Courtesy Photo

Lamar 14 year-old Babe Ruth team. Front row, l-r, Brice Koehn (Springfield); Oliver Arana (Walsh); Dakota Turner (Lamar); Todd Hutches (Springfield); Tony Esquibel (Granada); Derek Schroder (Springfield); and Coach Craig Forney (Lamar). Back row, l-r, Coach Jason Tice (Lamar); Brady Humphrey (Springfield); Tylor Jara (Lamar); Branson Jennings (Lamar); Isiah Martinez (Lamar); Anthony Holdren (Lamar); Brady Rink (Granada); Coach Curtis Schroder (Springfield).

The Lamar 14 year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars participated in the State Championship Tournament in Fountain, Colorado July 18-20.

The squad started the tourney facing Buena Vista on Friday afternoon and won that match up handily 9-0.

Saturday morning, the Lamar All-Stars took on a tough East Central (Limon area) team losing in a tight game 8-9, sending the Lamar team into the loser’s bracket of the tournament.

Saturday afternoon brought intense heat and a game between Fountain Valley and Lamar with Lamar winning by a score of 12-2.

Sunday morning, the Lamar squad faced a tough Sante Fe (Rocky Ford area) team and came out with a victory score of 8-6, which allowed the Lamar team to get another shot at the team from East Central.

That game, late Sunday afternoon, proved to be the best game of the entire tournament.

The Lamar squad jumped out to an early lead of 5-0, but East Central worked back into the game and at the end of 7 innings, the game was tied at 9 all.

The eighth inning went in favor of the Lamar squad and they won that game 11-9 sending the team into the championship game Monday morning against an unbeaten Tri-County (Gunnison area) team.

The game started slow for Lamar with Tri-County building an 11-1 lead.

The Lamar All-Stars refused to give up and got back into the game trailing 8-11 with the tying run at the plate, but the game ended at that point.

Tri-County was the defending state champion and with the victory over Lamar will travel to Iowa representing Colorado 14 year-olds in the Midwest Plains Regional Babe Ruth Tournament the last week of July.

“The Lamar All-stars represented Southeast Colorado extremely well; and although they did not win the championship, they played like champions,” said coach Jason Tice.

Team members included Brady Humphrey (Springfield); Tylor Jara (Lamar); Branson Jennings (Lamar); Isiah Martinez (Lamar); Anthony Holdren (Lamar); Brady Rink (Granada); Brice Koehn (Springfield); Oliver Arana (Walsh); Dakota Turner (Lamar); Todd Hutches (Springfield); Tony Esquibel (Granada); and Derek Schroder (Springfield).

Coaches for the team were Jason Tice (Lamar), Curtis Schroder (Springfield), and Craig Forney (Lamar).