Pinckneyville defeated Marion 15-5 Monday to win the 25th District American Legion senior baseball tournament in Marion.
Sparta, despite playing with just nine players throughout the tournament, came just one win short from advancing to division play.
Marion 8, Sparta 4
Marion doubled up Sparta 8-4 in an elimination game Monday.
Sparta scored single runs in the second, third, sixth and ninth innings. Marion tallied lone runs in the second, fourth and fifth, three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Jordan Thompson finished the game going 3-for-5 from the plate to lead Sparta, while Seth Buch was 2-for-4 and Chris Theobald was 2-for-5.
Pinckneyville 14, Sparta 6
Pinckneyville handed Sparta its first loss of the double-elimination tournament 14-6 Sunday. Pinckneyville scored the game’s first five runs and never looked back in the nine-run decision.
Pinckneyville scored two runs in the second, one in the third, two in the fifth, one in the sixth, two in the seventh, three in the eighth and three in the ninth.
Sparta scored a run in the bottom of the fifth and five in the eighth.
Seth Buch, Trevor Morgan and Chris Theobald all had a hit apiece to pace the Sparta attack.
Sparta 10, Benton 4
Sparta advanced to knock off Benton 10-4 Saturday. Sparta scored single runs in the first and fourth innings, four in the fifth, three in the seventh and one in the eighth.
Jordan Thompson picked up the win. The top hitters for Sparta were Austin Peck (4-for-5), Thompson (2-for-5) and Trevor Morgan (2-for-3).
Marion 12, Steeleville 4
Marion ended Steeleville’s season Saturday with a 12-4 victory.
Steeleville scored single runs in the bottom of the first and second innings for a 2-0 lead. Behind the pitching of Caleb Arbeiter, Steeleville held on to the 2-0 lead until the fifth inning.
In the fifth, Marion took the lead for good scoring five runs. Marion added a run in the sixth, three in the seventh and three in the eighth for the eight-run win.
Steeleville added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to round out the scoring.
Leading the way for Steeleville were Kris Beshears (2-for-5 with two doubles), Keith Kettner (2-for-4 with a double), Clint Young (2-for-4 with a double), Matt Bunselmeyer (2-for-4), Nick Hanks (1-for-1), Tyler Coleman (1-for-2) and Greg Rowald (1-for-2).
Sparta 15, Steeleville 11
Tournament play in Marion opened Friday, as Sparta topped Steeleville 15-11  in a game that saw 26 walks between the two teams.
Steeleville took the early lead scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Sparta tied the game up 2-2 by scoring single runs in the first and second innings.
The back-and-forth action continued as both teams scored two runs in the third.
Sparta took control in the fifth scoring 11 runs over the next four innings. Steeleville tried to fight back late scoring two runs in the seventh and five in the eighth, but it was not enough.
Trevor Morgan picked up the victory for Sparta on the mound. The Sparta offense was led by Seth Buch (3-for-5), Morgan (2-for-6), Jordan Thompson (2-for-5), Austin Peck (1-for-2) and Tyler Magruder (2-for-3).
The Steeleville attack was paced by Kris Beshears (2-for-5), Keith Kettner (1-for-2), Clint Young (1-for-3), Adam Maes (1-for-2), Matt Bunselmeyer (1-for-3) and Tyler Coleman (1-for-4).