Bears throw scare into defending champions

The Independence VFW Post 1000 Bears may be winless in the American Legion Wood Bat Invitational, but they came close to pulling off one of the biggest splashes of the tournament.
The Bears had the defending Wood Bat champion Niwot (Colo.) Cougars down 2-0 going into the seventh inning Thursday morning.
But the Cougars spoiled the upset bid, scoring twice in the seventh to send it into extra innings and once in the ninth to win it 3-2.
“It was a pretty good experience because they were a real good team,” said Bears pitcher Kyle Jackson, who suffered the loss despite allowing just five hits in a nine-inning complete game. “We played really good defense until we had a couple of errors late. It was pretty frustrating not to win that.”
Worn out by nine innings in the hot sun, the Bears wilted in a 9-0, five-inning loss to Papillion (Neb.) Post 32 Pinnacle Bank later Thursday.
“I think that first game killed us; the guys seemed a little tired in this one,” manager Ron Phillips said after his Bears (8-26, 0-3 Wood Bat) were eliminated from reaching the championship bracket with Thursday’s losses. “We had ’em down in that first one. All we had to do was hold on.”
An error and a walk helped Niwot tie it in the seventh. An error in the ninth put the winning run on base.
The Bears jumped on top 2-0 in the fifth when Omar Herrera’s double scored Matt Lickey and Dustin Collins. Eddie High had two of the Bears’ six hits.
Jackson allowed just one walk and one earned run while striking out seven.
“I was hitting my spots real good,” Jackson said of the key to his success. “And my changeup was working.”
Little worked against Papillion Post 32. Joey Kenney had two of the Bears’ four hits. Lickey took the loss, allowing nine hits.
Post 32 manufactured two runs in each of the first and third innings and then ended it early on the mercy rule with five in the fifth. Jon Woods’ two-run double, RBI singles by Jacob Krska and Nick Yost and an RBI double by J.J. Waldron put it out of reach.
“We just didn’t have anything left for this game,” said Phillips, whose team concludes American League East pool play at 12:30 p.m. today against Quincy (Ill.) Post 37 at Hidden Valley Park Field 1.