GOSHEN COUNTY – The summer sports season wrapped up for baseball, softball, swimming and rodeo in early August. The 2024 summer season proved a memorable one in Goshen County, with state championships, national reserve championships and teams raising the bar overall. 

Rodeo

College rodeo rounded out the season at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper from June 9-15. RaeLee Calwell represented Eastern Wyoming College at the event, placing 23rd overall in goat tying. Yoder’s Haiden Thompson, riding for Gillette College, garnered third place in goat tying.

Buffalo hosted the Wyoming High School State Finals in early June. Three athletes from Goshen County punched their tickets to the National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR) following the state championships.

Hadley Thompson of Yoder secured a berth to the NHSFR in barrel racing, breakaway roping, goat tying and team roping. Torrington’s Sidwell Petersen qualified for state in team roping. Baliegh Lane of Huntley earned a state berth in girls’ cutting and reined cow horse. 

Thompson finished the high school rodeo season ranked No. 1 in the girls’ all-around with 871.50 cumulative points.

At the NHSFR in Rock Springs from July 14-20, Thompson captured the all-around reserve championship cowgirl, posting 1,125 total points in four events over the course of the week. Thompson was also the reserve champion in breakaway roping and goat tying. She placed first in the goat tying short-go with a time of 2.28 seconds.

Locally, the Torrington Junior Rodeo hosted its final competition for the season at the Goshen County Fairgrounds on July 24. The all-around champions for the season included Tryan Hubbard (5-6-year-olds), Tinlee Thompson (8-10 girls), Coy Haeffelin (8-10 boys), Koralee Mandel (11-14 girls) and Juston Keener (11-14 boys).

Thunder softball

An amazing run by the Torrington Thunder 12U Jones team at the state championships in Gillette culminated with the team capturing the state title following a decisive 9-5 victory in the final game against the Casper Oil City Stars on July 14.

The Thunder 12U Jones opened the tournament by overwhelming both Laramie (19-3) and Lander (28-2) in pool play. Torrington defeated Green River, 17-9, in the first game in bracket play. The second game pitted neighbor against neighbor, with the 12U Jones team scoring a 22-12 win against Torrington Thunder 12U Audette.

The 12U Jones advanced to the semifinals to beat Casper, 11-9. In the championship game between Torrington and Casper, Oil City was up, 9-5, at the top of the fourth. Torrington responded with an epic 11-run streak in the bottom of the fourth to win, 13-9.

The Torrington Thunder 8U earned third place at state. The team rallied from an 11-4 loss against Lander in the first game to defeat Cheyenne, 13-9. In bracket play, the 8U won another victory against Cheyenne, 10-1. Torrington found redemption against Lander in the quarterfinals with a 12-11 win.

The Thunder 12U Audette placed fourth at the state tournament. Torrington defeated Rock Springs, 18-3, in the opening game of pool play. Progressing to bracket play, 12U Audette knocked out Wheatland, 24-7 and trounced Casper, 13-8.

The Torrington 16U, 14U and 10U teams also rounded out their seasons at state. The 16U team finished the season with a 7-13-1 record. Highlights included a home-opener win against Bayard in a May 29 double header (7-5 and 18-1). The 16U posted a 2-1 record at the Shoutout on the Plains Tournament on June 8 and battled back from an 8-6 deficit against Cheyenne to score an 11-8 home victory on June 13.

Little League

The Torrington 2024 Little League city trophy went to the Marlins following a 6-0 victory against the Cubs in the June 20 title game. The win by the Marlins capped off an undefeated season with a 12-0 record.

The postseason for both the Torrington all-stars majors and minors team commenced with the Douglas Little League Classic from July 6-7. The majors snagged the tournament title with a 4-0 undefeated record. Torrington beat Laramie (4-0), Douglas (4-2) and Cheyenne (12-0) before scoring an 11-4 victory against Douglas in the title game.

The minors went 2-2 in Douglas and were named runners-up. Torrington defeated both Rock Springs (15-8) and Laramie (15-11).

Another clean sweep by the majors at the district tournament in Laramie from July 15-20 climaxed with Torrington bagging the regional title. The majors defeated Gillette (12-2), Douglas (9-4) and Laramie (11-1) to advance to the championship game where Torrington trounced Laramie, 4-0.

The minors were the runners-up in their division at districts with wins against Rawlins (33-0), Laramie (9-7) and Gillette (11-1).

The majors topped their season off at the Wyoming Little League Championships in Douglas from July 24-27 with their second consecutive state title. The team also punched its ticket to the Little League World Series – Mountain Regional Tournament in California for a second time.

Torrington opened the tournament with an 11-1 victory against Rock Springs. Advancing to the semifinals, the majors scored a 3-1 win against Bridger Valley. The all-stars fought off an attempt by Rock Springs to close an early 6-0 lead by Torrington in the championship game. Decisive fifth and sixth innings by the majors resulted in a 7-4 victory for Torrington.

The minors battled their way through the bracket at state to become runners-up. Torrington rallied from a close loss to Rock Springs to beat Cody, 15-7, in the consolation bracket. Digging deep, Torrington knocked out Rock Springs, 9-3, in the semifinals.

Torrington Tigers

The Torrington Tigers ‘A’ Legion team opened the summer season with a home-opener victory against the WESTCO Zephyrs, 12-8, on May 21.

Torrington went 2-1 at both the Gering PVC Tournament in late May and the Pioneer Tournament in Gering in June. The Tigers defeated Bridgeport, 12-3, on June 4 before scoring a 10-0 blowout win against Laramie on June 25.

The Tigers really came together in July. Torrington scored a major upset against the top-ranked Casper Drillers (3-2) to end Casper’s undefeated winning streak on the season.

Torrington scored a 13-1 win against Green River, ranked second in the ‘A’ Southwest Conference at the Bolln Tournament in Douglas before defeating No. 1-ranked Evanston, 12-2.

On July 16, the Tigers knocked out the Cheyenne Eagles, 12-2, to secure the No. 2 seed in the ‘A’ East conference going into districts.

Districts featured a playoff format this year with Torrington hosting Wheatland on July 20. The Tigers soundly defeated the Lobos, 5-3 and 12-2, to capture a state berth. 

Torrington advanced to the third day at the state championships in Powell following a 12-11 win against Gillette.

The Tigers ‘C’ team kicked off the season with a home-opener victory against Saratoga (8-6 and 12-11) on May 24. Torrington trounced Sidney on June 22, winning the first game, 11-7, before scoring a 12-0 blowout victory in the second game.

The Tigers went 2-2 at the Laramie Tournament in late June with victories in games against Wheatland (7-6) and Johnstown, Colorado (8-7).

The young Tigers ‘C’ squad really stepped up to field a team at the Legion ‘B’ baseball tournament in Torrington from July 25-28, playing significantly larger, older and experienced teams.

Torrington Sharks

A successful season for the Torrington Sharks swim team commenced with a meet in Sidney, Nebraska, on June 8. Torrington athletes broke four meet records at the event.

Filling their bag with hardware at the Alliance Meet on June 15, Torrington posted 16 gold medals and six new meet records. 

At Bridgeport on June 22, Torrington came home with 58 top-three medals, including 19 golds and athletes set seven new meet records. 

The Sharks tallied 23 gold medals and broke two meet records at Hemingford on June 29. 

Torrington topped off the season with 24 gold medals, 16 silvers, 15 bronzes and 41 new personal records at the medal meet in Hemingford on July 6. The Sharks also broke nine meet records.

The following athletes broke meet records during the season:

• Marshall Patrick, boys’ eight-and-under: 50, 100 and 200-freestyles and 100-IM.

• Atana Walter, girls’ 11-12: 100- and 200-freestyles, 50-breaststroke and 200-IM.

• Nathaniel Stull, boys’ 15-18: 50-butterfly and 50-freestyle.

• Cooper Walter, boys’ 9-10: 25-backstroke and 25-breaststroke.

• McKay Gurney, boys’ 15-18: 200-IM.

• Mason Patrick, boys’ 11-12: 50-backstroke.

• Huck Walter, 8U: 25-backstroke.

• Lexi Wilkie, girls’ 11-12: 50-backstroke.

• 100-free relay, 8U: Huck Walter, Alexis Martin, Hazel Parker and Marshall Patrick.