All-Star teams finish seasons

The Green River All-Star Little League baseball teams finished their seasons at districts and state tournaments.

Juniors

According to Majors coach Nathaniel Liebelt, the Junior All-Star team, was in Riverton two weeks ago playing at state. The team, which consists of 13 and 14-year-old boys needed to finish in first or second place to make it to nationals.

They started off by winning their first game against Riverton Wednesday, but lost their second game to Lander on Thursday. Friday they were once again playing Riverton to see who would advance to the final games against Lander and lost.

"They struggled with hitting and made a few critical errors on the games they lost, but gave it their all," assistant coach Strat Friel said.

Since Lander hadn't lost a single game, Riverton had to play against Lander in a double header Saturday.

"They are done playing for the year," Friel said. "The kids were really great sports through the wins and losses. The umpires commented on how tough they played and how well they conducted themselves."

Players on the All-Star team are selected by their regular-season coaches for the special team. Liebelt said all the team has been practicing for the past month by scrimmaging against other teams to prepare for districts and state.

"I'm very proud of the team. They were a fun team to coach and really jelled as a team over the few weeks we practiced," Friel said. "They worked hard, learned a lot, had great attitudes, and really worked well together as a team."

Majors

Liebelt said the team recently attended districts in Riverton and they did not advance to state. They came home with a sixth-place finish and were 1-3 in the conference.

On Wednesday, they played Riverton and lost, 14-4.

"We jumped out to an early lead, leading 4-1 in the third inning, against a very tough team playing on their field," Liebelt said. "Riverton's bats woke up in the bottom of the third with a home run to tie the game and then continued to build a lead from there."

On Thursday, the team played Powell. In this game, the team fell behind in the first inning, but battled back in the fourth inning and played some great defense for the last three innings to hold onto the lead and win, 8-6.  

On Friday, the team played against Rock Springs and 14-0.

"Rock Springs came into this game fired up and hit the absolute snot out of the baseball," Liebelt said. "We fell behind in the first and could never recover."

"Rock Springs pitching was outstanding and held us to only one hit in the game," he said. "Losing this game officially eliminated us from going to state."

On Saturday, the team played Powell in the consolation round and lost 17-2.

"They played outstanding defense and we could never get anything going," he said.

The majors is comprised of 11 and 12-year-old boys, who are selected by their regular-season coaches for the teams.

"They're a great group of kids," Leibelt said. "I've coached them since they were nine."

"The team was definitely disappointed in how things ended up," Leibelt said. "They all played hard for each other, never gave up hope, and never stopped fighting to get back into the games regardless of the score, but I know they all are aware of plays or at-bats that could have gone better, myself included."

"I have always harped on playing and respecting the game properly and these boys have 100 percent taken that to heart and have surpassed any expectations I may have had in regards to that," he said. "They were as gracious in defeat as they were in victory and it showed to everyone that watched them step onto the field." 

Minors

The Minors team consists of 9 and 10-year-old boys, who are selected by their regular-season coaches for the teams. This team also went to districts last week in Riverton and finished fourth overall.

Coach Kelly Anderson said because only two teams can advance to state, they didn't make it.

On Wednesday, the team opened the tournament by playing Lander.

"We had a very slow start and seemed quite nervous. We battled hard, but lost in a 11-1 game," Anderson said.

On Thursday, the team played Riverton and lost in a close one 12-11.

"We again fell behind by eight runs in the first, but scored four runs in the bottom of the first to be down 8-4," Anderson said.

Riverton struck again going up 10-4, but the team would not give up and rallied over the next few innings to tie the game at the end of regular innings.

The game went one extra inning and the team came out on top.

On Friday the team played against Bridger and won and on Saturday they lost to Rock Springs.

"Our kids and parents are awesome," Anderson said. "They were a family and one team throughout the tournament."