American Legion: Heating Up
It was a weekend where the Harrisburg American Legion baseball team racked up the wins.
First, Post 167 rebounded from a loss Wednesday night against McLeansboro and beat Benton 8-6 Thursday.
On Saturday, Harrisburg was solid in a pair of wins against McLeansboro, sweeping them 5-1 and 7-0 and on Sunday, Post 167 took out Metropolis 5-4 and 7-4 at Gibbs Field in Harrisburg.
In the win over Benton, Harrisburg used four pitchers in a scheduled seven inning game and scored two runs in the top of the ninth.
"It was a great effort and win after a tough loss the night before," Post 167 head coach Doug Emery said. "{I was proud of the way the kids bounced back to beat a very good Benton team. Our pitching was very excellent all night, we made some errors but we had some kids out of position that played places they had not played in a while, but we were able to hang in there for the win."
Noah Vallette started and worked two innings, followed by a pair of innings from Bryce Emery. Patrick Bittle pitched the fifth for Harrisburg and Adam Ninness pitched the sixth and seventh, while Emery came back on to work the eighth and ninth inning.
Combined, Post 167 allowed just five hits on six runs.
At the plate however, Harrisburg pounded out 11 hits on the day as Britton Riden led the charge with a three-hit night. Jordan Gould, Bittle and Vallette each had two hits with Josh Pilkington and Emery each coming away with one.
In the top of the ninth, Emery walked and Vallette drove him in with a double down the third base line and scored himself on another double to left center by Riden, in what turned out to be the winning runs as Emery came in and shut the door in the ninth.
"We really had some players step it up and show me they want to play," Emery added. "It was a good win for the whole team. We were a little short handed tonight with a few players missing but these are the type of games that can bring a team together so I am looking forward to see just what they can do by tournament time."
Post 167 were still short handed in Saturday's double header win over McLeansboro as four starters were missing from the lineup, but that didn't stop Bryce Emery from swinging a hot stick.
The outgoing senior from Harrisburg High School and SIC signee smacked two home runs, including a three-run blast in the second inning of Game 1.
Harrisburg had seven hits in the 5-1 win with Kent Cletcher coming up with two hits and Vallette, Ninness and Pilkington each having one.
On the bump, Ninness and Bittle combined for the win as the two pitched a six-hitter.
In Game 2, Bittle went the distance, allowing three hits with 10 strikeouts.
Emery added another home run in the 7-0 win and had two hits in the game, as did Cletcher. Austin Stevens, Bittle, Vallette and Riden all had a hit.
On Sunday, Harrisburg took the first game from Metropolis 5-4. The first game, which count in the district standings, now puts Harrisburg at 8-3 overall and 5-2 in league play.