Taking Chances: Leroue Hits Home Run For WP

PRESCOTT - It took the WP Tigers a few innings to warm up in their Tuesday night game against the hard-hitting Weston McE­wen Tigerscots.

But when they finally did, there was no stopping their cannon balls and bul­let runs, demolishing the visitors 11-5.

After being down by as much as 4-0 in the 3rd, the Tigers' ignited in a magical 6th inning, firing on all bats and wielding a home run off a high arcing hit from sophomore Chance Ler­oue. It landed well beyond the field fence.

"When it came off the bat I looked at it and I could tell it was gone," pitcher Leroue said about his sec­ond homer in as many sea­sons. "It was intended as a line drive single."

But head coach Dustin Snedigar noted that since Leroue tends to hit high and hard, the planned line drive turned into a fence popper and an eye popper that brought in runner Riley Stevens their jubilant team from the dugout.

"It was just contagious," Snedigar said about the entire 6th inning that began serendipitously with a first- base run after a strikeout from catcher Tucker Al­leman at bat. "Everything started rolling. We had not been making good contact until then, but we began to find the holes."

The Tigers, who had been quietly sneaking in runs during the first five innings to bring the tally to within 2 at 5-3, scored 8 runs in the momentous 6th and had no trouble retiring the Tigerscots in the top of the 7th.

Fresh on the field, WP took an early pounding with 4 Tigerscots runs on deep hits in the 1st and missed a chance to re­tire Weston McEwen on a double play in the 2nd. The home team had several hits but couldn't hang on to the bases or were left stranded on outs.

"We have a lot of good hitters, but some bad hab­its," said Snedigar in refer­ence to some his players' tendency to lunge, drop the back shoulder or hit from behind. "We want to stay disciplined and get them to stay down (with the bat)."

Still, they managed to score 1 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th. Again, WP loaded the bases in the 5th and this time a line drive from Stevens brought in two runners.

Ironically, it was Ler­oue's inclination to hit the ball high that yielded the home run, which generated a smile on Snedigar's face in a post-game interview.

"Chance has so much potential," he said about the second-year high school player.

In the 6th, however, the Tigers were hitting their stride and improving their batting habits and averages.

"We started to get more disciplined at the plate," the head coach said. "It was good to see them get settled in."

Talen Larsen scored 3 on a single, Dalton Estes had 2 singles, scoring 1, while Kyle Dozier had a single as well among other highlights.

Even before regular league games begin, the Ti­gers are off to a good start. They beat Kennedy 14-0 on Friday (ended in the 5th), Pi­lot Rock 13-3 on Saturday before losing to Union 7-1 at Pilot Rock on the same day while a bitter March wind kicked up intermittent dust clouds on the field.

WP plays its first league game against TOR at 11 am in Prescott on Saturday.