The goal hasn’t changed. It just going to take a few more wins.
After falling into the loser’s bracket of the American Legion A Zone tournament earlier in the day, the Great Bend Braves kept their hopes for a state tournament berth alive with a win in the final game of the day.
GREAT BEND 21, CUNNINGHAM 2 -- Great Bend bounced back from a rough loss to Salina to start the day by advancing to the semifinals of the loser’s bracket at the Great Bend Sports Complex in a game that ended just before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
The Braves rolled to a 21-2 win over the Cunningham Storm and are now just two wins away from the Zone 1 title.
“We jumped on them early in the game and kept it going,” Coach Konner Ireland said.
Great Bend must now beat Russell at 6 pm Wednesday, then knock off the loser of the Salina-Hays title match immediately after that contest to finish the tournament.
“We wanted to get to day three,” Coach Ireland said. “We’ve done that. Now we have that approach that anything can happen.”
The winner of the Salina-Hays game will earn the Zone 2 title and a trip to the state tournament and whoever wins that final game of the day in the loser’s bracket final will earn the Zone 1 title.
Great Bend and Russell will be a rematch of a first round game, won by the Braves, 17-7.
In the win over the Storm, Great Bend wasted no time getting the lead. The Braves plated 10 runs in the first inning, highlighted by a bases loaded triple from Layton Holden to make it a 9-0 lead. Jayce Kohls, Will Linenberger and Jake Kennedy added RBIs. 
From there, it was a matter of keeping that 10-run lead through the fifth inning.
Great Bend made it 12-1 in the second as Will Linenberger singled in Jacob Hinton and scored on a wild pitch. The lead grew to 15-1 in the third and the Braves were well on their way to the win.
Jayce Kohls had a pair of triples and two RBI among his four hits in the win to help pace the offense. Will Linenberger had two hits and three RBI. Holden had three RBI and scored three times.
Pitcher Trevor DeLong threw a three-hitter and struck out three batters.

GREAT BEND 21, CUNNINGHAM 2
Great Bend (10)23 42 – 21 12 2
Cunningham 100 01 – 2 3 6
W – DeLong. L – Cullop. 2B – Hinton, Feist, Great Bend. 3B – Kohls 2, Holden, Martinez, Great Bend; Haumont, Cunningham.

SALINA HAWKS 23, GREAT BEND 0 -- After posting a win in the first round of the Zone tournament Monday night, the fifth seeded Braves had visions of a second upset win against the second seed Salina Hawks.
Those hopes were dampened early and eventually squashed as Salina moved into the winner’s bracket final and a shot at the Zone 2 title with a 23-0 win.
Salina scored three times in the top of the first. A tough start to say the least, but something the Braves might be able to overcome.
Unfortunately, things didn’t get better for Great Bend the next inning. Or the next.
“After that first inning, we just played on our heels the rest of the way,” Coach Konner Ireland. “We let the errors on defense carry over to our offense. We just didn’t hit the ball.”
The Hawks put up six more runs in the second inning and it became obvious the Braves were in trouble.
What small glimmer of hope the Braves had went out the window in the third. Salina scored nine more times and it was just a matter of finishing out the game.
That happened after five innings due to the run-rule.
Christian Zahnter had a pair of doubles for the Braves offensively. Jacob Kennedy, Jayce Kohls, and Jacob Hilton all added singles before the game ended.
Salina will take on Hays for the Zone 2 title at 4 pm today. The loser will play at 8 pm for the Zone 1 title.

SALINA HAWKS 23, GREAT BEND 0
Salina 369 41 – 23 19 0
Great Bend 000 00 – 0 5 8
W – Weiser. L – DeLong. 2B – Bell, Suarez, Salina; Zahnter 2, Great Bend. 3B – Baughman, Salina.

RUSSELL 14, HAYS MONARCHS 9 -- Russell eliminated the top seed in the Zone, knocking the Hays Monarchs out of the loser’s bracket by a 14-9 count. The marathon contest featured 23 runs, 24 hits and 17 errors.
Russell scored in each of the first four innings, putting five runs up in the fourth to take a 13-5 lead on the Monarchs. Hays would get the lead down to 13-9 but could draw no closer.
Russell’s Rhett Posphical had three hits, stole three bases and scored three times from his leadoff spot. Bransen Schulte pitched into the sixth inning to earn the win.

RUSSELL 14, HAYS MONARCHS 9
Russell 323 500 1 – 14 12 9
Hays 401 202 0 – 9 12 8
W – Schulte. L – Newell. 2B – Baalman 2, Posphical, Russell; Harris, Wentling, Hays. 3B – Swanson, Russell; Harris, Hays.

HAYS EAGLES 13, HAYS MONARCHS 1 -- The Hays Eagles wrapped up a great first day at the zone with a 13-1 win over the top-seed and cross-town rival Hays Monarchs. It capped a 39-run day over two games for the Eagles. The Eagles scored five times in the third inning and rolled to the easy win a spot in the winner’s bracket final Wednesday. Colby Dreiling went 3-for-3 and scored three times in the win. He also picked up the win on the mound. Isaac Smith and Dalyn Schwarz bot drove in a pair and scored twice. Hays, the third seed, will take on Salina, the two seed, for the Zone 2 title at 4 pm Wednesday. The loser will play for the Zone 1 title at 8 p.m Wednesday.

HAYS EAGLES 13, HAYS MONARCHS 1
Eagles 205 033 – 13 12 0
Monarchs 000 010 – 1 5 6
W – Robbins. L – Speiss. 2B – Dreiling 2, Haynes, Schwarz, Smith, Eagles. 3B – Dreiling, Eagles.

GREAT BEND A ZONE
WEDNESDAY
Game 7—4 p.m.—Hays Eagles (14-15) vs Salina Hawks (8-10) (Zone 2 championship)
Game 8—6 p.m.—Russell (6-10) vs. Great Bend (9-22)
Game 9—8 p.m.—Winner game 8 vs. loser game 7 (Zone 1 championship)
Winners qualify for A state at Leavenworth

TUESDAY
Game 4—Salina Hawks 23, Great Bend Braves 0
Game 5—Russell 14, Hays TMP 9
Game 6—Great Bend Braves 21, Cunningham 2

MONDAY
Game 1—Hays Eagles 26, Cunningham 0
Game 2—Great Bend Braves 17, Russell 7
Game 3—Hays Eagles 13, Hays-Thomas More Prep 1