The Chadron Platte Valley Bank Post 12 American Legion Seniors opened up their season officially back on Friday in the Gering Memorial Tournament. Chadron was competitive throughout the tournament but fell in all three games over Friday and Saturday.
The team was originally set to open up their season at Torrington on May 9th but were rained out with the Torrington up 9-5 in the bottom of the fifth, negating the game which made the tournament opener against Scottsbluff the official season opener.
Chadron struggled in the game as Scottsbluff jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first inning which was enough as Scottsbluff took the game 11-0.
Three players accounted for three Chadron hits in the game with Creighton Ryan, Tobin Landen and Jack O’Brien each getting a knock.
Saturday saw two games played by Chadron with the team in red being extremely competitive throughout the day.
The first game was against Alliance and a barnburner formed with Chadron pitcher Tobin Landen dealing electric stuff by striking out 14 Alliance batters. Chadron led 8-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth but Alliance scored three in the sixth and three in the seventh to pull off a walk off 9-8 win.
Besides the 14 strikeouts on the mound for Landen he drove in five runs on a 2-3 effort in the batters box while Ryan added two runs on a hit as well.
The final game of the tournament saw them go up against Cheyenne. Chadron battled hard but three runs in the top of the third by Cheyenne gave them the edge as Cheyenne pulled off a 10-3 win. Landen, Tayven Jenkins, O’Brien and Kacen Bach each had a hit while O’Brien was credited with an RBI.
Next up for Chadron is the home opener at Maurice Horse Park Tuesday night when they welcome in Bridgeport for a juniors/seniors doubleheader.
