The easiest route to the AAA State Legion title is staying in the winner’s bracket. Two teams are left in that situation after two days of play at the Great Bend Sports Complex.
Chanute defeated McPherson 6-3 and Ottawa run-ruled Salina, 10-0, in four innings during the winner’s bracket semifinals Thursday night.
The two will meet in the winner’s bracket final tonight at 6 pm. Chanute will take a 25-5 record into the game while Ottawa, the defending state champion, is 32-6.
McPherson (23-6) will move into the loser’s bracket and a match-up with Great Bend (27-16) at 10 am. Salina (16-19) will play Newton (17-17) at Noon in another loser’s bracket game.

Chanute 6, McPherson 3
Chanute won the first game of the session in a match-up of two 5-loss teams.
Each team score a pair of runs in the opening inning. Chanute took the lead for good in the third with two more runs. Rhett Smith and Josh Miller scored to give Chanute a 4-2 lead.
After McPherson cut it to 4-3 in the fifth, Chanute added single runs in the fifth and sixth to secure the win.
Jacob Eitel, Smith, Miller, and Aaron Haviland each had two hits for Chanute.

Ottawa 10, Salina 0
In the final game of the day, Ottawa took a first inning lead and never looked back.
The Arrows loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Tate Jung made it 1-0 with a single to center. Trenton Ferguson scored on a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0 and the Arrows were on their way.
Ottawa continued scoring in the second. The Falcons helped out with a key error early in the inning on a sacrifice bunt to allow Jayden Creach to score from second. Ferguson followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0 on the way to a 6-0 lead after two.
The Arrows kept the pressure on in the third. Parenti came up big in the inning with a 2-run double to push the lead to 9-0.
Clayton Evans worked around base runners in three of the four innings but was only in trouble once.
Salina threatened in the fourth with runners on second and third with one out, but three straight strikeouts by Evans kept the Falcons off the board.
The game ended in the bottom of the fourth by run-rule when Johnny Nash singled to score Jung.

AAA State Legion Tournament
Great Bend Sports Complex
Wednesday’s Games
G1—McPherson 11, Oskaloosa 3
G2—Chanute 6, Newton 3
G3—Salina Falcons 4, Emporia 2
G4——Ottawa 9, Great Bend 0

Thursday’s Games
G5—Newton 3, Oskaloosa 1 (Oskalooa eliminated)
G6—Great Bend Chiefs 13, Emporia 4 (Emporia eliminated)
G7—6 p.m.—Chanute 6, McPherson 3
G8— 8:30 p.m.—Ottawa 10, Salina Falcons 0

Friday’s Games
G9—McPherson 11, Great Bend Chiefs 7 (Chiefs eliminated)
G10—12:30 p.m.—Newton (17-17) vs. Salina Falcons (16-19) (loser eliminated)
G11— 5 p.m.—Ottawa (32-6) vs. Chanute (25-5)
G12—8:30 p.m—McPherson (24-6) vs. Winner Game 10 (loser eliminated)

Saturday’s Games
G13—10 a.m.—Winner G12 vs loser G11 (loser eliminated)
G14—12:30 p.m.—Winners Games 11, 13

Sunday’s Game
G15—10 a.m.—same teams as G14 (if needed)

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