Worland goes undefeated in first full week of action

WORLAND - Last week was a strong week for the Worland Baseball 14U team as they did not drop a single game. First was their home doubleheader against Cody on June 4 in which they won 8-4 and 21-1. Closing out the week Worland traveled to Powell for a American Legion C tournament where they battled through tough weather to go a perfect 4-0.

"The weather was horrible, we lucked out for most of Friday but Saturday it felt like winter," said Worland Baseball 14U coach Jerry Leyva. "All in all it was a good tournament, we had a lot of fun. We got to work on things we haven't been able to work on. Saturday, I put in a couple guys in to pitch, to see what they could do. And they did well and that's going to be big for us down the road."

In Powell, Worland beat Powell 13-1, Greybull 5-3, Billings Triple Play 8-3 and Douglas 11-1.

One of Worland's biggest advantages throughout the tournament was their arms. Legion rules state that if a player throws more than 30 pitches, said player has to rest for 24 hours before stepping back on the mound. Anything over 50 pitches and the player has to wait 48 hours before they can throw again.

While most teams anywhere from two to three reliable arms, Worland has an embarrassment of riches that allows Leyva to rotate his pitchers without an big drop-off from one arm to the next.

"After 30 pitches you have to rest for a day, after 50 you have to rest for two days. Talking with some of the coaches, they were saying they have nothing left.

"Thankfully, we have a deep pitching rotation. I went Jerry [Leyva Jr.] for 30, Landen [Gilmore] for 30, Isiah [Leyva] for 30, Jorey [Anderson] for 30 and the others for 30. That way we can still have them for the next day. Our pitchers are what did it for us because we have plenty to work with," said Leyva

The bats for Worland were much better last week than in their May 29, 8-3 win over Lovell in Worland. Leyva saw better discipline from his hitters but even though they outscored teams by a combined 66-13 for the week, there's still room for improvement.

One area Leyva wants to see his team improve is making faster adjustments from pitcher to pitcher.

"Our bats came through and did better than they did last week. We're still working hitting a good fastball and then when the other team puts in another pitcher, we've got to get better at adjusting to that new arm.

"Getting those adjustments down at the plate is something we've always been working on," said Leyva. "Sitting back and waiting is still one of the toughest things for us. And now they're starting to see the off-speed pitches, the curveballs and other pitches."

For Worland's games this week, the focus, of course, is to keep developing at the plate and defensively, they just need to stay the course. To date, their defense has been outstanding, which Leyva is very proud of his team's effort. Players are making the plays they need to make and the hustle on each play is where it needs to be.

"Our defense is solid, we made every play in the field and our outfielders are tough. They make the plays they need to and back up every throw. Our defense is there, we just need to be more consistent with our bats," said Leyva. "We scored enough runs in Powell but we can be better with our bats. We put up quite a few runs in Powell we've just got to be quicker at making those adjustments from one pitcher to the next."