides forward, they also accomplished quite a bit and played their best baseball of the season during their final four weeks.

Worland's impressive run started during the Rocky Mountain School of Baseball Firecracker 24-team tournament on June 29-July 2, in Heber City, Utah. A year after several humbling losses at the same tournament and not even making the championship round, Worland showed how much their play has improved by winning their group and advancing to the championship round.

"That tournament went really well. The goal was to make the championship round and we did just that. It was a good competition and we played very tough teams. It's one of the biggest tournaments that Rocky Mountain Baseball holds," said Worland Baseball coach Jerry Leyva.

In the championship round, Worland faced the SS Shock for a shot to move on to the semifinals. Worland tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning. Their defense held in the bottom of the sixth to force the game into extra innings.

The Firecracker tournament used international rules in extra innings, which gives the team at bat a runner on second base to start the inning. Worland's Jorey Anderson started on second and made his way to third with no outs. Unfortunately, the Worland bats went cold and Anderson was left stranded.

The Shock, however, did not leave a runner stranded as they were able to win the game with a walk-off bunt. The Shock also went on to win the Firecracker tournament championship.

"It was a tough loss but those are the games that you just love to play," said Leyva. "One thing about that tournament to me, it was every bit like a high school tournament. All the teams were very competitive, the fans for each team were getting into it and if you saw a game for the first time you'd thought that it was a high school game, not a 13U team. That's just how well played those games were and I was proud of our team for responding to that."

Leyva also said after their game with the SS Shock, parents and fans of the Shock sought out the Worland players and parents to congratulate them on their play. "What was neat, all their fans came up to our parents and players and told them Worland was the best team they've played all year. It was a huge compliment after a tough loss."

After the Firecracker tournament, Worland's next tournament was in Gillette on July 13-15. There Worland made it to the championship game and in a matchup between high-powered offenses, Worland fell, 9-8, to the Rapid City Golden Spikes.

As disappointing as it was losing to the Golden Spike in the championship, Worland once again received high praise an observer, but this time it was from a rival coach.

"After the tournament, the coach from Gillette asked if he could say a few words to our team. We let him, and he told our boys he's been watching them for the last few years and that they're talented and they're going to go places in the coming years. He totally lifted them up. We've been getting super nice compliments everywhere we go and Worland's getting recognized as a baseball team," said Leyva.

Added Leyva, "Mary [Leyva] put it out there that we're putting Worland Baseball on the map."

Along with making the championship, highlights for Worland included downing both Triple Play Billings ball clubs, the Vipers and Flyers, two teams that got the best of Worland earlier during the summer.

"Beating the Billings Flyers and Billings Vipers. Beating those two teams was like winning the championship," said Leyva.

For their final tournament of the season, Worland traveled to Salt Lake City to play in the Salt Lake City Classic on Aug. 3-4. There they teamed up with the Casper Outlaws and a few Gillette players to form the Wyoming Outlaws team.

The Outlaws saved their best for last as they stormed through the Classic on their way to winning the tournament.

"That was a good tournament and a good way to end the season," said Leyva.

The Outlaws rolled through their competition, outscoring their opponents 52-21 for the tournament, which included a 6-1 win over the Provo Cache Wolverines Blue team in the championship.

"Our bats came alive and something clicked. We scored 52 runs in two days in Salt Lake. We were rolling and I was on cloud nine. They were hitting so well. You heard it around the complex there, people asking if they saw those Wyoming boys and how well they hit the ball," said Leyva.

Scoring 52 runs over five games there's bound to be many impressive performances, but it was Isaiah Leyva's dominant outing in the championship that stood out the most.

"He's our youngest player on the team and he was bugging me all weekend long about pitching. So when I told him he was going to pitch in the championship, his eyes got big.

"It was the best game I've seen him pitch, he went all seven innings and going into the seventh he had a three-hit, shutout. He got the game ball and he was just dialed in. I about pulled him out to put in one of our closers but we coaches decided to let him finish. It was funny he thought I was going pull him and he kept waving me off," said Leyva.

Ending on such a high note, the expectations for next season will be high, even though the team is moving up an age bracket and onto the American Legion field. Moving up will bring its challenges but Leyva is confident with the excellent leadership from Anderson and Landon Gilmore this team will find the means to succeed.

Leyva believes the greatest strength to this team is their unity and chemistry. Mistakes aren't met with screaming and criticizing words, instead, players will rally around their teammate and pick them up.

"They're playing team ball and they're playing well together. That's the biggest thing whether it's a mistake in the field or strikeout, they're picking each other up. Jorey is a leader and does a lot of the talking and getting guys over their mistakes. Landen too is a leader and he and Jorey have been great leaders for us. When those two are clicking the whole team gets a pickup," said Leyva.

Leyva also wanted to thank the parents and fans who have gone above and beyond in helping the team.

"Our parents are amazing. There's nothing they won't do to get everyone to the tournament. It's a lot of hard work all summer long but it's worth it," said Leyva.