Oregon blanks Laramie Little Leaguers

By Wyoming Sports.org

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- The Laramie Little League All-Stars drive to the Northwest Regional title game was derailed by Murrayhill Little League of Beaverton, Ore., on Thursday.

The Oregon squad used three home runs, including two by catcher Reza Aleaziz, and two-hit pitching by Connor Shaw to blank Laramie 6-0.

The Wyoming team finished 3-2 in the tournament and unofficially in third place. The three wins in pool play were the most ever by a Laramie team and it was the first time it made the semifinals since the 2001 tournament.

“We really would have liked to have won this game today and advance to the finals, but it is a pretty scrappy bunch that we have,” Laramie manager Ron Harding said. “We came from behind in every game, the three games that we won. I’m just so proud of them to the end. They are a great bunch of kids.”

The game was in stark contrast from the first time the two teams met in pool play when Oregon rolled to a 25-14 victory. Shaw was too much for Laramie, as he walked just two batters and struck out six.

Oregon got on the board in the second inning with a solo home run by Aleaziz. Beaverton then put the game away with four runs in the third inning. Chandler Whitney got things going with a solo home run and Aleaziz hit his second blast of the game, this time a three-run shot off of Brian Lopez over the left-field fence to give Oregon a 5-0 lead with two outs in the third. Daylan McWhorter then came on in relief.

Oregon's Ryan Dueker, running for Shaw, scored on a wild pitch to boost Oregon's lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth. McWhorter, who got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, stranded to Oregon runners to end the inning.

Oregon, which fell to Washington 18-1 on Wednesday, will now advance to Saturday’s title game that will be tape-delayed on Saturday at 10 p.m. Washington, the top seed from pool play, thumped Montana 15-1 on Thursday night.

“Hats off to Oregon, they are a great team” Harding said. “I’m sure they will have their ace ready to go. Obviously, Washington is a very good team as well. I see this game as a slugfest. But I think they (Oregon) have a chance. Anything can happen in this crazy game.”

Although the Laramie All-Stars were shut out on Thursday, they scored 46 runs in the four pool games and added 57 runs in the five wins at the Wyoming State Tournament. Offense was the name of the game for much of post-season play for Laramie.

“We knew we had some big kids and we knew e had a good offense going into the state tournament,” Harding said. “We knew on the other hand that our pitching was a little weak, so we worked hard on our batting and our defense. Typically, Laramie teams are solid on defense. We came here with the thought that we would have to score some runs to beat these teams. I think we did that. It was very satisfying.”

Laramie came into this tournament on an eight-game regional losing skid. Harding hopes this performance gives the younger players some confidence for the future.

“Our 10-year-olds won our state tournament this year as well, and I think they can be a force in a couple of years,” Harding said. “I think, what it does for the younger kids, it lets them know that we can come up here and compete at this level.”