HAYS - After losing their first game of the day Sunday morning, the HBC Hammer 18u bounced back to win their final two games Sunday and win the 2022 Wild West Fest Tournament at Larks Park.
It's the Hammer's, who prior to this season were known as the Hays Eagles Senior American Legion, fifth straight WWF tourney title.
The Hammer (20-8) went 2-0 in pool play and garnered the No. 1 seed for the double-elimination bracket portion of the eight-team tournament. They won their bracket opener 8-0 over the HBC 15u Saturday but couldn't overcome five errors and lost 7-4 to the Kansas Senators in their opener Sunday morning. The 18u's came back t0 beat the Hammer 16u 8-0 then beat the Senators 8-2 in the winner-take-all title game.
Unlike their first meeting with the Senators out of Topeka in which they couldn't dig out of an early seven-run deficit, Hays scored six runs in the top of the first and never looked back in the title game.
Garrett Wellbrock drove in the first run with a single which scored Tyson Jimenez who opened the game with a walk followed by a stolen base. Dalton Dale then tripled which scored Wellbrock then later scored on a wild pitch. Derick Riggs added a two-run double and Caden Morgan a run-scoring single which proved to be all the Hammer would need.
After the Senators (19-3) scored twice in the fifth, the Hammer answered with two in the sixth on a single by Wellbrock.
Three Hays pitchers combined to hold the Senators to three hits. Starter Tyson Jimenez (4-0) allowed one hit over the first three innings. Carson Spray walked six but only allowed two runs over 1 1/3 innings. Wellbrock pitched the final 2 2/3 innings to close the game out.
16u Hammer finish third
The Hammer 16u went 3-3 on the weekend and finished in third place. After going 1-1 in pool play then losing their bracket play openet 10-2 to the Hammer 15u, they came back to win their next two, beating the Hays Hammer 14u 7-3 and Russell 5-4 before losing to the Hammer 18u. The 16u are now 10-13-2 on the season.
The 15u Hammer went 1-3-1. They finished pool play 0-1-1, losing to the veteran Senators then tying the Hammer 14u. They opened bracket play with the win over the 16u Hammer before losing 8-0 the 18u Hammer and 12-3 to Russell all on Saturday.