It has been a big week for Independence Post 21 pitcher Travis Sitzman.
Last Monday night he was the winning pitcher in a 10-2 victory over the Blue Springs Rod’s Sports A’s.
Then Friday, with relief help from Alex Dunn, he pitched Post 21 past Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 5-0 and into the winner’s bracket finals of the Springfield Holiday Invitational Tournament against the A’s.
The A’s stopped Mountain Home (Ark.) 8-0 Friday.
Post 340 plays at 1:30 p.m. Saturday with the loser eliminated. If Post 340 prevails it will play again at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with that winner playing at noon Sunday against the Post 21-A’s loser.
The Post 21-A’s winner advances to Sunday’s 3 p.m. finals with another game to follow if needed in the double elimination tournament.
Sitzman struck out two, walked five and scattered six hits for the win. Dunn pitched the final two innings.
Shane Noland allowed only five hits, struck out seven and walked eight in suffering the loss.
“Noland threw a pretty good ballgame,” Post 21 manager Tom Bush said. “He kept his team in the game. He beat us once this season. He seems to give us fits.
“Sitzman worked behind hitters but Dunn came in and closed the door. When he comes in, he will throw strikes. You have to beat him with the bat. He has pitched in relief in all three of our games (in the tournament) with two saves.”
Jamie Hayes singled twice and Mike King tripled for Post 21, which improved to 23-9 with its 20th win in its last 22 games.
Post 340 manager Gary Stone pointed to the lack of timely hitting as his team’s downfall Friday.
“We left 13 runners on base,” he said. “When they walked, they scored. When we walked, we didn’t. It was frustrating with all those people on base. We had our opportunities.”
It was only the second loss in the last 11 games for Post 340 (15-18).
Kyle Barbeck struck out 12, allowed only two hits and walked none in pitching the A’s (30-5) to within two wins of their first Springfield title since 2005.
“He was outstanding,” A’s manager Mike Rooney said of Barbeck. “He had good command. It took him a couple of innings to get his curveball working. When you struck out 12 guys you are having a pretty outstanding game.
“We played a very strong game with great defense. We had some timely hitting and good base running. The kids played good, focused baseball. We had some real nice bunts again. The bunting game was a factor in the game. Our first three runs scored on bunts.”
Matt McHenry led a nine-hit A’s attack with two singles, double and four RBIs. Chace Ellis had a two-run triple and Bret Schwartz singled with two RBIs.
Post 21 seeks its fifth Springfield title and first since 2006. Because of rain, last year’s tournament was shortened with the three remaining undefeated teams, including Post 21, sharing in the title.
INDEPENDENCE POST 21 5, SPRINGFIELD GLENDALE 2: Post 21 rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score. Then Kyle Clifton’s two-run single keyed a winning three-run rally in the eighth as Post 21 advanced to the Springfield Holiday Invitational winner’s bracket semifinals on Thursday.
Chris Booth allowed only four hits and struck out eight in seven innings. Alex Dunn pitched the eighth for the win.
“This was a good win for us,” Post 21 manager Tom Bush said. “The kid pitching for Glendale shut us down the whole game. When he went out in the eighth we found a way to scratch a couple of runs to win.
“Booth threw a whale of a game. It was probably the best game he has ever thrown for me.”
Post 21 tied it in the seventh on a wild pitch. Clifton, Mike King and Joe Ruhlman each finished with two hits.
Booth held Glendale scoreless after it posted two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
HI-BOY DRIVE IN/POST 340 8, REPUBLIC 2: Post 340 also advanced to the Springfield Holiday Invitational winner’s bracket semifinals as Vince Langkamp pitched a four-hitter and struck out seven.
Parker Jones singled and tripled and Cole Caruthers, Philip DeGrace, Josh Barnes and Brandon Wade each had two hits to account for Hi-Boy’s 10 hits.
Post 340 (15-17) scored in five of six innings in posting its ninth win in the last 10 games.
“It was nice win,” Post 340 manager Gary Stone said. “Right now the kids are playing pretty good. We have been here before (semifinals). We’ll see if we can keep it going.”
BLUE SPRINGS ROD’S SPORTS A’S 9, WILLARD 1: Bret Sutton pitched a five-inning one-hitter with five strikeouts and Matt McHenry doubled, hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs as the A’s posted a quarterfinal victory over Willard Thursday.
“Sutton pitched a very, very good game,” A’s manager Mike Rooney said. “He kept them off-balance. He threw strikes except for two walks.
“We hit exceptionally well and ran the bases well. Everyone in the startling lineup got a hit. You have to be happy with that.”
Chace Ellis singled and doubled and Kyle Seithel singled twice for the A’s, who coasted after scoring two first-inning runs.
BLUE SPRINGS POST 499/FIKE 5-5, LEE’S SUMMIT POST 189 PIRATES 3-1: Blue Springs Post 499/Fike used good pitching and defense and timely hitting to sweep the Pirates at Hidden Valley Park Thursday night.
The first game counted in the district standings. The second non-district game was played with wood bats.
Fike starter Blaine Hines went six innings for the first-game victory. Stephan Keele worked the seventh for the save.
Fike scored three runs in the fifth inning to erase a 2-2 deadlock and take a 5-2 lead.
Ross Taylor drove in two runs and Kirk Huismann and Keele each had a RBI double and Danny McMurtrey doubled.
Josh Ganote singled twice and Kevin Wright had a RBI single for the Pirates.
“Hines did a good job for us,” Post 499 manager Jim Moran said.
In the second game, Lucas Jensen threw a complete-game five-hitter to help Fike to the victory.
Michael Stroup had a two-run single and Daniel Segalo singled twice with two RBIs to power Post 499’s offense.
Luke Werner doubled twice and drove in the Pirates’ only run in the seventh inning.
“We played good defense behind him (Jensen),” Moran said. “It was really good to come and play well. The (first) win kept us in the district race. It was fun to watch the guys swing the wood bats. They were two big wins for us.”
Fike (20-12) improved to 11-3 in the district with doubleheaders remaining with Independence Post 21 and Post 340.
The Pirates dropped to 8-9 in the district and 13-12 overall.
The Blue Springs Rod’s Sports A’s are the district leader at 15-2 and Post 21 is in second place at 13-3.
AMERICAN LEGION LINESCORES
FRIDAY, JULY 4 RESULTS
SPRINGFIELD HOLIDAY INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
BLUE SPRINGS ROD’S SPORTS A’S 8,
MOUNTAIN HOME (ARK.) 0
A’s 030 023 0 — 8 9 0
Mountain Home 000 000 0 — 0 2 3
Barbeck and McHenry; Melton and Holder. W-Barbeck. L-Melton.
INDEPENDENCE POST 21 5,
HI-BOY DRIVE IN/POST 340 0
Post 21 011 120 0 — 5 5 0
Post 340 000 000 0 — 0 6 3
Sitzman, Dunn (6) and Clifton; Noland, Fitzmaurice (7) and Jones. W-Sitzman. L-Noland.
THURSDAY, JULY 3 RESULTS
BLUE SPRINGS POST 499/FIKE 5,
LEE’S SUMMIT POST 189 PIRATES 3
Post 499 020 030 0 — 5 6 2
Post 189 000 201 0 — 3 6 2
Hines, Keele (7) and White and Stroup (7); Parker and Haug. W-Hines. L-Parker.
BLUE SPRINGS POST 499/FIKE 5,
LEE’S SUMMIT POST 189 PIRATES 1
Post 499 000 401 0 — 5 4 0
Post 189 000 000 1 — 1 5 0
Jensen and Stroup; Louderback, Manley (4) and Embree. W-Jensen. L-Louderback.
SPRINGFIELD HOLIDAY INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
BLUE SPRINGS ROD/S SPORTS A’S 9,
WILLARD 1
A’s 213 04 — 9 12 0
Willard 000 10 — 1 1 10
B. Sutton and McHenry; Cobb, Scott (5) and Phillips. W-Sutton. L-Cobb. HR: McHenry.
INDEPENDENCE POST 21 5,
SPRINGFIELD GLENDALE 2, 8 INNS.
Post 21 000 000 23 — 5 7 2
Glendale 200 000 00 — 2 4 3
Booth, Dunn (8) and Clifton; Wheat, Gray (8) and Gipson. W-Dunn. L-Gray.
HI-BOY DRIVE IN/POST 340 8,
REPUBLIC 2
Republic 002 000 0 — 2 4 1
Post 340 031 121 x — 8 10 2
Robertson, Carano (4), Marler (6) and Cotter; Langkamp and Jones. W-Langkamp. L-Robertson.
