Opening round of a tournament in Gillette had the Alliance seniors facing Laurel, Montana . The Spartans jumped to a big first inning lead and defeated the Dodgers 10 to 5. With the W, the Peltz Co improved to 17 and 6 for the season. Alliance tallied 5 runs in the top of the opening frame and never trailed. The seniors had 12 hits on the night with Espen Lanik leading the way with 3. Alliance’s big knock came in inning #1 when Kobe Strom hit a grand slam home run. Tony Escamilla got the start and pitched 5 innings. In relief, the Peltz Co got 2 scoreless frames from Cody Galles. The contest was played on Thursday in Wyoming.
Alliance was solid right from the start with 5 first inning scores. Creighton Fritzler walked and moved into scoring position after a Lanik single. A hit from Carver Nemnich ensued as the Spartans loaded the bases. An RBI groundout by Mikey Johnson made it 1 to 0. Nason Thompson then reloaded the sacks after being struck by a Laurel pitch, setting the stage for Strom. The Spartan left fielder then cleaned the bags with the grand slam. Laurel came back with 2 in the home half on a 2 run single. After one inning of play, the Peltz Co had a 5 to 2 margin.
Two more tallies in the top of the second made it a 7 to 2 Alliance advantage. A single by Fritzler plus doubles by Nemnich and Jaxson Esparza gave the seniors a 5 run cushion. The Dodgers put one in the score column in bottom of the frame. Inning 3 had Alliance get 2 more. Knocks by Thompson, Escamilla, and Lanik helped the Peltz Co extend their margin to 9 to 3. A single and a double by Laurel in the home half made it a 9 to 4 ball game.
Inning #4 was a scoreless frame by Alliance despite a hit by Thompson. The Dodgers sliced their deficit with a run. Heading to the fifth, the seniors were up 9 to 5. Alliance pushed one across in the top of the fifth with hits coming from Fritzler and Lanik. Escamilla would end his night of the mound with a scoreless bottom of the fifth effort. The final 2 frames had both squads going without any more tallies. Final Alliance 10 Laurel 5
Spartans 5 2 2 0 1 0 0 10
Dodgers 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 5
Twelve hits for the Peltz Co. three Lanik, two each Escamilla, Nemnich and Thompson, one each Strom, Fritzler, Esparza.