CHAFFEE IN GOOD STATE OF MIND

As good a season as the Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy Senior American Legion baseball team has had so far, manager Jeff Graviett figures his squad is not ready to stop quite yet.

"We want the season to last as long as we can," he said. "We want to see how far we can take this thing."

Chaffee has so far taken things to its first-ever appearance in the American Legion State Tournament that will be played today through Saturday in Columbia, Mo. And Graviett sees no reason why Medicap Pharmacy can't win the four-team event to qualify for regional competition.

"I think we've got as good a chance as anybody," said Graviett.

Of course, Graviett knows things will be far from easy. As might be expected, all four squads have impressive records, led by Chaffee's 47-10 mark and Kirksville's 38-5 ledger. Blue Springs is 38-20 while Rolla is 32-13.

"You expect everybody to be very good to get to this level," said Graviett. "To have won district and zone titles, you have to have something special."

Today's first-round pairings at the University of Missouri's Taylor/Simmons Field feature Chaffee vs. Kirksville at 5:30 p.m. and Blue Springs vs. Rolla at 8:30. All of Chaffee's games in the double-elimination tourney will be broadcast live on Kape AM-1550.

"It's an honor for us to be going, to be one of the final four teams left," Graviett said. "Going into the year I thought we'd have a shot, but you never know. It takes a lot of things going right to get to this point.

"I think we're playing our best baseball right now, and to be peaking at the right time of such a long season is tough to do."

While it's true that Chaffee has never qualified for the Senior state tourney before, Chaffee's Junior Legion squad won the 1999 state title and finished third in the regional. Ten of the current Chaffee players were on that 1999 squad.

"We've got a group of winners and they've been doing this all their baseball lives," said Graviett. "It's true this is our first trip to state for this program, but not for these kids."

Chaffee's opening game today offers an interesting matchup because Kirksville finished second in the 1999 Junior Legion state tourney, losing two heartbreaking games to the eventual champion. Chaffee rallied from a 7-4 deficit by scoring four runs in the seventh and final inning of a first-round contest, then won 12-7 in eight innings in the finals.

Kirksville also features quite a few players off that 99 state runner-up team.

"I remember how good Chaffee was and how close those games were," said Kirksville manager Bob Crisp, who was not coaching the Junior team back then but saw the tournament. "We're expecting a really good ballgame."

American Legion State Tournament

at Columbia, Mo.

Today

5:30 p.m. (Game 1) Chaffee vs. Kirksville

8:30 p.m. (Game 2) Blue Springs vs. Rolla

Friday

1 p.m. (Game 3) Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser

5:30 p.m. (Game 4) Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner

8:30 p.m. (Game 5) Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser

Saturday

1 p.m. (Game 7, Championship) Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner

7 p.m. (Game 8, Championship) If-necessary