Legend Loggers outduel current squad to win annual baseball game

If there was any thought on the part of the current Logger Legion baseball team to take the Legends lightly, it may not happen again as the seniors rallied Saturday to beat their juniors 12-9 during the annual Legends Game at Lee Gehring Field.

“This will tell them not to mess with the old guys,” said Legends Manager Scott Foss who played for the Loggers from 1989 to ‘92.

“Oh, yeah, they wanted to win. I’m not surprised with this group of guys. They’re competitive,” Foss said.

The Legends used a myriad of pitchers to get the job done.

“Yeah, I think every guy on the team but one pitched.”

Certainly, the game was about having fun, but make no mistake, Foss said, the Legends were out to win.

“They’re committed. They just don’t want to lose. I can tell you this, they’re already looking forward to next year,” Foss said.

The game again marked something of a dilemma for Loggers coach Kelly Morford, who manages the Loggers baseball team but then managed a 1-for-3 performance at the plate.

“There’s still a competitive edge on this team,” Morford said.

“I was just glad I was able to save face and get a hit. We all really enjoy this,” Morford said.

With Morford sitting across in the other dugout, he left managerial duties to Micah Germany, Justin Wicka and Alex Cislo.

“They did a good job,” Morford said.

The junior squad must’ve felt things were pretty much in hand after a half-inning in the first when they dented the plate for four runs.

However, that security was quickly challenged when the Legends answered with four runs in the bottom of the first to knot the score.

Through three innings the Junior set doubled its run total with a pair of runs each in the second and third innings to take an 8-4 edge. However, the Legends responded in the bottom of the third with a single run in the bottom of the third to narrow the gap, 8-5.

Then in the fourth inning, the Legends’ bats lighted up the scoreboard for another four-run tally to go ahead 9-5, and they never looked back.

The one long home run of the game came in the bottom of the fifth off the bat of Brandon Laffoon who swatted a line-shot over the right-center field fence as the game ended 12-9.

The game, which started at 5:05 p.m. ended after six innings at 7:30 p.m. as the stadium had to be cleared for the performance of the Copper Mountain Band, which began play at 8 p.m.