Baseball in April is new for the Powell Legion baseball team. And with the early start to the season, the weather is less than ideal. The young pioneer team kicked off the season with a doubleheader against the Miles City Outlaws. 

The Outlaws had a very similar look to the home team pioneers, they were made up of mostly underclassmen. The team’s goals for the game were similar in that they were looking to get experience. 

Even with the team’s similarities, their views on pitching strategies are very different.

“They throw as hard as they can for as long as they can,” coach Jason Borders said. “I don’t think I have seen a pitcher of theirs [pitch] for more than three innings, it just doesn’t work with their philosophy.” 

Game one of the doubleheader was dominated by the Pioneers. The boys from Powell had only faced live pitchers in practice, so there was a feeling of uncertainty about how the team would hit. 

Right off the bat, the Pioneer’s sticks seemed to pick up right where they left off last season. The boys quickly jumped out to a commanding lead.

“Getting that first hit gave me a huge boost of confidence going into the rest of the day,” junior Ryan Cordes said. “I haven’t hit the lead-off spot before, so it felt great to start off on base.”

During the fourth inning, sophomore Trey Stenerson connected with a pitch and sent it cruising over the center-field fence. This was the first home run in Stenerson’s legion career, he has hopes that it won’t be the only one.

“It felt solid off the bat,” Stenerson said. “I had his timing down and just turned on it.” 

Consistent hits and solid fielding effort proved to be the recipe for success as the Pioneers took game one with a score of 14-9.

Game two started with the Pioneers throwing their ace in sophomore Brock Johnson. Johnson was named the regular season pitcher of the year during the 2021 season. Coming into a new season he looked to improve upon last year’s campaign. 

“I came into the game just wanting to get a feel for my pitches. It’s been a little less than a year since I have pitched in a real game,” Johnson said. “I tried to not put too much pressure on myself and just got out and executed.”

The second game was a closer contest, coming down to the final inning. During the game, the bats of the Outlaws seemed more alive by being in control for 6 of the 7 innings. The back and forth scoring led to a combined 31 runs scored. 

In the bottom of the 7th inning with the bases loaded, Trey Stenerson came up to the plate. The Outlaw pitcher had hit the last two batters and Stenerson wouldn’t be an exception as he was hit by the pitch to walk in the winning run.

“Going into the at-bat I just wanted to be patient and wait for my pitch,” Stenerson said. “I didn’t think he was going to hit me too but it felt good to start off with two wins.”