Otto Baseball ends with a loss and two wins

Baseball season has ended for South Big Horn County and the Otto Rattlers finished out with games on the road in Thermopolis. 

Otto Minors ended with two wins to finish their season. At home against Greybull, the Rattlers came out swinging. Hyrum Hancock and Brigham Winters connected on multiple hits, while Vanessa Winters, Adalyn Winters, Cruz Allen, Jace Winters, Beau Davidson, Quinn Buck, Leah Kebler all scored after being walked and Charity Ball got hit by a pitch and stole around to score. 

From the mound, Allen had five strikeouts over two innings, A. Winters had two strikeouts and fielded a ball back to first for a forced out. Hancock also had a strike out and a tag at home with Allen and J. Winters fielded a ball hit to first. The Rattlers won with a final score of 15-5. 

In Thermopolis, the Rattlers continued with their solid game play and Hancock had a couple base hits and eventually scored, Allen got a base hit and scored, J. Winters joined Ball in getting hit by a pitch and stealing around to score. V. Winters, A. Winters, J. Winters, Davidson and Kebler all stole around after being walked. 

From the mound, V. Winters had two strikeouts, Hancock had two strikeouts and Allen had 5 strikeouts. The infield was strong and saw Allen fielding the ball from short stop to second, Jax Morgan, Davidson and V. Winters catching pop ups and a fly and A. Winters getting the force out at first. The Rattlers won with a final score of 10-9. 

“It was a close game all the way through,” said Coach Janalee Call. “Both teams played well, but we were the ones who came out on top. The kids were excited to win their last game of the season. It has been a great season with a lot of improvement in each player. They have been dedicated to coming to practice, have listened and worked hard to improve. They are a great bunch of kids, and it has been my privilege to coach them this season and hope they all come back next year!” 

Otto Majors faced Thermopolis in their last game. Their bats were swinging and they were connecting with Allen getting a base hit and being driven home by a hit from B. Winters. Kebler got hit by a pitcher and V. Winters took over for her on base and eventually scored. Allen got another base hit and scored. Hits from Hancock and Gage Tolman got them to the bases but they were left stranded with a third out. 

B. Winters was walked and later scored. Morgan got a base hit but was left at second. 

From the mound, Morgan had two strikeouts and the third out came from a grounder to B. Winters who fielded it to V. Winters at second for the easy out. 

The second inning saw a few of the Rattler pitchers with Raiden Andrew starting the inning. He had one strikeout and a force out with Allen at first base. Arthur Nicholson took over the mound for a brief stint and B. Winters finished out the inning catching a line drive hit back to him. 

Kobe Winters pitched the last inning. He caught a line drive hit back at him, struck out two and the last out of the game was a force out at first and Otto finished down with a score of 4-10. 

 “Our pitchers had a hard time finding the strike zone. Thermop’s mound was very different from ours and that threw them off. Since it was the last game of the season, I wanted all my pitchers to have an opportunity to pitch. If I had truly wanted to win the game, I would have handled my pitchers much differently. It is super to win, but I strive to give my players chances for experience and growth even though it may cost us the win. 

These players are a great bunch of kids! I have watched them develop as players and as a team. I have seen a lot of improvement through hard work and spending extra time at home to become better. I have also watched as they have become friends that work as a team. If one player succeeds, all are excited and happy. I am sad to see Kobe and Raiden move on, but I am looking forward to next year. It has been an honor to be their coach!” said Call.