GILLETTE — The Wyoming state Little League welcomed the Platte County Youth Baseball 12U and 10U all-stars last week for the District 2 Tournament held in Gillette on July 16-21. Platte County had not sent a team to District Little League in three years.
The 10U team was coached by Quent Gudahl, John McDaniel and Rocky Weber.  The 10U team dropped their opening game to Laramie. They faced familiar foe Torrington in round 2 and dropped a close game. They moved on to battle Gillette American in the consolation championship.
Behind the pitching of Mason Collar, of Guernsey, Platte County took the lead into the bottom of the sixth and final inning only to drop a heartbreaker in the final at bat.  

The 12U players looked to finish a long season after competing in over 30 games this year. In the opening game, Platte County played Newcastle. After a 5-5 game into the fourth inning, Platte County blew the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull away 10-6. Lee Raser got the victory on the mound with three strikeouts and only one earned run in two innings.
On Day 2, Platte County faced ultimate tournament champion Gillette and fell 13-0. It was the closest game Gillette would play all weekend, winning by an average score of 24-0. Cole Goertz and Derrick Sarad limited the Gillette team to their lowest offensive totals of the tournament. Grant Goodrich caught several attempted steals from his catcher position.  
On Wednesday, Platte County faced a state qualifying game against Laramie.  Brock Peasley shut down the Laramie hitters, giving up one earned run and throwing six strikeouts in three innings.  Platte County fell behind early 3-1 but battled back to tie the game 4-4 in the fifth inning. Platte County fell on the last at bat 6-5. Peasley and Simon May both went 3 for 3 at the plate and Lee Raser had two runs-batted-in.
In the consolation round, Platte County played their fourth and fifth consecutive games to finish the week.
Against Newcastle, Platte County fell behind 10-4 after giving up two home runs and seven total runs in the second inning. They put up seven runs in the fourth inning to pull ahead 11-10 and finished the game with a 13-10 victory. Mike Haefflin pitched three scoreless innings and surrendered only one hit to shut down Newcastle for the win.
In the consolation championship Friday, Platte County dominated Rawlins 24-6 behind pitchers Tagg Mickelsen and Dawson Bingham. Platte County put up 20 hits and hit 0.559 as a team. They finished the week with three wins and two losses and just missed qualifying for the state tournament.