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Legion Tournament - Sidney shoots down Buckley, 11-7

Pile's hot bat, solid defense secures third place for Post 17 in home event

No single aspect ensured Sidney's 11-7 win in Sunday's third place game of Post 17's home tournament.

On offense, Sidney belted out 14 hits, four of them for extra bases, and took advantage of several key Buckley errors. In the field, they committed no miscues, turned a double play and on four occasions left Bombers stranded in scoring position.

"Everyone pulled together," observed second baseman Jaden Sears.

If one item caused the visitors considerable harm, however, it was the bat of Post 17 centerfielder Austin Pile, who tormented pitchers throughout the weekend.

Pile struck first in the bottom of the second. With two out in a 3-3 game, he ripped a double off the wall in left center, driving in Skyler Arent's courtesy runnier Mitch Rolls and Keaton Wakefield.

"I thought it was gone," Pile reported (as did first base coach Tim Herrera, who shouted the same as the ball seemed to disappear). "Then I saw the outfielder reach down to pick it up and I thought 'uh oh.'"

He beat the throw to second easily.

The next inning he stepped to the plate with Arent and Bradey Holtz on base and Sidney holding onto a 7-5 advantage. This time he clubbed a Chance Dunker offering to the left field warning track, scoring both runners.

Pile had struggled at the plate in the season's early stages. But he exploded in the home tournament, pounding out 10 hits in 15 at bats, recording 4 doubles and 7 RBI.

"I just feel like I'm seeing the ball better, I'm more relaxed at the plate," he explained.

Although Buckley jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, adding a couple more scores in the third, the back to back five run innings Sidney put together in the second and third were more than enough for Arent to work with. Making only this second appearance on the hill all year, the big righthander shut the Bombers down for much of the game, even working out of a two on, no out jam in the fifth.

"At first I was a little shaky," he admitted.

He threw only one curve, preferring to hit locations and force Buckley batters to hit the ball. Sears fielded six balls at second. Shortstop Travis Garska scooped five. By the time Arent reached his pitch count limit and surrendered the mound to Garska he was in full command.

"At the end I didn't want to stop," Arent said.

The win concluded a 3-1 weekend for Post 17 and third place in the Sidney tournament.

Linescore

Buckley 3 0 2  0 0 2  0 – 7

Sidney 0 5 5  0 1 0  x – 11

WP - Arent

LP - Spencer

AB R H

Holtz 3b, ss   3 2 1

Pile cf 4 0 3

Onstott  c 4 0 2

Phillips  rf 3 2 1

Sears  2b 3 1 1

Garska ss, p 4 1 3

Burton 1b, 3b 4 2 2

Arent p, 1b 4 2 1

Wakefield  lf 3 1 0

 

2B

Pile (2), Onstott, Sears

RBI

Pile (4), Garska (3), Arent (2), Onstott, Burton

IP H BB K ER

Arent 5.1 9 2 2 6

Garska 1.2 2 1 3 1

 

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