The rubber game is set. This one will be for the American Legion AAA State Championship.
Ottawa forced a second title game by scoring 13 runs in the final two innings for a 19-7 win over Chanute Saturday. Ottawa repeated as Class AAA state champions with an 8-2 victory over Chanute Sunday.
It will be the seventh meeting between the two teams this year. Each has won three. Chanute swept Ottawa in Chanute early in the year while Ottawa returned the favor with a home sweep of Chanute a few weeks later.
The two teams met in the winner’s bracket final Friday where Chanute won in dramatic fashion in extra innings before the first title game battle Saturday won by Ottawa.
The game Saturday was a wild one.
Ottawa established the lead right out of the gates with a big top of the first. Dayne Jung drove home Conner Stepp and Trenton Ferguson with a one-out double to right. It was the beginning of a monster game for for Jung. Tate Jung followed with another standup double and Ottawa led 3-0.
Keegan Finch made it three straight doubles, scoring Tate Jung and increasing the lead to 4-0. Finch came in to score on a single by Jayden Creach that ran Chanute starter Gavin Dillow from the game.
Chanute was not phased, loading the bases before Friday night’s hero Hunter Friederich singled in Kenton Richards to cut it to 5-1. That was followed by a single from Jakob Fiscus to make it 5-2 and a double by Aaron Haviland that scored Josh Miller and Friederich to cut the margin to 5-4.
Kyler Manbeck singled in Fiscus to tie the game. Chanute took a 6-5 lead on Corey Whitcomb double that scored Manbeck forcing the Arrows’ starter Jared Parenti from the game in the first inning as well.
After the dust of the opening inning settled, Chanute had the lead.
From there, some normalcy came back to the Sports Complex as Chanute’s Keaton Holmes and Ottawa’s Chance Crowley settled things down on the mound for the next few innings.
Ottawa had things set up for a big inning in the fourth, loading the bases with no outs on an error, walk and single. But the Arrows were only able to get one unearned run across, tying the game at 6-all.
Then things got wild again the final two innings.
Ottawa again loaded the bases in the fifth with one out and this time didn’t stop there.
Parenti gave Ottawa the lead with a single to score Clayton Evans then added another run on a sacrifice fly by Ferguson. Dayne Jung followed with a single to score Alex Stepp and Tate Jung singled in Parenti.
Finch delieverd a 2-run double to score both Jung’s and Ottawa was back in control with a 12-6 lead before the inning was over.
Ottawa continued the onslaught in the sixth with seven more runs. Dayne Jung had the big blow in the innings with bases-clearing double. It was his fourth hit of the game – second double. It have him seven RBI.
Crowley was impressive in relief, allowing just two hits and one run over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked just one.
Ottawa 19, Chanute 7
Ottawa 500 167 19 16 1
Chanute 600 001 7 8 3
Parenti, Crowley (1) and D Jung; Dillow, Holmes (1), Bailey (5), Babcock (6) and Friederich. W-Crowley. L-Holmes. 2B–D. Jung 2, T Jung, Finch 2, Ottawa; Haviland, Whitcomb, Chanute. 3B–Fiscus, Chanute.
Ottawa 3, McPherson 0
In a rematch of last year’s state championship contest, Ottawa eliminated McPherson and secured a return trip to the title game with a 3-0 win over McPherson to open play Saturday.
The Arrows’ Trenton Ferguson was stellar on the mound, tossing a no-hitter to lead Ottawa back to the title game.
Ottawa scored all the runs it needed in the bottom of the second. Tate Jung scored on a sacrifice fly and Conner Stepp drove in a pair on a single to make it 3-0.
That was plenty for Ferguson on the mound. Ferguson struggled through his first two innings, walking four batters in those two frames.
In the final five innings, Ferguson allowed just more base runner on his fifth walk of the game. Ferguson struck out seven including the final two batters of the game to complete the no-hitter.
He retired the final 11 batters of the contest to keep Ottawa’s repeat title chances alive.
Ottawa 3, McPherson 0
McPherson 000 000 0 -- 0 0 1
Ottawa 030 000 x -- 3 5 0
Kalkorst, Schmidt (2) and Starkel; Ferguson and Brown. W-Ferguson. L-Kalkorst. 2B–Finch, Parenti, Ottawa.
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—Chanute 6, McPherson 3
G8——Ottawa 10, Salina Falcons 0
Friday’s Games
G9—McPherson 11, Great Bend Chiefs 7 (Chiefs eliminated)
G10——Salina Falcons 15, Newton 2 (Newton eliminated)
G11—Chanute 9, Ottawa 3, 8 innings
G12—McPherson 5, Salina Fakcons 4 (Salina eliminated)
Saturday’s Games
G13—Ottawa 3, McPherson 0 (McPherson eliminated)
G14—Ottawa 19, Chanute 7
Sunday’s Games
G15—Ottawa 8, Chanute 2 (Ottawa qualifies for Midwest Regional, Conway, Ark.)
