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Loss can't dim Steeleville junior legion team's remarkable season

A remarkable season has come to an end for Steeleville Post 480, two wins shy of a spot in the American Junior Legion state tournament in Salem.

Highland scored four runs in the first inning, and then held off a late comeback by Steeleville in a 7-5 over Post 480 on Sunday in the loser's bracket of the 5th Division American Junior Legion Baseball Tournament.

"It just wasn't our day (Sunday) and I couldn't be any prouder of the kids and the parents and the families," said Steeleville coach Jacob Wente. "It's a complete privilege to coach those kids."

Highland increased its lead to 7-1 with a three-run third, but Post 480 started off the fourth with five straight hits, including a double by Dylan Hill.

"We came back and got a few runs in the middle innings and kept fighting, but couldn't get over the hump," Wente said. "We had the go-ahead run at the plate with two outs and weren't able to do it."

Steeleville managed to get Jacob Sutton to third base with two outs in the seventh after he reached on a single and advanced on an error, but Bradley Mevert grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.

"It was one of those things where, even to the very last out, the guys never stopped competing," Wente said.

Steeleville finished its summer with a record of 22-4 in the same year its high school baseball team won its first regional in 16 years. Post 480 will lose pitcher Eli Wittenborn, who will be a senior at SHS this fall, but could bring back a chunk of talent for 2018's junior legion season.

"We have a really good group of younger kids coming up," Wente said. "They got a little bit of an experience of it this summer and we had a pretty big age gap.

"We had three guys entering 8th grade this fall all the way up to Eli being a senior."

No matter which way you look at it, however, the future of baseball is bright in Steeleville.

"At any level, one of the most fun groups I've ever been around," Wente said.

Highland went on to defeat Valmeyer, 18-8, in Sunday's late game to earn the No. 3 seed at this weekend's state tournament. Teutopolis defeated Breeze, 7-3, to win the division title and the No. 1 seed.

Breeze received the No. 2 seed for finishing second.

"We had a lot of kids that competed hard all summer," Wente said. "We tried to play a tough schedule to get them ready for the postseason.

"It's that time of year when everybody's good and you have to be on your game every single inning."

<h3 class="breakHead"> Teutopolis 8, Steeleville 2</h3>

STEELEVILLE -- Teutopolis jumped out to a 5-0 lead after an inning and a half, and went on to hand Post 480 a loss on July 21 in the second round of the double-elimination 5th Division American Junior Legion Baseball Tournament.

Teutopolis took advantage of a combined five Steeleville errors in the first two innings in building its advantage.

"I think from Day 1, when T-Town was on our side of the bracket, we knew we were going to have our hands full with them," said Steeleville coach Jacob Wente. "They won the Class 2A title this year.

"We made some uncharacteristic mistakes and tip our cap to them."

But Post 480 got two runs back in the bottom of the second on RBI groundouts from Austin Hagel and Rory Lutz after loading the bases with nobody out. Teutopolis, however, would respond with a run in the third and two more in the fifth for the final score.

Eli Wittenborn took the loss on the mound for Steeleville, which had a chance to cut into Teutopolis's deficit in the bottom of the fourth after Hagel hit a single to put two runners on with one out.

The next batter was Lutz, who hit into a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. Steeleville (20-3) only managed two more baserunners the rest of the way in dropping its first game since June 28 against Benton.

Steeleville third baseman Jordan Wilson attempts to make a play against Teutopolis on July 21. Post 480 finished two wins shy of earning the No. 3 seed in this weekend's state tournament in Salem. Pete Spitler photo