Lots of drama. There is something about the Crofton Legion teams.
They seem to always hit their stride in dramatic fashion when it counts - Area tournament time.
Last week, Crofton hosted the Nebraska American Legion C-1 Area tournament, with American Legion, Sons of the American Legion and baseball volunteers working hard to bring a successful tourney to town.
The local No. 4-seeded Crofton Juniors team responded to their home field advantage by winning the tournament, a path that had the local boys defeating top-seeded Hartington, not once, but twice.
In what turned out to be the championship game, Crofton took a commanding early lead, 8-0, only to see that lead dwindle into the final innings before sealing the victory.
The deep run started Saturday, July 8, when the Juniors beat up on Randolph, 12-0. After beating Hartington, 7-4, they went on to soundly defeat Tri-County, 18-3 on Sunday night, July 9.
Among these matchups, the first game versus Hartington was the most exciting.
Crofton took the early lead in the game, scoring two runs in the second inning and adding another run in the third, holding a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 5th inning. Hartington added a run to get close, but Crofton came roaring back, tacking on four runs in the sixth inning to take a commanding 7-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Hartington was able to get rolling, adding three more runs, but it wasn’t enough. Crofton outhit Hartington 8 hits to 3 in the matchup.
The rematch took place Tuesday night, July 11.
Once again, Crofton took the early lead, adding three runs in the first and five more in the second to make it 8-0. It would be the bottom of the fourth inning before Hartington would get on the board with two runs.
Still comfortable, Crofton had opportunities to extend their lead, but nothing materialized. Hartington tacked on four more runs in the sixth, and momentum seemed to be with the top-seed.
But in the bottom of the seventh, their rally fizzled out when they could only add another run to the tally before the final out was called, giving Crofton the 8-7 win and punching their ticket to the state tourney in Imperial.
The C-1 Area tournament champs including front row (left to right) Wyatt Tramp, Zack Foxhoven, Ian Haberman, Sam Birger, Brady Bloomquist, Jack Drotzmann, Grant
Schieffer and Zac Tramp; and the back row (left to right) coach Dan McFarland, head coach Jason Babcock, Nolan Babcock, Jack Miller, Jace Panning, Braxton Foxhoven,
Tyson Sanger, Jake Hockstein, Josh Palensky and coach Tyler Potts.