CENTRALIA - Cameron Hailstone doubled home Austin Callovini with the game-winning walk-off run as Alton Post 126's senior American Legion baseball team pulled out a 6-5 win over Trenton in a losers bracket game of the Illinois Fifth Division tournament Thursday evening in Centralia.
The win puts the Legionnaires into a game against Steeleville, who lost in the winners bracket semifinals to Harrisburg 6-2 on Thursday, in another elimination game on Friday. The win came after Trenton rallied in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5-5.
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"We had a 5-2 lead, they came back and tied it," said Alton manager Doug Booten. "We made good pitches, but they got a bat on it, and the ball dropped in. That's baseball."
Despite the comeback by Trenton to draw level in the top of the seventh, the Legionnaires kept fighting and scrapping the entire game, and were able to win it on Hailstone's double in the bottom of the seventh.
"Overall, it was really good," Booten said. "Our backs are against the wall, and they came back to tie it, but our kids never quit, and we found a way to win it in the seventh."
The win was a great example of the team's resilience and character, in which the Legionnaires kept plugging away to survive and advance.
"Yes, I agree," Booten said. "Just a great team effort, and Bryce (Higginbotham) pitched very well, we got some clutch performances and Ted Webb came in and got the win. I'm very proud of all the kids."
The two teams traded single runs in the third to open the scoring, but Alton scored four runs in the home half of the fourth to take a 5-1 lead. Trenton countered with a run in the top of the fifth, then tied it with their three-run seventh before Hailstone came up with the biggest hit of the season to score Callovini with the game-winning run.
Caden Laslie had three hits in the game for Alton, while Hailstone had two hits to go along with his game-winning RBI, Preston Kaylor had a hit and two RBIs, Preston Schepers and Frank Goss both had a hit and drove home a run and both Brady Salzman and Callovini each had a hit.
Higginbotham pitched exceptionally well, going six-and-a-third innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out five, while Webb pitched the last two-thirds of the seventh, allowing just one hit while walking one.
The Legionnaires face Steeleville in the elimination game Friday evening at Centralia in a 6 p.m. start, with the winner moving on to the losers bracket semifinal and final on Saturday. Booten knows the next few games are very important, and his team knows what to do.
"It's survive and advance now," Booten said, "and the kids are really responding well."
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