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WORLAND - The Worland Wildfires 14U fast pitch softball team capped their season with a third-place finish at the state tournament in Casper July 8-10.

The first day of the tournament was pool play and the Wildfires opponents were the Gillette Blue Jays and Douglas Diamonds.

Against Gillette, Worland started the state tournament on the wrong foot losing 16-2. The game fell apart for the Wildfires in the second inning when they committed five errors that led to a 12-run inning for the Blue Jays.

Quickly putting the Gillette game behind them, the Wildfires focused their attention toward the next game against Douglas. The game started similarly to the Gillette game as Worland spotted Douglas a 5-0 lead due to three first-inning errors. Defensive adjustments were made by coach Dave Coronado and from that moment on Douglas wouldn't score another run. The Wildfires scored five runs in the third to tie the ball game at 5-5 and in the next inning they scored one run to take a 6-5 lead.

In the final inning Worland had Douglas down to their last out but Douglas was in position to tie the game with a runner on third. The Douglas batter put the ball in play and Worland pitcher Brooke Hellyer fielded the ball then fired it to catcher Carmyn Buckman who tagged out the Douglas runner at the plate ending the game for the 6-5 victory.

The next day was bracket play and the Wildfires, for a second time, squared up with the Gillette Blue Jays. Errors once again would undo Worland as they lost by a score of 8-5. Four errors led to four of the eight runs scored by the Blue Jays.

Worland bounced back in their next game for a 10-4 victory versus Lander. The Wildfires notched 12 hits for the game, three of which were by Zoe Fernandez, who also had an inside-the-park home run in the game, that was also the first of eight runs scored in the third inning by the team.

With a chance to move on to the championship the Wildfires played, you guessed it, the Gillette Blue Jays. Three errors were committed by Worland but their defense wouldn't allow for the Blue Jays to capitalize on them.

Down 3-0 in the fifth the Wildfires scored three runs of their own to tie the game. In the bottom of the sixth inning the Blue Jays scored twice to take a two-run lead. The Wildfires could not respond with runs of their own in the final inning of play and Gillette won 5-3 and would go on to win the state championship in their next game.

The Wildfires finished the season with 15-12-1 record, beat Douglas for the first time, placed in three of four tournaments, with two third-place finishes and one championship. "Defensively we improved as the season went on," coach Coronado said, "I told the girls at the Riverton tournament once they started thinking for themselves defensively they would improve and they did just that. Against the Blue Jays the girls showed heart and enthusiasm and just came up short. It was a good season and learning experience for us. "