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Gillette moves up to the championships
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By KATHY BROWN, News-Record Sports Editor sports@gillettenewsrecord.com
Nate Kolata called it.An inning after Gillette clawed its way back in the semifinal game of the Wyoming state American Legion AA baseball tournament on Friday night, the right fielder turned to teammate Ryan Hutchison and predicted the ball would come to him.
That was two innings after the starting pitcher had given up a two-run home run to Cheyenne and allowed the seven-time defending state champion Post 6 to take a one-run edge. The 18-year-old, who was among the veteran players back after losing the state title game a year earlier to Cheyenne, was looking for a second chance.
He got it.
Gillette held onto a 9-6 edge in the top of the ninth, with Cheyenne three outs from its first loss at the 2008 state tournament.
After giving up a double to open the inning, relief pitcher Austin Cowen forced one Cheyenne batter to ground out. Then Kolata caught a fly ball in right field for the second out.
David Lazarus, who stroked the home run in the seventh for Cheyenne, then came to the plate. He hit another deep shot to right field, but Kolata had enough time to run under it for the final out.
“Pina” as he’s known to teammates, made the catch that brought the Roughriders a step closer to their first ever state title.
“I was thinking just to get under it and just to catch it,” Kolata said of his two-handed clincher.
He thrust his hands up the air after making the catch, his cap flying off his head as teammates threw their gloves in the air in delight.
Kolata left the cap in the grass. His first instinct was to run, instead, to the infield where the Roughridrs were celebrating their come-from-behind 9-7 victory.
“I told Hutch that I felt it was coming to me,” Kolata said afterward. “That’s such a relief. ... This feels a helluva lot better than last year.”
And better than it did two innings earlier when Cheyenne took the advantage.
“I wanted to throw another one (inning),” Kolata said. “But I was just so down. I don’t give up home runs that much.”
For seven innings he had kept Cheyenne in check, tossing in 10 strikeouts and allowing eight hits.
After 128 pitches, though, he gave way to closer Austin Cowen.
It was Cowen who drove in the three runs with a clutch double to the center field wall in the bottom of the eighth to put Gillette back on top for good.
“I was just kind of ‘bring it on’ after they intentionally walked the kid in front of me,” Cowen said. “I knew what I had to do. That upped my intensity.
“I know we can put up runs if we need to.”
In fact, it was the second straight game in front of another standing-room-only crowd in which the Roughriders rallied in the eighth for a win.
It has them just a step away from local history. Gillette has never won a state title in American Legion AA baseball and has been in the championship game just three times in the past 15 years.
For a town known for its high school sports titles in the past 20 years, that’s a hard-to-fathom fact.
The 2008 Roughriders have come out since day one of the season determined to end that 80-year “drought.”
“Now we’ll try to bring it home at our home,” Cowen said. “We’re set up well. Now we just have to play and finish it.”
“Tonight is good, but tomorrow night will be even bigger,” added Dalton Cowen, 16, who had the hit that knotted the game 6-6 and set the stage for his older brother’s heroics.
He came up to the plate with two men on and one out, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup carrying a .260 average.
“With Dalton up. I think most of the people in the crowd and probably Tagg Lain (Cheyenne’s head coach) thought we would squeeze,” Gillette head coach Nate Perleberg said. Instead, he gave the second baseman the green light to swing away.
“He’s an ultimate gamer,” Perleberg said of the young infielder, who he got to watch develop in preseason games and saw his talent for crucial hits, just as he’s done throughout the tournament.
“He clutch hit it there and with his brother, they were writing the script,” Perleberg said.
Now the Roughriders (49-9 overall) hope to finish the drama on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the championship game at Roughriders Stadium.
FRIDAY’S SCORES
Loser-out: Torrington 11, Sheridan 0
Loser-out: Laramie 15, Green River 2
Loser-out: Laramie 10, Torrington 9
Semifinal: Gillette 9, Cheyenne 7
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
Loser-out: Laramie vs. Cheyenne, 1 p.m.
Championship: Gillette vs. winner of Laramie-Cheyenne, 7 p.m.
If necessary: If a second game is necessary to determine the state champion, it will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday
Previously
Gillette tips Cheyenne in semifinal win at state tournament (Watch the video)
By The News-Record staff
The Gillette Roughriders made sure their 49th win of the season was unforgettable.
If they notch No. 50 on Saturday night, there’s no doubt it will be.
On Friday night, in front of the largest crowd in history at Roughriders Stadium, Gillette won its semfinal showdown against Cheyenne 9-7 in the state American Legion AA baseball tournament.
The Roughriders will play for the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday, gunning for their first state title in the sport in 80 years.
Just a year ago, many of these same players felt the frustration of losing to Cheyenne in the state championship game, and now they’re back, just a few innings short of destiny.
“It was huge. We came out and were down most of the game,” said leadoff batter Seth Means, who sent the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning over the left center field fence for a home run. It was just his third bomb of the season.
But Post 6 came back to take a 4-1 edge in the top of the fourth.
“We just had great pitching and great defense,” Means said. “We found a way to win.”
Gillette relied on an eighth-inning rally for the second straight night to make it happen. Cheyenne led 6-5 heading into the eighth, and then went down 1-2-3 in the top of that inning as Roughriders closer Austin Cowen (1.00 ERA) took the hill.
Ryan Iliff singled to open Gillette’s half, followed by a double from Mick Peters.
Then, with one out, second baseman Dalton Cowen hit a single to drive in one run and knot the game at 6-6.
It was left to another Cowen, however, to finish this one off.
After Cheyenne walked Means to load the bases, Austin Cowen launched a rocket on the first pitch he saw toward the center field wall, driving in three runs with his clutch double.
Then he put the finishing touches on the victory in the ninth from the mound, allowing Cheyenne to score a run but get no closer.
“Austin’s hit, I just can’t believe it,” Means said. “We’re so excited right now to come out tomorrow and try to get a championship.”
“I’m so proud of these guys not getting down. They were down by three or four runs early and answered all night,” head coach Nate Perleberg said. “We just talked about having one game left. It’s a great win and we’ll try to finish it tomorrow.”
With the loss, Cheyenne will face Laramie in a loser-out game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The winner will take on Gillette in the championship game.
To reach that stage, Laramie had to nip Torrington 10-9 in another consolation game on Friday, scoring four runs in the seventh inning for the win, and holding the Tigers scoreless over the final five innings.
In earlier loser-out games, Laramie defeated Green River 15-2 and Torrington shut out Sheridan 11-0.
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