DODGE CITY — Nothing went Great Bend’s way in the Class AAA American Legion Zone Tournament championship game on Wednesday night.
After rallying to beat Dodge City 8-4 earlier in the night in an elimination game, the Chiefs had their season end at the hands of Garden City in the championship round.
Garden City took an early lead on its way to a 12-1 win, enacting the 10-run rule in the seventh inning at Demon Field.
“Coming off the win in the first game, I think we were still riding pretty high,” Chiefs head coach Michael Stettinger said. “Obviously, we didn’t get out to a very good start. They came out and just started hitting us early.”
Johnny Allende started on the mound, giving up four runs before getting pulled for Tristan Hall, who got out of the first inning,.
Tristan Hall was relieved by Dillon Reiser in the top of the second after giving up a three-run home run to Marcus Zapata as the Blues took an 8-0 lead.
After allowing one run in the fourth, Reiser gave up two hits, two walks and hit batters as the Blues got three more runs across for a 12-0 advantage after five innings.
Tyler Nuss entered the game in relief of Reiser in the sixth, and Nuss was relieved by Jared Maneth in the seventh.
Great Bend managed to get one run across in the bottom of the seventh.
Anson Hall got on base on a throwing error, and scored on a second throwing error after Shade Wondra put the ball in play. Fireballer Edgar Montoya pitched a complete-game four-hitter for Garden City, which advances to the state tournament.
The Chiefs close their season with an 8-29 record.
CLASS AAA AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL
Zone Tournament
Wednesday
At Dodge City
Demon Field
Championship game
Garden City 12, Great Bend 1 (7)
123 456 7 R H E
Garden City 440 130 0 — 12 9 3
Great Bend 000 000 1 — 1 4 1
Edgar Montoya & Daren Aeker; Johnny Allende, Tristan Hall (1), Dillon Reiser (2), Tyler Nuss (5), Jared Maneth (7) & Anson Hall. W — Montoya. L — Allende. 2B — Garden City (Robert Tomlin). HR — Garden City (Marcus Zapata).
