Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sidney's Zack Means takes an attempted pickoff throw from pitcher Arick Doty Thursday against Ogallala. Sidney closed a long week at home, dropping its final game of the week 6-4 to Ogallala.
Sidney's Post No. 17 Junior Legion baseball team closed a hectic week at home Thursday evening with a contest that, barring one inning, could have netted one more notch on the bat.
Ogallala entered the fourth inning trailing 1-0, but took advantage of a short burst of miscues by the Sidney defense on the way to a 6-4 win.
Ogallala had runners at first and third with one out in the top of the fourth when an error allowed one run to tie the game. A single to right pushed two more Ogallala runners past the plate
Another single put runners on first and second, Sidney gave Ogallala its second out with a fielder's choice force out at third base.
Pitcher Arick Doty hit the next batter to load the bases, then a second hit batter forced Ogallala's fourth run home. Doty walked another run in, and a second error at third base allowed Ogallala's sixth run to cross home.
Following a short meeting on the mound, Doty struck out the next Ogallala batter to escape the inning.
Sidney chipped away at the Ogallala lead, adding two runs in the bottom of the fifth and another in the seventh, but in the end couldn't put together a sustained drive.
The loss was reminiscent of the previous night's offensive performance against Alliance. In both contests, Sidney batsman as a whole couldn't clear the infield except in isolated instanced. Sidney dropped its Alliance contest 13-5.
Even with those losses, Coach Ray Witt liked one thing he saw in both games.
"They keep showing fight," Witt said. "They aren't giving up. Against Alliance they scored two runs in the last inning and didn't quit."
Sidney's long week of play started out much better, opening with a 16-4 win over Chadron Monday. Brett Jaggers got the starting nod, and Witt said he put in three good innings of ball before Logan Sircy closed out the last inning. Sidney was slated to play a double header against Chadron, but hail brought the second game to a premature close.
The following night, Sidney also battled inclement weather, suffering a two-hour rain delay before toppling Gering 14-2.
Sidney scored 12 first inning runs in that contest.
"Then they stayed focused and stayed sharp," Witt said, happy there was no let down after breaking out with such a big early lead.
Witt said as the team continues its countdown toward district play, Sidney players are learning where their success comes from.
"There aren't any individuals that carry the team," Witt said. "When they put the hits together, and put the fielding together, and the team works together, they play good ball."
After the long week and the approaching holiday, Witt said the team is taking the weekend off before practicing Monday.
The squad travels to Morrill for its next game, on Tuesday.
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