Entering the week at 6-3, the Powell Pioneers have started 2020 on the right foot. But they ran into trouble on Monday against their neighbors to the north.

Powell’s American Legion Baseball team lost both games of Monday’s doubleheader against the Billings Cardinals in Montana. The first was a 6-5 loss, and the Pioneers fell 9-6 in the following contest.

Game one was neck-and-neck for its entirety, but the Cardinals secured a walk-off win. With the game tied at five in the bottom of the seventh inning, Billings drove in the winning run.

Colin Queen started game one on the bump for the Pioneers, lasting four innings. He gave up two runs on four hits, striking out five.

Offensively, the Pioneers scored in all but two innings, tallying nine hits. Brock Johnson, Trey Stenerson and Queen each had multi-hit games.

In game two, it was an offensive explosion for both teams early. Powell scored five runs in the second inning, but Billings logged six total in the first three innings, giving the Cardinals an early lead.

The Pioneers knotted the game at 6-6 in the fourth inning, thanks to a Landon Sessions single. But one inning later, Billings put a three-spot on the board, allowing the Cardinals to pull away and later win 9-6.

Following the back-to-back defeats to their non-conference foe, the Pioneers now sit at 6-5 overall. Even after the losses, Pioneers head coach Joe Cates has been pleased with the team’s recent performance.

“We’ve been playing well,” Cates said. “They’ve stayed in every ballgame. For how young we are, I think we’re right where we need to be.”

Line scores:

First Game:

Powell  0 0 1 1 1 1 1 R5 H9 E1

Billings 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 R6 H9 E2

Second Game:

Powell 0 5 0 1 0 0 0   R6 H9 E1

Billings 3 2 1 0 3 0 X   R9 H8 E0

Powell comes back in nightcap to gain Legion B split at Cody

Nathan Feller hit a bases-clearing double with two outs in the seventh inning to score three runs and pull the Powell Legion B team to a come-from-behind 11-10 win and a doubleheader split at Cody Tuesday.

Cody’s Legion B team turned back the Pioneers 6-3 in the opener.

Pioneer B coach Tyler England liked the fight his team demonstrated in the second game.

Cody jumped ahead with eight runs in the first two innings of game two. It was almost a replay of game one, when two errors in the first inning were instrumental in putting the Powell B team in an immediate 4-0 hole.

Of Feller’s clutch double, England said, “It was a big time hit when we needed it most. Things got tough, and the boys decided to keep fighting. You always like that.”

Ethan Welch took the mound in the bottom of the seventh to protect the one-run lead. He retired the first two batters on three pitches before giving up a bleeder single. That Cody runner advanced to second, but Welch retired the next hitter on a groundout to close the door.

The bright spot in the first contest was a complete game turned in by starting pitcher Jacob Gibson. He threw 57 strikes and only 29 balls, walking just one batter.

— By Dave Bonner