Staff report

CHILLICOTHE — Sidney Post 217’s long winning streak came to an end, but not until the championship game of the Jim Jadwin Memorial Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday, Post 217 ran its winning streak to 12 in a row with three straight wins to open the tournament.

All the games on Saturday were limited to just five innings after games on Friday in the tournament were rained out.

In its first game the Legion team edged Grove City by a 3-1 score beind the pitching of CJ Billing, who allowed just three hits while walking two and striking out seven in five innings.

Sidney had six hits, two by Tyler Louden, both singles. Zach White added a double.

Sidney got two in the first on an Austin McLain single, a wild pitch, a fielder’s choice, a hit-by-pitch (Maddux Liles) and the first of Louden’s singles.

Sidney got its other run in the third on a walk to Josh Nixon, a passed ball and a single by Kyle Subler.

Grove City got is only run in the fifth on two singles and Sidney’s lone error of the game.

• Sidney then blanked Adrian, Mich. 4-0 in its second game Saturday, on the strength of outstanding pitching from Nixon, who turned in a no-hitter, with four strikeouts and three walks.

Sidney had five hits, including doubles by McLain and Liles.

Post 217 got all the runs it needed in the first inning, scoring twice. McLain doubled and Dion Puthoff walked. A passed ball moved the runners up and both scored on Subler’s single.

In the fourth, Sidney added a run. Kyle Noble singled and took second on a ground out. He then stole third and scored on a passed ball.

Sidney’s final run came in the fifth when Subler reached on a walk and came all the way around on Liles’ double to the gap in left-center.

• In the third game of the day for Post 217, it was again outstanding pitching that led the way to a 1-0 win over Ida, Mich.

Pitchers Daniel Kearns and McLain combined on a three-hit shutout, with two walks and no strikeouts.

Ida’s pitcher also stymied Sidney, which finished with just two hits.

The only run of the game came across in the fourth inning.

“We played three good teams in our pool play, and our pitching for the day was outstanding,” said Legion coach Jim Koewler. “We only allowed six hits total in three games.”

The three wins put Post 217 in the championship round, and they came within one run of bringing home the tournament title.

• In the first game Sunday, Sidney took on Chillicothe Post 62 and posted a 7-5 victory to run the winning streak to 13 in a row.

Zach Griesdorn did the pitching, allowing eight hits while fanning two and walking two.

Sidney had nine hits, including a single and a double from both Subler and Noble, and two singles apiece from McLain and White.

Post 217 got one run in the second when Subler singled and Noble doubled, then exploded for six runs in the bottom of the third.

McLain, Puthoff, Liles and Nixon all singled, and Subler followed with a three-run double to clear the bases. Noble and White then both singled.

Sidney had to hang on when Chillicothe got two in the sixth and two in the seventh.

• Post 217 then coasted to a 14-5 rout of Ashland, Ky., in its second game on Sunday.

Sidney had 12 hits, with McLain getting two singles and a triple, Nixon three singles, Berning three singles, and Subler a single and a double. Noble had a triple and Dylan Albers a double.

The first runs came in the second after Ashland took a 2-0 lead in the top of the inning. Noble was hit by a pitch, moved up on two ground outs, and scored on a wild pitch.

Sidney added four in the third on four hits, including singles by Louden and Berning, a double by Subler and Noble’s triple.

Another run crossed in the fourth on a walk to Subler, a stolen base and an RBI single by Berning.

Then in the fifth, Post 217 put up five more runs with the benefit of just three hits. There were two Ashland errors and three walks.

Albers’ double and a two-base throwing error produced the final run in the seventh.

• That put Post 217 in the championship game as the No. 1 seed against the same Ida, Mich. team it defeated 1-0 on Saturday. And it was again a low-scoring affair.

Berning and McLain held Ida to just three hits, with two walks and two hit batsmen.

Sidney had four hits.

Sidney scored in the bottom of the third for a 1-0 lead, when Albers walked, moved up on a passed ball, took third on a ground out, and scored on Puthoff’s bunt single.

Ida came back with two in the top of the fourth, and that was the end of the scoring.

Sidney had the tying run on third in both the sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t come up with a two-out hit.

The loss put the Post 217 record at 18-8 heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Troy in league play.

“We had a good weekend with a lot of games in two days,” said Koewler. “I am pleased with the outcome, ending up tournament runner-up and going 5-1. It just shows how much depth we have on this team. We had two good games with Ida. All of our pitchers pitched great games to push our overall record to 18-8. This was an all Legion Team tournament with all of them being very strong. So to finish second out of 16 teams is a great accomplishment.”

Upcoming games

Tonight (Wednesday) — Dayton Patterson traveling team, at Custenborder Field, 7 p.m.

Thursday — Greenville at Custenborder Field, 7 p.m.

Sunday thru 4th of July — Don Cross Invitational, Cambridge