Pinckneyville Fights Back Elimination

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Pinckneyville (Post 2540)stayed alive in then elimination round of the 25th District Senior American Legion Baseball Tournament, edging past Orient (Post 1961) 8-5 Monday night at Rigdon Field.

With a 7-14 record, Post 2504 advances to play Steeleville (Post 480) at 8 o'clock Tuesday as the tournament shifts back to Randolph County.

Sparta (Post 396) defeated Orient 6-4 to complete a suspended game as Monday's play began at Pinckneyville.

The two winners bracket games were played in Steeleville. Top-seeded Murphysboro (Post 127) defeated the host team 6-4 and Marion (Post 147) blanked Sparta 8-0.

Three early home runs set the stage for Pinckneyville's victory.

Drew Dudek, Taylor Beninati and Matthew Nichols all smacked solo shots and Jeff Thornton ripped a two-run single to give Post 2504 and early five-run edge.

Orient rallied to within 5-4 by the seventh inning before Pinckneyville added three unearned runs to gain more seperation.

Bryant Shute worked the first six innings to gain the pitching win with relief help from Nichols and Thornton.

The top two finishing teams advance to Fifth Division play in Alton beginning July 22.

25th JUNIORS TOURNAMENT

Starting with two games at Pinckneyville Friday, the juniors tournament will then switch to Sparta Saturday and Sunday before concluding next week back at Steeleville.

Sparta is the top seed with Flora ranked second and Pinckneyville (Post 2504) tabbed third. Campbell Hill, Steeleville and Metropolis will also compete.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Post 2504 plays Chester.