TORRINGTON – The neck-and-neck home game between the Torrington Thunder 16U girls’ softball team and the Cheyenne Extreme on June 13 found Cheyenne up by a single point, 8-6, at the end of the sixth inning.

The Extreme stepped up to bat in the top of the seventh inning, but were quickly shut out by a tenacious Torrington defense.

A determined Thunder offense took its turn to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning and scored five runs to capture the win for Torrington, 11-8.

The Thunder’s victory on Thursday kicked off an action-packed weekend for Torrington with four more games at the ‘Don’t Call Me Blue’ softball tournament in Arvada, Colorado, from June 15-16.

Torrington tied the first game against the Azteca team from Pueblo, 5-5, before falling to three teams from the Denver metro area.

Cheyenne

The Extreme pulled ahead, 2-0, with a single run in both  the first and second innings.

Rallying in the bottom of the second, Torrington scored two runs to tie the game, 2-2. Ella Anderson drew a walk for the Thunder, resulting in Torrington’s first run, while an error led to the second run.

Torrington took control of the scoreboard, 3-2, in the bottom of the third inning when Kennedy Reinhardt singled to drive in one run. Cheyenne responded in the top of the fifth inning, driving in three runs to take the lead, 5-3.

Both teams scored three runs in the sixth inning, allowing the Extreme to remain ahead, 8-6.

Undaunted, the Torrington defense shut out Cheyenne from scoring in the top of the seventh inning. Kennedy Reinhardt, pitching for the Thunder, struck out a batter and caught a ground out. Lyla Wernsman fielded a grounder at second base for the third out.

Stepping up to bat in the bottom of the seventh, Torrington drove in five runs to overtake the Extreme and win the game. Aftyn Hager set the momentum for the Thunder with a single that resulted in two RBI. Reinhardt singled and Skyla Wunder doubled to score two additional runs in the seventh.

Overall, Torrington tallied nine hits against Cheyenne, led by Reinhardt with three. Hager added two hits to the total with one apiece by Skyla Wunder, Charlee Floyd, Tatum Struble and Wernsman.

On the mound, Reinhardt started and ended the game as the Thunder’s pitcher, striking out six. Struble played relief for several innings, striking out five.