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Sports

St. Charles Legion Season Ends After Loss to West O'Fallon

An eight-run fifth inning proves too much for Post 312 to overcome as they end its summer at 37-12.

LOU BROCK SPORTS COMPLEX–The St. Charles Post #312 senior American Legion baseball team was one strike away from having its 2011 season end early on Saturday afternoon.

Post 312 was down one run in the bottom of the ninth inning to Moberly Post #6 with batter Matt Glanzner () facing a two-out, two-strike high-stakes situation.

But then a minor miracle happened.

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Glanzner blooped a double in front of the Moberly right fielder to tie the score, and two batters later Zach Jones (Orchard Farm High) smacked a double over the right-fielder’s head to win the game and set off a wild St. Charles celebration on the Lindenwood University field.

Unfortunately, that victory only meant St. Charles would get to play one more game.

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After the emotional drain of the Moberly win, Post 312 didn’t have much left for its late game against West O’Fallon, and eventually lost that matchup, 12-5.

“After the celebration, I was a little worried about how much we had left,” Post 312 head coach Kurt Denningmann said. “But it’s just typical of these guys, they gave me everything they had. I couldn’t be more proud.”

The more-rested West O’Fallon squad jumped right on St. Charles, scoring a single run in the first and three more in the third to take an early 4-0 lead.

Post 312 mounted a rally in the fifth that allowed the team to take the lead.

St. Charles sent nine men to the plate in that frame, powered by two-run singles by Sam Chambers () and Michael Eimer (). Post 312 scored five runs and grabbed a 5-4 lead over West.

“When we got those five runs, I kinda thought maybe we might be able to pull this off,” Denningmann said.

“I thought us playing back-to-back games was a more beneficial position than what West had to do, play one early, then come back and play again late. But you could kind of see the fatigue starting to set in for us in the late innings.”

Especially in the bottom half of the fifth when West sent 12 men to the plate, and scored eight runs on just five hits.

St. Charles helped the Jags out some in that inning by committing two errors and throwing two wild pitches.

“Our defense has been outstanding all year,” Denningmann said. “So when we started making some of those errors like that, that’s when I knew our guys were getting a little tired.”

St. Charles went 2-2 in the AAA Zone Tournament with both wins coming over Moberly and both losses coming to the West Jags. It finishes the summer with a 37-12 record, and winners of its first District championship since 2004.

The AAA Zone Championship finals will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Lou Brock Sports Complex with West taking on Washington (MO).

If Washington wins, they’ll advance to the Missouri State AAA Legion Tournament in Sedalia, MO. next weekend. If West wins, then there will be a second and final winner-take-all contest at 4 p.m. to determine the Zone champion.

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