EDWARDSVILLE – Alton American Legion Post 126's junior baseball team clinched the Illinois District 22 championship with a 5-0 win over Valmeyer at SIU-Edwardsville's Roy Lee Field Wednesday evening.
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The win gave the junior Legionnaires a 7-1 mark in the district and 20-7 overall going into Independence Day weekend tournaments in Greenville and Belleville beginning Saturday. Wednesday's scheduled nightcap at SIUE with the Metro East Bears senior team taking on Trenton was called off and not played.
“We won it tonight, so that puts us in good postilion for (the district) playoffs in two weeks,” said Post 126 manager Dennis Sharp. “Hopefully, we'll get the first-round bye if it goes like in the past, which will save us a pitcher (in the double-elimination tournament, which will be held in Valmeyer in July).”
As for Wednesday's win, “we just leave a lot of guys on base,” Sharp said. “That's been our problem the last 5-6 games; we've probably left 30 guys on base in scoring position – we just can't get them in. We scatter the bases full every inning with opportunities; we just don't take advantage of it. It's a fixable problem and we're hitting the ball, which is good.
“I guess I'd be a little more concerned if we weren't hitting and getting guys on base. It's just a matter of getting focused out there, taking care of the ball and taking care of the moment.”
Alton scored three times in the top of the first (Valmeyer was the home team for Wednesday's game) and then twice more in the top of the seventh to run out winners on the night. Ryan Best opened the scoring when he led off with a triple and scored on a Gage Booten sacrifice fly to center field. Caleb Noble then reached on an error that scored Griffin Bianco and Dylan Lahue to cap the scoring. In the seventh, John Durrwacher, courtesy running for Bryce Parrish, scored on an Adam Stilts triple, with Stilts later scoring on a wild pitch to ice the win for Post 126.
Best went 2-for-4 for Alton with a triple and run scored, with Booten going 2-for-5 with a RBI, Bianco, Durrwacher and Lahue each a run scored, Parrish 1-for-2 and Stilts 2-for-4 with a triple, RBI and run scored. Rylee Bernot went the distance and dismissed nine by strikeout to get the win.
The juniors will split their squad for the weekend's tournaments, with the younger Legionnaires playing in the Greenville tournament and older players joining the Bears for the Firecracker Classic; Post 126 will be playing in the Belleville group in the tournament while the Bears will be playing in the Fairview Heights group Saturday and Sunday.
Post 126 will take on Festus, Mo., at 3 p.m. Saturday and Morgantown, W.Va., at 5:30 p.m. Saturday while the Bears meet Aviston at 10 a.m. Saturday and the Hilgard 2 team at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Sunday's games have Post 126 meeting Belleville's Hilgard seniors at 10 a.m. and Jefferson City, Mo., at 12:30 p.m., while the Bears clash with Ballwin, Mo., at 10 a.m. and Jackson, Mo., at 7:30 p.m. The three group winners and a wild-card team advance to Monday's semifinals, with the group A and B winners playing at 10 a.m. and the wild-card team meeting the group C winner at 1 p.m., with the final set for 3 p.m. Independence Day has been set aside for a rain date.
