BY: Mike Glesinger PANHANDLE POST
The Class B, Area 7 Junior baseball tournament came down to a final, winner take all game, Tuesday night at Sidney's Legion Field. The Alliance FNBO Spartans were 2-0 in tournament play and in the Championship game needing just one win to take the title.
Chadron, who won the Area 7 Crown last season, had lost a hard fought 4-3 game to the Spartans in the semi-finals Sunday, but battled back to eliminate Sidney 9-8 on Monday night to move into a rematch with Alliance, and would need 2 more wins to take the Championship. Chadron took the first game 6-5 to force a 2nd title game. The two teams went back and forth with Alliance taking a 5-3 win to earn a berth in the Class B Junior State Tournament. Alliance will be back at State for the first time since 2019.
Other tournament scores...Friday July 8, Sidney 5 Ogallala 4. Chadron 9 Gering 1. Saturday July 9, Alliance 6 Sidney 4. Ogallala 8 Gering 7. Sunday July 10, Alliance 4 Chadron 3. Sidney 15 Ogallala 5.
This years Junior State Tournament will be played at Sam Crawford Field in Wahoo, NE beginning Saturday, July 16. The double elimination event will run to July 20. Alliance will face Area 4 Champ Sutton in their opening game, Saturday, at 1 pm CT. The other teams will include the host team and Area 3 Champion Wahoo. Area 1 winner--Hickman, Area 2--Plattsmouth, Area 3--runner up Lincoln Christian, Area 5--Wayne and Area 6--Broken Bow.
The tentative schedule:
Saturday July 16
Plattsmouth vs Wayne...10 am CT
Alliance vs Sutton...1 pm CT
Lincoln Christian vs Hickman...4 pm CT
Wahoo vs Broken Bow...7 pm CT
Sunday July 17
Elimination games at 10 and 1 pm . Winners bracket games at 4 and 7 pm
Monday July 18
Elimination games at 1 and 4 pm. Winners bracket game at 7 pm
Tuesday July 19
1 and 7 pm
Wednesday July 20
Championship Game at 5 pm with 2nd game to follow if necessary
KCOW 1400 AM and 92.5 FM and streamed on panhandlepost.com will broadcast the Alliance Spartan games as far as they advance. Coverage will begin Saturday at 12 pm MT.