Steeleville holds on to beat Chester

STEELEVILLE -- The speech worked for Steeleville Post 480.

Coach Jacob Wente's pep talk in the middle of the third inning sparked a six-run outburst in Steeleville's next at-bat, allowing Post 480 to erase a 3-0 deficit and take the lead for good in a 6-5 win over Chester in the 25th District American Junior Legion tournament on Saturday.

"The tone was probably not the greatest," Wente said. "The message was we needed to clean it up how we were playing and we had a good summer because we've made routine plays and we've played fundamental baseball.

"The first three innings, we were very sloppy and they got three runs on three errors and we were throwing the ball around and just not playing like how we know how to play."

Read more about the game and the tournament in the July 19 print editions of the Herald Tribune and Steeleville Ledger