The season came to an end for the Chadron American Legion Post 12 FNBO Juniors on Saturday as they lost to the Alliance Peltz Company Spartans 7-0 in an elimination game at the Class B Area 7 tournament in Gering.
The game was actually a pitchers duel until the last inning. Alliance scored twice in the 1st, but otherwise Chadron’s Creighton Ryan and the Spartans’ Tony Escamilla dominated the batters until the Nationals gave up 5 runs in the 7th, 3 of them unearned.
Escamilla went the distance for Alliance, giving up just 1 hit while striking out 4 and walking none to get the victory.
Ryan gave up 4 hits and struck out 4, but walked 6 before leaving with 1 out in the 7th. Derek Bissonette followed, but yielded a pair of unearned runs on a walk and a hit. Tobin Landen got the final out after giving up a walk
Chadron had dropped into the elimination game by losing their opener to top-seeded Sidney 3-2.
Just as in the Alliance game, the Nationals gave up 2 runs in the 1st, but rallied to tie the game with single runs in the 6th and 7th, only to see Sidney score in the bottom of the 7th for the win.
Alliance next plays the loser of tonight’s winners bracket game between Gering and Sidney in the semifinals tomorrow at noon with the championship game against tonight’s winner at 3:00.
If the unbeaten team loses, a winner-takes-all second game would follow to determine who goes to the state tournament next week in Alliance. Alliance is already guaranteed a spot at state as the host team.