McAnelly's walk-off lifts Sixers over Billings
Jul. 10—CHEYENNE — Facing a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cheyenne American Legion Post 6 never got too anxious at the plate.
Instead, the Sixers remained disciplined, were awarded four free bases, and rallied for a 7-6 win over the 406 Flyers out of Billings, Montana, on Saturday afternoon in the Mountain West World Series at Powers Field. Colter McAnelly's walk-off double to deep left field iced the game for the Sixers.
"We did a really good job of not bailing them out and I think early in the year we might have swung at some of those pitches and bailed the pitcher out in that situation," Sixers manager Ty Lain said. "So, to watch our guys keep their composure, not chase pitches, and make sure that they win their at-bat — that was huge."
Cheyenne's first run of the seventh frame came when Ethan Reisdorfer singled to shallow center field, scoring Dominic Lopez. After Kaden Anderson was hit by a pitch, Ben Bohlmann walked to load the bases and was followed by a Mason Tafoya RBI. Two pitches later, McAnelly smacked his only hit of the game, scoring Bohlmann for the win.
"We've had a lot of runners on base, just haven't been able to drive them in," McAnelly said. "I was just thinking 'Hit the ball as far as I can.'"
Julian Romero and Reisdorfer both faced full-counts during the rally.
"I got to a 3-2 count and one of those early pitches I laid off a low slider, which I haven't been able to lay off all year. I really just locked in there at that (at bat) and tried to get the job done," Reisdorfer said. "I wasn't really thinking much today ... just played the game."
Post 6 started the contest not chasing any pitches either. Tafoya was hit by a pitch to leadoff the bottom of the first before the Sixers drew four walks. However, Cheyenne's lone run in the frame came on an RBI single to right field from Zack Costopoulos.
Billings took the lead in the top of the third behind a two-run single from Mike Curl and Sixers second baseman Kelden Hastings tied it in the bottom of the frame with an RBI. Cheyenne struggled to push any runs across over the next two innings, leaving the bases loaded to end the fourth and the fifth.
"We had good energy early, it was the middle innings we got in kind of a lull," Lain said. "You see Colter trying to score from second base in the first inning — he's trying to provide a spark and some energy for the team. ... You want to turn the switch on now because when you go to try to turn it on and it's too late, you make mistakes like that trying to get it started."
Blake Harlan stretched the Flyers' lead to 6-3 in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI to center field. All six of the Flyers' runs came with two outs. Only one of Cheyenne's runs came with two outs.
Reisdorfer went 3 for 4 and Costopoulos was 2 for 4. Bohlmann finished with two RBI.
Cheyenne (47-9) plays at noon today.
"At the end of the game we, again, did enough to get the (win) and that's been our theme for the last 10 days or so," Lain said. "At some point here we'll have to turn it on and get going, but it's nice to be able get wins when you're not playing your best baseball."
Sixers top Rocky Mountain Oysters
CHEYENNE — Ben Bohlmann allowed no runs on five hits and fanned 11 batters in five innings of work to help Cheyenne defeat the Rocky Mountain Oysters 11-2 in the Sixers' second outing of the day.
Reisdorfer was 2 for 4 with three RBI and a triple and Hastings was 2 for 3 with two RBI. Wyatt Haught went 2 for 3 with one RBI.
Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.
