Busy week for the Otto Rattlers

The Rattlers hit the road this week with games in Greybull on Tuesday for the minors and majors and all three levels in Thermopolis on Thursday. 

The Babe Ruth game was a rematch from the week before when Thermopolis topped the Rattlers 9-7. This time, the final score was tied 7-7.

The first inning saw Will Hatch and Taft Winters getting walked and stealing around to score and Hatch striking out two. The second inning was scoreless for both teams with Hatch fielding the ball for a force out at first and striking out the next two batters. 

T. Winters and Reece Allen both walked in the third inning and advanced to score and Matthew Tempany got a base hit to right field and later scored. The Rattlers were scoreless in the fourth inning and held Thermopolis to just one run in both the third and fourth. Tempany had another base hit to center field and later scored on an RBI from Kimber Allen. 

Kellen Winters got out two runners in the fifth inning with throwdowns to K. Allen at third and Tempany at second base and an easy tag out at second from T. Winters. Thermopolis scored two and scored one more in the final inning. On the Rattler side, Toby McNulty was driven in by a triple from T. Winters that landed at the base of the fence before the game ended. 

MAJORS

The Majors lost to Greybull, 13-2. Greybull racked up the runs, scoring six in the first inning and three in the second inning, with all of the outs coming from Nicholas Worthen on the mound with six strikeouts. “We are still struggling with getting outs in the field,” said Coach Janalee Call. “We don’t make major mistakes but just don’t get clean fielding with good throws to get the out at first especially.” 

Porter Aagard took over the mound in the fourth inning and had two strikeouts but Greybull continued to score and put four more on the board. 

The Rattlers were scoreless until the fourth inning when Worthen got a base hit and Case Nicholson was walked and they both stole around and scored. Tilly Neves, Jaxon Buck, Aagard and Raiden Andrew all had solid hits to get on base throughout the game but got stranded on base. “Our batting has been improving and we are working on powering through a hit ball, so we can get it out of the infield,” said Call.

Otto struggled again against Thermopolis and lost, 12-1. Bret Winters started on the mound and struck out two batters in the first and second innings and Thermopolis scored seven runs in the first and three runs in the second. “Our pitchers are doing their jobs, but as we have been plagued all season, the fielders couldn’t support their pitcher by making the plays and getting the outs,” said Call. 

Aagard took over for the final inning and struck out one and Buck fielded two other hits and threw to first for the force outs. 

The Rattlers sole run of the game came from Nicholson, who walked and stole around to score. 

MINORS

In the minors game against Greybull, the Rattlers held a commanding lead throughout and won 13-2. Kobe Winters started on the mound with Tuck Neves behind the plate. Winters struck out three in the first inning and two more in the second. 

The Rattlers were strong at bat with a double by Tuck Neves that led to runs from K. Winters and Vanessa Winters. B. Winters had a home run and Andrew had a solid hit to left field that drove in Brigham Winters and Jax Morgan and the first inning ended due to the run limit.

The second inning was also called due to the run limit when Davin Buck and K. Winters scored after being walked, Gage Tolman got a base hit and advanced around to score, V. Winters and T. Neves walked and scored. Andrew and Cruz Allen scored in the third inning and with T. Neves at the mound, he struck out one and the infield got the final two outs but not before Greybull ran in two. 

The minors lost to Thermopolis, 4-3. K. Winters was the sole run in the first inning and Andrew started on the mound for the Rattlers and Thermopolis scored three. In the second inning, Andrew was the single scorer for Otto and both Andrew and C. Allen caught pop flys to hold Thermopolis’ runs to just one. Cort Pickinpaugh scored for the Rattlers and K. Winters took over the mound in the third inning and struck out two and Otto held Thermopolis scoreless. 

The Babe Ruth team played in Riverton on Wednesday and the minors and majors will play Greybull in Otto Thursday night at 5:30 and 7 p.m.