Laramie All-Stars Ready For The Little League State Tournament

Two Laramie All-Star baseball teams will take a shot at winning a Little League Baseball State Championship Wednesday through Saturday in Torrington.

The Laramie Minors and Majors All-Stars begin four days of action and are both part of four-team, double-elimination brackets.

The Minors All-Stars are the defending state champions. They won the 2018 title in Powell.

Manager Matt Lehning admitted he hasn’t talked to the team about being the defending champs.

“At the start of the year, one of the boys actually mentioned something, and I don’t even know if over half the team even knew it. We’re just going to go and try to play our baseball.”

Laramie faces Rock Springs in their first game at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The other first-round game is Torrington versus Cody at 7:30 p.m.

Coming off a dominant District Tournament, Lehning feels the key still lies on the mound.

“I think it’s going to come down to pitching again. I actually really do.”

Lehning likes his squads’ depth on the mound, as he said there were a couple of pitchers that didn’t even get a chance to throw at the District Tournament.

The Minors team roster includes Jackson Bailey, Maddox Dorrell, Teagan Terry, Brock Lehning, Porter Stender, Jaymes Bailey, Jaxon Gosar, Francisco Blanco, Quade Gill, Jax McClean, Dax Parvin, Jackson Rehor, and Caden Hardesty.

The Laramie Majors All-Stars are coming off a runner-up performance at the District Tournament last week in Laramie. They also begin play today at 3 p.m. Their first-round opponent is Big Horn.

Manager Nate Hoyt said as for adjustments going to state, he feels a little more aggressiveness at the plate will be key.

“We’re gonna see some really tough pitching, similar to what we saw against the Gillette-team for two games (in the District Tournament). I saw a much better approach on our second game (versus Gillette), and I look to continue that progression and be aggressive at the plate.”

The last title won by Laramie was in 2016.

Hoyt believes they’ve got a team that can accomplish a goal of winning state, and felt they weren’t that far off during last week’s action.

“I think if we can continue the track that we’re on, solid pitching, we don’t make very many errors, and if we just put the bat on the ball a few more times against solid pitching, we’re in an excellent spot.”

The players on the Majors roster includes Brayden McKinney, Diego Herrera, Sam Hoyt, Fisher Frude, Grant Vigen, Trace Looney, Max Alexander, Erik Jacobson, Carson Moniz, TR Richardson, James Vasek, and William Ahrens.