The regular season is coming to a close this week on what has been a strong year for the Powell Pioneers. Last weekend Powell finished runners-up at the Bolln Wood Bat Tournament in Douglas after defeating Douglas 4-3 before losing to Torrington 5-4 in the title game. The Pioneers then defeated Lander 11-1 and 10-0 at home on Tuesday night, with Ethan Welch throwing a no-hitter in the second contest.

POWELL 4, DOUGLAS 3

For the second time in a week the top two teams from each side of the state met in a tournament, with Powell (37-17 overall, 10-0 ‘A’ Northwest) taking on the host Cats (28-12 overall, 9-1 ‘A’ East) in the semifinals.

Powell got on the board first in the bottom of the first, after a leadoff double by Brock Johnson followed by a steal put him on third, and a line out by Jhett Schwahn scored Johnson to make it 1-0.

Despite only having one out, Powell was unable to add to the lead in the first, but the Pioneers  grew their advantage in the third.

Schwahn singled with one out, and Cade Queen singled to put two on.

Trey Stenerson drove in Schwahn on a single, before Aidan Wantulok was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Ryan Cordes hit a sac fly that brought in Queen — growing the advantage to 3-0 after three innings.

Continuing to hold the Cats at bay on the mound, Johnson gave himself an added insurance run in the bottom of the fourth — hitting a solo home run with two outs on the board to make it 4-0.

Douglas got a run in the top of the fifth after strong base running brought in a runner on a single to cut the lead to 4-1.

Powell continued to hold the lead, and appeared to be on its way to the 4-1 victory heading into the seventh.

Queen stepped on the mound after Johnson hit his pitch count at the end of the sixth.

A line out started the inning, before three straight singles loaded the bases for Douglas.

Two more singles brought in a pair of runners, and Douglas appeared poised to take the lead.

Schwahn tagged out a runner attempting to steal home to get a second out before Queen struck out the final batter to end the game with a 4-3 win.

Johnson finished with 12 strikeouts against three hits while Queen finished with the save.

Johnson, Schwahn, Stenerson and Cordes each finished with an RBI.

TORRINGTON 5, POWELL 4

Winning against Douglas meant the Pioneers played one more game with a back to back against Torrington (26, 12, 6-4 ‘A’ East) — a team which the Pioneers defeated 9-1 a day earlier in pool play.

Torrington came out immediately and took the lead, scoring two in the top of the first to go up 2-0.

“It was hot and they were tired, I don’t think they came out as focused,” manager Jason Borders said.

Powell got one back in the bottom of the first, after Johnson led off with a double and Schwahn was hit by a pitch to put two on.

Queen hit into a double play that advanced Johnson to third and Stenerson singled to bring in a run and make it 2-1 heading into the second inning.

Powell reclaimed the lead early in the second, after Dalton Worstell hit a single alongside Welch to put two on with one out.

Johnson stepped up and replicated what he did in the Douglas game, hitting a three run home run to give Powell a 4-2 lead.

“I think we got that lead and thought we would pour four more on them,” Borders said.

Worstell replaced Stenerson on the mound in the fourth, and Powell continued to hold the lead.

Torrington cut the lead back down to one in the top of the fifth, scoring on an error to make it 4-3.

Powell headed into the seventh with the 4-3 lead.

A walk followed by a triple got Torrington even to start the seventh, before a single scored another run to give Torrington the 5-4 lead.

A double play ended the top half of the inning and gave Powell a chance in the bottom of the seventh.

Johnson got on with one out after he was hit by a pitch, but Schwahn hit a line out and Johnson was tagged to complete a double play to end the game.

Johnson led the way with three RBIs after going 2-2 at the plate and Stenerson had the other RBI for the Pioneers.

POWELL 11, LANDER 1

Playing their final home games of the season the Pioneers took on the Lander Legends (7-19 overall, 0-12 ‘A’ Northwest) on senior night.

Lander tried to play spoiler early, holding Powell off the board and scoring one in the top of the third to take the 1-0 lead.

Powell answered in the bottom of the third, after Cole Fauskee singled and Johnson hit a double to score him and tie it 1-1.

Schwahn gained control on the mound, and Powell took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, when Stenerson was hit by a pitch and stole from first to third after a throw out attempt to second sailed over the Legends.

Cordes singled to bring Stenerson in and give Powell the 2-1 lead.

He advanced to second on a ground out and on his steal attempt of third the ball got past the third baseman and Cordes scored to make it 3-1.

Powell gained full control in the bottom of the fifth, after Fauskee walked and stole second during Johnson’s at bat and then advanced on a Johnson single to put runners on the corners.

Schwahn grounded out to score Fauskee and make it 4-1.

In a similar play to Cordes, Johnson stole third and the ball got past the third baseman, allowing Johnson to steal home and make it 5-1.

Powell put the game away in the top of the sixth, starting with Worstell being hit by a pitch and Aiden Greenwald hitting a single to put two on.

Johnson stepped up and for the third game in a row hit a home run on a deep ball to left field to score three and make it 8-1.

Schwahn followed with a single to get on, and a deep hit ball by Queen led to confusion among the Legends’ outfielders that allowed him to score an inside the park home run and make it 10-1.

Following that Stenerson walked and Wantulok singled to put Stenerson on third.

Jordan Loera subbed in as a pinch hitter, hitting a single and scoring Stenerson to make it 11-1.

Schwahn finished with five strikeouts while giving up one earned in six innings on the mound.

“Our pitching staff is one of the strengths of our team,” Borders said. “There’s not many teams in the state with a 2.5 team ERA.”

Johnson led the way going 3-4 with four RBIs, Queen finished with two RBIs, while Schwahn, Cordes and Loera each had one.

POWELL 10, LANDER 0

In the second game the Pioneers got on the board early, after Johnson hit a single, stole second and advanced to third on a balk to get in scoring position.

He eventually scored on a wild pitch and Powell went up 1-0.

The Pioneers loaded the bases with two outs but were unable to cause any more damage.

In the second Gibson got on through an error that saw him advance to second, and Welch hit a double to bring him in and make it 2-0.

Johnson singled and Schwahn walked to load the bases, and Welch scored on a Stenerson single to make it 3-0.

Cordes walked with the bases loaded to score Johnson with two outs but the Pioneers were unable to add beyond that and took a 4-0 lead into the third.

Powell once again loaded the bases in the bottom of the third but couldn’t find a run, and attempted to close it out in the fourth and fifth.

Wantulok walked to lead off the fourth followed by a Worstell walk to put two on, and Wantulok eventually scored on a passed ball to make it 5-0.

Welch had a strong day on the mound, and continued to keep the Legends without a hit after five innings.

Powell finished off the game in the bottom of the fifth with a Johnson walk.

That was followed by two straight outs that had Schwahn on first after Johnson was caught stealing second and Queen lined out.

Stenerson was hit by a pitch, and Wantulok singled to score one.

Cordes singled to bring in another and make it 7-0.

Wantulok scored on a failed pickoff attempt to make it 8-0 and Worstell walked to get on.

Gibson singled to score one and make it 9-0 before Welch singled to end the game 10-0.

Welch finished with a no-hitter, while giving up two walks and one hit by pitch along with seven strikeouts. The Pioneers finished with one error.

“They all work hard like they are going to be a starter at any time,” Borders said. “We have so many pitchers we could never get to them (Schwahn and Welch). I don’t care who you are throwing it (no-hitter) against, they are hard.”

Cordes and Welch led the way with two RBIs each, while Stenerson and Wantulok each chipped in one.

CONFERENCE TITLE ON THE LINE

Powell heads to Cody this Friday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to take on the Cubs (29-17-1 overall, 8-2 ‘A’ Northwest) with the ‘A’ Northwest title on the line.

“I hope in this Cody game they come out fired up,” Borders said.

Powell won the first two matchups 10-4 and 9-4. If Powell wins at least one of the two games then they guarantee the conference title — if Cody wins both it will come down to tiebreakers.

After the head-to-head tiebreaker the second tiebreaker will be runs allowed during conference play — Powell is currently leading by 20 runs as Cody has 41 runs allowed compared to Powell’s 21.

If the two teams are tied on runs allowed, then it will go to runs scored as the third tiebreaker, which Cody would win as they have 114 runs compared to Powell’s 104.

The No. 1 seed at the district tournament in Lovell comes with a first day bye, while the No. 2 seed comes with a first day matchup with the No. 3 seed out of the ‘A’ Southwest, which is Rawlins (0-18 overall, 0-7 ‘A’ Southwest) on Wednesday.