WHEATON – The Alton American Legion Post 126 junior baseball team won a tournament in Wheaton over the weekend, going 4-1 over the weekend to take top honors heading into this coming weekend's Illinois District 22 tournament in Valmeyer.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“The kids really competed well over the weekend; I'm very proud of them,” said Post 126 manager Dennis Sharp. “There were some really good teams in the tournament.”
The junior Legionnaires have won not only this tournament, but one in Breese earlier in the season; they took their record to 25-13 on the summer with the win.
Post 126 began play on Friday with a pair of wins, Rylee Bernot throwing a three-hit shutout over Altamont in a 9-0 win in their tournament opener; a six-run top of the fourth helped break the game open, with Bernot striking out 10 for Alton and Ben Mossman contributing a triple in a 1-for-4 game. Ryan Best, Gage Booten, Cullen McBride, Griffin Bianco, Wesley Laaker, Owen Stendebach and Issac Spencer all had hits for Alton, with Best, Bianco and Spencer each scoring twice and McBride and Dylan LaHue driving in two runs.
Later in the day, Alton scored twice each in the first and second to defeat host Wheaton 4-1, with Laaker going six innings for the win and Adam Stilts throwing the seventh for the save; Laaker dismissed six by strikeout and Stilts retired the side in order to preserve the win. Booten went 2-for-3 with a run scored, Bryce Parish was 2-for-4 with a RBI and run scored and Mossman 2-for-3 with a RBI for Post 126, with Best, McBride and Stendebach each having a hit and Bianco a RBI.
Saturday, Alton defeated Ford Iroquois County 2-1 as Parish fanned one in 4.1 innings pitched; Stilts went 2.2 innings for the save, striking out one as well; Post 126 scored in the second and fourth and conceded a run to Iroquois County in the sixth but held them off for the win. Mossman was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored, with Best, McBride, Bianco and LaHue each having hits; Bianco had the other run scored for Post 126.
Moline the scored twice in the sixth to defeat Alton 2-1; McBride took the loss, going two innings and striking out three; Best got the start and went five innings, fanning four Moline hitters. Parish went 2-for-3 with a double and had the only Alton run scored; Mossman, Booten, Bianco, John Durrwacher, Bernot and Stilts each had hits for Alton.
Sunday, Alton turned the tables on Moline, scoring the winning run in the sixth for a 2-1 triumph; Post 126 took the lead in the third with a solo run, but Moline tied it in the fourth before Alton's winning run in the sixth. Stilts went the distance on the mound, fanning 10 Moline hitters for the win; McBride was 1-for-2 with a double with Best and Booten each scoring runs and Booten, McBride (a double) and Bianco each having hits and Mossman getting a RBI.
More like this:
Feeney, 56, is a native of Granite City and graduated from Granite City South in 1978. He was a part-time writer for the old Granite City Journal from 1979-84 before attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston,
from which he earned his BA in journalism in 1988. He has worked for newspapers in Sikeston, Mo., Rocky Mount, N.C., Seneca, S.C. and in Charleston-Mattoon. He also worked for the old St. Clair County Suburban
Journals.
