Otto Rattlers baseball hits last week of the season

Otto’s Rattlers have been hard at work as they head into the final stretches of the season. The Minors played in Lovell against the Cubs and then in Otto against Thermopolis. Otto lost to Lovell, but connected with the ball and saw good things on offense. In the first inning, Hyrum Hancock and Jace Winters got base hits and scored, Cruz Allen and Vanessa Winters scored after being walked and Milo Neves got a base hit but was stranded on second base. The second inning saw scores from Charity Ball and another from Hancock, who got a base hit. 

Hancock pitched the first inning with Luke Worthen taking over in the second inning and Neves in the third inning. The final score was 6-9. 

The Minors took another loss against Thermopolis but were strong again in the field and from the plate. Hancock scored after being walked, Allen got an RBI from his base hit and drove in V. Winters who had gotten a base hit of her own. “This was Vanessa’s first hit of the season,” said Coach Janalee Call. “I was so proud of her. She has practiced a lot at home to improve, and it is showing in the games.” 

Beau Davidson, L. Worthen and Logan Worthen all scored after being walked. Hancock pitched the first inning, V. Winters the second, Lu. Worthen the third and Adalyn Winters the fourth. “In the third inning, we got a triple play. Leah caught a pop up at first base with runners on second and third. Thermopolis runners hadn’t tagged up, so she threw the ball to Hyrum at second and got the out. Hyrum knew that third hadn’t tagged up either, but no one was at third to throw the ball to, so he ran to third and got the third out. It was exciting and highly unusual for Minors to get a triple play. The fourth inning had Adalyn pitching to her sister Vanessa at catcher. They had practiced at home and asked if they could work as a team in a game.” 

The Majors had two games last week, playing Thermopolis at home on Thursday and Greybull on the road on Friday. The Rattlers were connecting well with the ball and had Allen, V. Winters and Lu. Worthen got base hits, with Allen and V. Winters scoring. Kobe Winters made it to first on a third strike, dropped rule and eventually scored. 

Otto didn’t see any runs in the second inning but came back in the third inning in a big way. Arthur Nicholson, Allen and Hancock walked and were on base when K. Winters hit a home run and earned a Grand Slam. Zaiden Buck walked and stole home to score. In the fourth inning, Nicholson walked and stole around to score. Brigham Winters started from the mound and Jax Morgan closed out the fourth inning and the final score was 9-13.

Friday started out slow for the Rattlers in Greybull with no runs until the third inning. Gage Tolman, Kebler, Hancock and Allen all walked and eventually scored. Morgan got a base hit and scored. K. Winters and B. Winters got base hits but were left on base. In the fifth inning, V. Winters was on base when her brother K. Winters drove her in again with an in the park home run. No other runs were made in the 6th inning, but the previous runs were enough. The Rattlers topped Greybull 7-3.

“Kobe pitched four solid innings. He had six strikeouts, but the field supported him well with getting the other outs. He allowed one run in the fourth. Arthur pitched the fifth. This was his second time on the mound and the first full inning that he has pitched. He had one strike out. Curz pitched the sixth and had one strike out and allowed two runs.

“I was very proud of my team. This win was such a team effort! Gage, Leah, Kobe and Raiden all caught pop flies. Vanessa at second, fielded two grounders and got an out at second and at first. Brigham fielded a ball and got the force at first. He also got a tag out at second when the runner had stolen second safely, but Brigham held the tag on him and the runner decided to switch which foot was on the bag while Brigham still had the ball. The runner was called out. It was great to see such smart baseball and such teamwork!” said Call.