Cannon Falls is Only League G Team Alive in Legion Tournament

The Division 2 District 3 American Legion Baseball Tournament opened over the weekend in Montgomery and Lonsdale.

League G champion Kenyon-Wanamingo rolled in their first game Saturday 11-1 in six innings over LeSueur-Henderson and then fell to Jordan 6-5 later in the day before being ousted from the tournament by Elysian-Morristown 6-1 Sunday.

K-W smacked 14 hits in their opening win and Alex Roosen threw four innings to get the win. He struck out four and walked three while allowing just one hit. Roosen, Connor Sviggum and Drew Sathrum each had three hits and Matt Houglum two hits in the contest. All of Sathrum's hits were doubles. Eight of the nine K-W batters had a hit in the game. Sathrum finished the game and then started against Jordan.

He tossed the first three and a third innings striking out three and walking six with three hits against him and Gavin Roosen threw the final three and two-thirds, fanning one and walking four while giving up just two hits.

K-W led heading into the seventh inning. With two outs, an error allowed the tying run to score (he was walked to start the inning) and then Jordan scored again to capture the 6-5 victory. Alex Roosen had three hits again including two doubles to lead the Kenyon-Wanamingo's seven-hit attack and Jordan had five hits.

Sunday, Elysian-Morristown had an incredible pitching performance from Taylor Glende. The right-hander will be a sophomore this fall and really had the K-W hitters off balance. He was not overpowering with just one strike out, but had good movement on his pitches and a very impressive change-up allowing just two hits in the game -- a double by Alex Roosen and a single by Connor Sviggum. Both hits came in the fifth inning. Glende didn't walk anybody.

Meanwhile, Connor Sviggum started the game by hitting Glende with his second pitch. Glende then easily stole second. With one out, Dalton Grose had an RBI single and ended up at third base on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch. With two outs, Dallas McBroom tagged a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a solo homer and the Elysian-Morristown  team was ahead 3-0.

E-M scored in the third inning without a hit. Glende was walked to start the inning, stole second and ended up at third following a passed ball. He would score following an error. E-M loaded the bases to start the fourth inning on a pair of walks and a single and Sviggum then struck out the 8-9-1 hitters to end the inning. E-M got some insurance in the bottom of the sixth, scoring two runs. Another lead-off walk scored on a two-out single after he was singled to second and wild pitched to third. The other run scored on a wild pitch with two outs.

Sviggum struck out 10 and walked five while scattering six hits. K-W pitchers had 18 walks in the three games and 15 in the two losses.

Elysian-Morristown plays Norwood at 4:30PM Friday in Montgomery. The winner of that game will face Cannon Falls at 11AM Saturday in Lonsdale.

Cannon Falls won their first two games by scores of 7-2 over Norwood and 2-0 in nine innings over Montgomery before falling to Belle Plaine 7-3 on Sunday.

The Belle Plaine game started very ugly for Cannon Falls, with three errors aiding in a four-run first inning. Starting pitcher Michael Monson deserved a much better fate. None of those first inning runs was earned. He was relieved after going four and a third innings by Quinton Lindow. Monson's line showed no strikeouts and two walks (which did score) while giving up eight hits. Lindow had a strikeout and a walk and allowed two hits.

Cannon Falls just couldn't put a crooked number on the board. They had 10 hits off John Vinkemeier with multiple hits in three innings, yet had lone runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings. Vinkemeier struck out four and walked only one batter in the game.

Randolph had a very good showing in the tournament falling 2-1 to Belle Plaine and 5-3 to Elysian-Morristown and Zumbrota-Mazeppa lost to defending district, state and region champ Plato before ending their season against Watertown.

Plato lost to Sibley East 9-6 in the winner bracket and then fell to Norwood 5-3, so there will be a new champion next weekend.

Still alive in the loser's bracket are Elysian-Morristown, Norwood and Cannon Falls, Woodbury, Montgomery and Sibley East.

Jordan rolled over Sibley East in the winner bracket 12-2 in six innings and plays Belle Plaine at 11AM Saturday in Montgomery.