History at every step for Cheyenne at ALWS

When Cheyenne (Wyo.) Post 6 punched its ticket to the 2023 American Legion World Series, there surely was elation felt by thousands of former Wyoming coaches and players who had vainly tried for years for their state to make it this far.

After all, Wyoming teams had tried and failed to advance this far over the course of 91 previous seasons starting all the way back in 1928.

And Post 6 felt that frustration as much as any of them — and it was a family affair.

Longtime Cheyenne head coaches Tagg Lain and Ty Lain had endured multiple near misses in Northwest Regional competition during their now combined 29-year tenure as Post 6’s head coach. 

“I’ve been around for 25 years and we’ve been really close,” said Ty Lain, who played from 2005 to 2009 for father Tagg Lain and replaced his father as head coach in 2016. “We’ve had four runners-up and a few other last day appearances in the regionals. So we’ve been really close to getting here so it feels really good to be here.”

Overall, Wyoming teams had finished as runner-up four times under the old regional/sectional format used from 1928 to 1959 and six times under the current regional format that has been used since 1960. Each of the last six times have come in the last 32 years starting with Tagg Lain’s first season of 1991.

Other Cheyenne regional runner-up seasons came in 2003, 2006 and 2022. Longtime Post 6 rival Gillette was the runner-up in 2015 and again this year when it lost to Cheyenne in an all-Wyoming Northwest regional final played in Gillette.

The 2022 runner-up finish was particularly heartbreaking as Post 6 fell 6-5 in 9 innings on a walkoff hit by two-time defending champion Idaho Falls (Idaho) Post 56 in a game also played at Gillette’s Hladky Memorial Stadium.

Eight players from that team are members of the 2023 squad: Kaden Anderson, Bradley Feezer, Colter McAnelly, Ethan Reisdorfer, Julian Romero, Hayden Swaen, Mason Tafoya and Corey Williams.

After getting no-hit 4-0 in the 2023 ALWS opener against Western Regional champion (and ALWS returnee) League City (Tex.) Post 554, Romero and Feezer led Post 6 to more history in a 2-1 victory over Ellsworth (Maine) Post 207 on Friday.

Romero got Cheyenne’s first ALWS hit in the first inning and later hit a walkoff RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

“It’s a little pressure on us,” Romero said of being Wyoming’s first-ever ALWS participant. “You can definitely feel it. But it’s all so awesome to be here and be the first team for Wyoming to make it this far. We’re just trying to show out.”

Cheyenne entered this year’s Aug. 2-6 Northwest Regional as a 33-time state champion that includes 16 titles in the last 23 seasons.

Post 6 went 5-1 in this year’s regional capped by a 7-4 win over host and longtime rival Gillette (Wyo.) Post 42 in the championship game.

That matchup meant that Wyoming knew it would be sending its first team to the ALWS after the Aug. 5 semifinals.

“That home plate meeting on Sunday knowing one of us was going and giving Wyoming its first World Series appearance was really special,” Ty Lain said.

Feezer, whose team played Gillette six times this season, was confident his team could win against one of Cheyenne’s oldest rivals.

“It’s a big rivalry,” Feezer said. “I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily friends. We’ve played sports against the guys on their teams and we certainly know them. So going into that game, we had the mindset that history will be set for Wyoming and we wanted to be the team that did it.”

The victory helped erase some of the heartbreak of the year before that created a rallying cry for the 2023 Post 6 team.

“Well, last year we got all the way to regional finals and got walked off by Idaho Falls,” Feezer said. “Since we’ve gotten a bunch of state titles and a bunch of deep runs in the regionals, getting to the World Series is something that gets talked about every year.

“It’s just special to be a part of the first team from Wyoming to make it here.”

The accomplishment also had to bring smiles to many previous Cheyenne teams who had endured those previous frustrations.

Wyoming is a state that doesn't sponsor high school baseball so American Legion Baseball fills the breach with teams beginning to practice in February and starting their games in March.

Tagg Lain is the state’s all-time winner with 990 coaching victories from 1991 until his retirement after the 2015 season. He guided Post 6 to 14 state titles in 22 seasons as Cheyenne head coach.

“Our program is about working hard and putting ourselves in a position to be successful,” Romero said. “To grind this hard every year and now get to the World Series is just awesome.”