Bossier gets the three-peat, captures state Legion crown again
JOURNAL SPORTS
LAFAYETTE – It took a two-run, sixth-inning rally and some stout pitching and defense, on the heels of an 11-inning win a night earlier, for the Bossier Phillies to capture their third consecutive Louisiana American Legion Baseball championship Wednesday.
Bossier got a two-run single by Kannon Greer to climb on top 4-3, and Slade Stephens and the Phillies defense kept Gauthier-Amedee Legion Post 557 of Gonzales off the board in the last two innings to secure the crown.
The triumph sends Bossier to the Mid-South Regional in Cherryville, N.C., Aug. 5-9, not far from the site of the World Series in Shelby, N.C. Aug. 13-18. The Phillies have won the regional and reached the World Series each of the past two years.
Bossier (18-2) went through the eight-team state tournament without a loss, surviving an 8-7, 11-inning battle Tuesday night with Crowley before Wednesday afternoon’s battle with Gauthier-Amedee.
The Phillies jumped on top 2-0 in the first, but the challengers rallied with a run in the fourth and plated a pair in the fifth to move on top 3-2.
Stephens, who picked up his second win in the tournament dating back to Saturday’s opener, went the distance while allowing seven hits, striking out six and walking only two.
The winning rally in the top of the six started on a Jackson Waller single. He advanced to third on a pair of fielders’ choice groundouts before Landon Walker drew a two-out walk, and moved to second on a wild pitch.
With a full count, Greer lined a single to center to lift the Phillies into the lead.
In the seventh, Gauthier-Amedee got a walk and a single with one out to put the tying run at second and the winning run at first. Bossier closed the game when Stephens got a double play grounder to Brody Turnipseed at second base.
The Phillies jumped on top in the first when Turnipseed walked, Nate Cervantes reached on an error and consecutive RBI singles from Waller and Griffin Sibley got Bossier on the board.
Waller and Martin had two hits apiece to pace the Phillies’ eight-hit attack.