Flora Post 14 made history this past weekend when they were crowned the 5th Division Junior American Legion Baseball Champions.
Post 14 hosted the tournament at Mike Jennings Field in Flora and opened their weekend play with Carlyle.
Flora defeated Carlyle 16-3 earlier this summer, and once again came out victorious in an 9-5 game.
The victory moved Post 14 into the winner’s bracket against Edwardsville on Saturday.
Edwardsville came into the tournament with two losses on the summer, but Flora made it three with an 8-3 victory Saturday afternoon.
Their win over Edwardsville put Flora into the championship game Sunday against Salem Post 128.
Salem defeated Fairview Heights Satuday to advance to the championship game.
In the title game, it was nip and tuck for six innings, but five seventh inning runs by Flora and an outstanding pitching performance from Colton Bailey gave Flora their first ever Divsion Title.
Flora was able to win the tournament with great pitching and timely hitting.
They now advance to Oneida, Il for the state baseball tournament this weekend.
Flora vs Carlyle
Flora jumped out to an early lead in the first inning when Bailey scored on a wild pitch.
Post 14 extended their lead in the top of the second with a pair of runs when Bailey tripled into the right center field gap driving home Austin Lewis and Brent Taylor.
Carlyle answered with a pair of runs in their half of the second inning to cut the Flora lead down to one.
Flora responded in the top of the third inning with three runs.
The first two runs scored on a Lewis triple, and Lewis scored on a throwing error by the Carlyle catcher.
Flora led 6-2 heading into the bottom of the third inning when Carlyle tacked on a pair of runs to trail 6-4.
Bailey led off the top of the fourth for Post 14 and was hit by the first pitch of the inning. He later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Pierson Boose.
Flora added two more runs in the top of the sixth to lead 9-4.
Carlyle tried to make a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, but Dalton Zimmerman slammed the door and gave Post 14 their first victory of the tournament.
Flora vs
Edwardsville
After the win over Carlyle, Post 14 knew they had their work cut out for them against a very tough Edwardsville team that had dropped only two games all summer.
Post 14 manager J.R. Lewis sent Pierson Boose to the mound against the hard hitting Edwardsville Post 199.
Boose flew through the top of the first inning and kept Post 199 off the basepaths.
Flora was unable to push a run across the board in their half of the first as well.
Boose shut down Edwardsville in the second as well and gave his teammates a chance to take an early lead in their half of the second.
Flora took full advantage as they pushed across three runs in the second inning on one hit.
Bryton Krutsinger ripped a one out triple into right-center field and scored when Edwardsville threw the baseball away when Austin Lewis raced down the first base line.
Brent Taylor followed by getting hit by a pitch.
Lewis and Taylor then stole second and third respectively, allowing Zimmerman to hit a ground ball to first.
Edwardsville’s first baseman bobbled the ball, allowing Lewis to score from third and an attempt to throw Taylor out at third went awry allowing him to score to give Flora a 3-0 lead.
Edwardsville responded with a pair of runs in the top of the third to cut the Post 14 lead down to one.
Flora responded to the two Edwardsville runs by plating three runs of their own.
Christian Taylor led off the inning with a bloop single and moved to third two batters laer when Boose doubled.
A wild pitch allowed Christian to score from third and Boose to move to third base.
Bryan Harrington followed by working the count full before belting a two-run homerun over the right field fence to give Flora a 6-2 lead.
Boose was dominant on the mound with only one mistake.
He threw a high fastball to the Edwardsville 6’8” first baseman Zack Sedlack and he drove it over the left field fence for a homerun.
Boose pitched all seven innings allowing three runs, while scattering eight hits.
The win put Flora into the championship game against Salem.
Salem advanced to the championship game with a 2-1 extra inning victory over Fairview Heights.
Flora vs Salem
Flora sent their number one starter to the mound in Colton Bailey to take on Salem for the right to play this weekend in the state tournament in Oneida.
Post 14 was held off the scoreboard by Salem in the top of the first.
Salem plated a run in the bottom half of the first after a lead off double and a single.
Both teams went scoreless in the second, third and fourth innings.
Flora’s bats came alive in the top of the fifth inning.
Lewis led off the inning by popping out to the Salem catcher.
Brent Taylor drew a one out walk and moved to second on a Zimmerman single.
Bailey followed by drilling a double down the left field line to score Brent Taylor.
Christian Taylor then stepped to the dish and roped a two-run single to right field to give Flora a 3-1 lead.
Salem wasn’t going away easy as they scored a run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to tie the game at three with one inning left to play.
Zimmerman and Bailey led off the top of the seventh with walks.
A double steal put both runners at second and third and one pitch later Christian Taylor lined a tripledown the right field line to give Flora a 5-3 lead.
Taylor scored on an error by Salem’s second baseman and allowed Clay Henson to reach safely at first.
Boose was then hit by a pitch and both he and Henson would score before the inning was complete and Flora led 8-3.
Bailey finished off Salem in the bottom of the seventh inning without allowing a run and giving Flora the tournament championship.
Tourney Recap
The tourney started Friday night with Fairview Heights defeating Sparta 2-1.
In the nightcap, it was Flora over Carlyle 9-5.
Saturay morning, Salem defeated Fairview Heights 2-1 in extra innings, then Flora defeated Edwardsville.
Saturday night saw Fairview Heights defeat Carlyle 17-7 and Edwardsville defeat Sparta 13-0.
After Flora captured the championship trophy Sunday afternoon by defeating Salem, there was one more spot to fill for the state tournament.
Fairview Heights defeated Edwardsville 7-0, then came right back and defeated Salem 15-5 to advance, along with Flora to the state tournament next weekend in Oneida.
Flora, Ill. —
