Laramie All-Stars beat Montana

by Wyoming Sports.org

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- The Laramie Little League All-Stars moved to 2-1 in pool play in the Northwest Regional Tournament with an exciting 13-11 win over Boulder-Arrowhead Little League of Billings, Mont., Monday morning at Al Houghton Stadium.

It was a big come-from-behind win for the Laramie All-Stars, who in turn had to hold off a late furious rally by the Billings team. Laramie trailed 7-4 going into the top of the fifth, but sent the game into extra innings on a three-run home run by Daylan McWhorter, who blasted three round trippers in the game.

Laramie then scored six runs on eight hits in the sixth inning for what looked like a comfortable six-run lead. It was anything but comfortable as Billings came back with four runs after two outs and had runners on first and second when Laramie left-fielder Drew Burman made a diving catch on a line drive to end the game.

McWhorter had a monster game at the plate, with three home runs and six RBI. There were eight home runs in the game -- five by Billings. In that big sixth inning for Laramie, Robbie Harding and McWhorter had RBI singles, with Dylan Lopez and Burman adding RBI doubles. Laramie also scored two runs on wild pitches.

Laramie has likely clinched a spot in Thursday's semifinals with the win. Laramie faces winless Alaska on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in its final pool play game. Montana fell to 1-2 in the tournament and also faces Alaska in its final pool game. Washington and Oregon are both 2-0. The top four teams qualify for the semifinals, with the winners playing in the nationally-televised title game on Saturday. The winner of that game moves on to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.