American Legion: Working Hard

Post 167 spilt with Fairfield Sunday on the road and did so without three of its starters.

The Harrisburg American Legion team knocked off Fairfield 7-3 in Game 1, but lost 9-4 in Game 2.

Post 167 now stands at 10-5 overall and are 7-3 in District play.

In the opener, Adam Ninness had three-run blast to break a 3-3 tie in the last inning where Harrisburg scored four runs for the win.

Noah Vallette also had three hits, while Bryce Emery, Presley Gauch and Ninness all had two hits. Drew Woolcott, Briton Riden, Kent Cletcher and Sean Mondino each had one hit for a total of 12 on the day.

On the mound, Emery pitched the complete game, allowing three runs, six hits and struck out 12.

In Game 2, Vallette also stuck out 12 over six innings, while allowing six runs. Woolcott came on in relief in the seventh and allowed three runs.

At the dish, Austin Stevens, Emery and Gauch all had two hits for Harrisburg, while Woolcott, Vallette, Riden and Cletcher all had one hit.

"Fairfield scored four unanswered runs in the first inning and we just could not recover from that until the last few innings to lose the game 9-4," Harrisburg head coach Doug Emery said. "We were short a few starters and it allowed other players to play, I thought overall we had a good effort as Fairfield always has a good competitive team. They draw players from Albion and Cisne and will be a team tough to beat in the tournament and I felt fortunate to get the split on the road."

Harrisburg was without Jordan Gould, Austin Hefner and Patrick Bittle. Gould and Hefner were playing for Team Southern Illinois in Chicago over the weekend for HHS head coach Jay Thompson.

Post 167 is scheduled to host Marion on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and host Gallatin County Friday at 6 p.m., all at Gibbs Field.