Powell Legion B heads to state

Young roster brings solid mix of skill, athleticism

Posted 7/16/19

Last summer, Cade Queen, Brock Johnson and Jhett Schwahn were still playing Little League, winning the District 1 title as part of the Powell Majors All-Stars.

Fast-forward a year, and the three …

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Powell Legion B heads to state

Young roster brings solid mix of skill, athleticism

Posted

Last summer, Cade Queen, Brock Johnson and Jhett Schwahn were still playing Little League, winning the District 1 title as part of the Powell Majors All-Stars.

Fast-forward a year, and the three are looking to make some post-season noise once again, this time as members of the Powell Legion B squad. Along with teammates Kolt Flores, Ryan Cordes, Trey Stenerson, Keaton Rowton, Jace Nordeen, Canyon Gonzales, Landon Sessions and Noah Blough, the Pioneers head to Sheridan on Wednesday for the start of the State B Legion Tournament.

“Our team is young, we’re all just 14 or 15, basically. I think we have two guys that are 16,” said Pioneers B head coach Colby Stenerson. “So we’re playing teams that are older. The league is 17 and under, so we’re on the young side of that.”

Despite the team’s youth (or maybe because of it), the Pioneers B squad finished 5-3 in conference and 15-12 overall on the season. Powell is the No. 1 seed from the Northwest Quadrant, and posted a 2-2 record against cross-county rival Cody, the No. 2 seed.

“We had a decent season, 5-3 conference-wise is pretty good,” Stenerson said. “We would have liked to run the table there, but over in Cody we lost two — just couldn’t get our sticks going. That was the difference there.”

While the team’s play at the plate has been hot and cold most of the season, Stenerson said pitching and defense has made the difference — especially in tight games.

“Our defense has been strong all season. We don’t make errors,” he said. “We’re really good on defense. Our pitching has been good, we have a lot of good pitchers.”

Stenerson said he’s proud of how his young team has been able to compete, even with several of his players still getting used to playing on a bigger field.

“Making that jump is a big step, moving up to that huge field and actually skipping the C program,” he said. “They’ve done well.”

One memorable series this season came against Sheridan, a team loaded with 16- and 17-year-olds. The two teams squared off three times, with the Pioneers winning one, 10-5.

Stenerson called it one of the Powell squad’s bigger wins.

“I know their [Sheridan’s] kids and our kids were talking, and they asked how old we were. They all laughed when they found out, because they were all older,” the coach recalled. “I told the kids that was a great win for us, because we could be seeing them down the road [at state].”

The Pioneers open the state tournament against Laramie, which finished the season with a 24-14 record.

“They’ll be a good team, obviously coming from a bigger program,” Stenerson said. “Most of the teams we’ll see in this tournament, their top teams in the program play Double-A ball. So we’re going to see older kids and some strong teams.”

Asked what he tells his young team to prepare them for older competition, Stenerson said the team will just continue to play their game.

“What I tell the kids as far as pitching is that you don’t have to strike these guys out,” he said. “We have a strong defense behind you, let them do the work for you. Let them hit, that’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

As for getting the job done in the batter’s box, Stenerson said the sticks need to get going early and often.

“We have to get our timing down,” he said. “We’ve been working in practice with trying to throw faster pitches to them so they can get used to that kind of thing. But otherwise I’ve told the guys, ‘Just do your thing.’ If we’re playing well in all phases, then we can compete.”

The Pioneers Legion B will also benefit from a couple of players who’ve seen a lot of playing time at the A level this season in Sessions and Blough; Stenerson will also be able to pull from the C squad as well.

“It should be a lot of fun, and a great experience for the kids,” he said. “They’ve worked hard to get to this point.”

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