Majors team evens record at 3-3, hosts Thermop today
A 7-3 win over Otto on Tuesday, May 21 sent Greybull’s Big Horn Federal majors team into the Memorial Day weekend with a 3-3 record.
The team of 11- and 12-year olds consists of Katie Bertolini, Noah Blakeley, Marshall Brown, Colt Collingwood, Brendyn DeShazer, Tanner Dunlap, Jayden Fielding, Irving Gallegos, Kayson Herebia, Wyatt Kunkel, Jack Olmstead, Giana Rodriguez, Xiomara Rodriguez and Will Winkler.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids who haven’t played a lot of baseball and they’ve really improved dramatically — I’d say even more than I expected,” said Brett Patterson, who manages the team. “I was expecting the improvement to come later in the season, but they’re going above and beyond.”
In their win over the Rattlers, Dunlap delivered the big blow, which came in the form of an inside-the-park grand slam.
It was the Bandits’ second win of the season over Otto, with the first coming May 11 by a score of 7-4. The Bandits are 1-1 against the Lovell Pirates, but dropped both games to the Lovell Rockies.
Patterson said he likes his pitching staff, which to this point in the seasos has been led by DeShazer, Olmstead, Kunkel and Collingwood. It is a deeper staff than he deployed last year. But for the team to reach its goals, it must improve in the field, he said.
“Our bats are doing well,” he said. “When we put everything together, we’ll be a force.”
The Bandits are scheduled to host a doubleheader with Thermopolis tonight (Thursday, May 3) at the Art Schutte Sports Complex. Game times are 6:30 and 8 p.m.