Sidney 11U Earns State Title

After defeating the WESTCO Bluffs team for the second time on Sunday, the Sidney 11U baseball team ended the weekend undefeated and earned the Cal Ripken State Baseball Championship for the second straight year.

Action started on Friday afternoon in Alliance for the the five team double elimination tournament, with Sidney drawing the host team Alliance in their first game.

After opening with a two run first inning, the Sidney boys got their strokes down and piled up 19 runs to put the contest out of reach. Sidney's Zeb Meyer and Ryder Bane combined pitching performances limited Alliance to just one hit in the 26-to-0 victory. Sidney's second game was played Friday night against North Platte, and this time Alex Doty and Braxton Heater pitched three innings each compiling 13 strikeouts in a 7-to-0 no-hit victory.

The third game was on Saturday against the WESTCO Bluffs, a team that Sidney was unable to beat earlier in the season, dropping two scrimmage games prior to the start of the regular schedule. But the Sidney pitching was too tough for WESTCO, and the boy's cruised to a 5-to-0 win behind the pitching of Lance Holly, who threw five innings giving up only two hits while striking out 12 batters. WESTCO was able to earn a spot in the Championship Game on Sunday through the loser's bracket, and faced off against Sidney again. This time, the WESTCO squad jumped out to a 1-to-0 lead early in the contest, but that's all Sidney starter Alex Doty would allow in the game, and the Sidney boys rallied in the fourth inning to score two runs, and the game ended in a 2-to-1 victory and a Sidney state title.

"We were an inexperienced team with three boys playing travel ball for the past four years. Then a few that played some last year and a few that really haven't played much ball at all. So it was fitting to play them again the last two games of the year and win both and see how far the boys and this team had come over the summer," said Manager Scott Heater.