CHAFFEE JR. LEGION TEAM WINS ZONE; ADVANCES TO STATE

BALLWIN -- The Chaffee Junior American Legion baseball team made things a bit difficult on itself Saturday during the championship round of the Zone Tournament.

But nothing could stop Chaffee from capturing the zone title and earning a berth in the State Junior Legion Tournament that begins Thursday in Sedalia.

Chaffee lost to Manchester 8-5 Saturday for its first setback in the double-elimination tourney. That forced a final contest to decide the champion and Chaffee bounced back with a resounding 13-1 victory in a game stopped after five innings by the mercy rule.

"Sometimes you learn from a loss and we found we do have the inner toughness to come back," said Chaffee manager Joe Rice, whose squad improved to 26-10. "We had a very good tournament. The district we came out of really made the ballclub. There were some teams from our district that could have competed up here."

In Saturday's first game, Chaffee carried a 4-3 lead into the seventh inning but Manchester rallied with five runs. Starting pitcher John O'Rourke was lifted after six innings. G.P. Glueck started the seventh and got the loss.

The second game, however, was a totally different story. Justin Simpher, who pitched a one-hitter Friday, hurled a three-hitter. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.

Chaffee had 13 hits, led by Rocky Portell with three. Matt Stroup, Adam Rainey and Andrew Estes all added two hits.