The Southern Plains baseball team traveled west June 24-25 to the Jim Clanton Memorial tournament held in Garden City, Kansas. The cool weather was optimum for youth baseball. The first opponent for the newly formed Southern Plains team was the Hooker Horneytoads out of Oklahoma. Starting on the mound for SP All Stars was Case Nelson. In a back and forth ballgame as time limit was quickly approaching and Southern Plains was down 7-6, Bryson Hyle reached on base hit then Spencer Uhland was walked. The stage was set for Damien Molina, his long double to center field to push across the winning runs.  Devin Eaton finished the game on the mound to pick up the save. 

In the nightcap game Southern Plains matched up with the home team Garden City Venum. This seasoned ballclub had played 25 games in various tournaments.  Their experience was obvious as they had 12 hits and fielded very efficiently. The SP All Stars didn't get rolling until the fourth inning when they got a couple of hits put together but were unable to push any runs across in the 15-0 loss. 

Hooker defeated the Venum and left the pool tied up as all teams were 1-1 on the first day. 

Southern Plains drew the short straw and got the lower seed out of the pool. SP matched up Sunday morning against defending champion Holcomb Horns. Starting on the mound was Devin Eaton.  SP All Stars did a good job getting the bat on the ball against the hard throwing ace but left a lot of runners on base. Case Nelson came in relief in the fourth inning and really tied the horns in knots collecting 6 strike outs and giving up 0 hits. The SP ball team played pretty well in a 7-0 loss.

The loss pitted the SP All Stars against a feisty club based out of Perryton, TX. The chatter from the opponent's dugout didn't distract Zach Dickey as he collected 7 strike outs.  Southen Plains were really hitting the ball hard as the Raiders rotated 4 pitchers in the 10-1 shellacking. Spencer Uhland closed the game out for Southern Plains.  

The SP All Stars finished the weekend 2-2. At the plate Bryson Hyle and Devin Eaton had 6 hits while Poncho Saenz, Zach Dicky, and Case Nelson collected 5 hits, Cael Nordyke, Spencer Uhland, and Truman King had 4.

The 10U team scrimmages the Southern Plains 9U and 12U teams on Tuesday. This year’s Southern Plains team also has games scheduled with East/Central (Limon,Burlington,Goodland, and Colby) and Southwest KS All Stars. The Colorado State Tournament is scheduled for July 6-9 in Lamar.