The Crook County Little League Senior All-Star squad dominated the two teams they beat to win the state championship. Their great performance earned them a ticket to Oakland, California and the Western Regional Tournament. There, the going got much tougher.

Crook County opened against Southern California, a team from Spring Valley. Southern California, which opened with an 8-2 win over Washington, displayed a steady offense and Crook County failed to convert opportunities in a 10-0 loss Thursday, July 17.

The Crook County squad, which had a bye in the first round, was outhit just 9 to 6, and trailed just 3-0 after three innings. Southern Cal took control, though, with three runs in the third then two more in the fifth off Crook County starter Yustat. Russell threw in relief.

Griffin got two of the Crook County hits against Southern Cal. Bailey was 1 for 1 with two walks in three at-bats for Crook County.

After falling in its tournament opener to Southern California, Crook County lined up against Arizona on Friday, July 18. Arizona lost it’s opener to Hawaii 4-0.

Carter Mcada and Quinten Bailey had mound duty for the Crook County squad. Mcada started but the Arizona squad jumped on him for six runs. Mcada had some control problems, walking three and hitting two batsmen. Bailey, a left-hander, came on with two outs in the third and threw the remainder of the game, spreading out six hits over 4.1 innings and allowing just three runs.

Arizona led 8-0 before Crook County scored a run, in the bottom of the fourth. Arizona scored just one more run the rest of the way while Crook County plated another run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to cut the lead to 9-3.

Uriah Yustat went 2 for 4 against Arizona. Leadoff Luke Holland was 1 for 3, Riggin Russell 1 for 4, Bailey 1 for 2 and Logan Griffin 1 for 2 to lead Crook County offensively. Holland, Yustat and Bailey each scored a run. Russell and Griffin had the team’s two RBI.