O’Neill broke open a close game with four runs in the third inning and held off a wild seventh-inning rally to defeat West Point 8-7 and claim the Class B Area 5 Seniors championship Tuesday at Hank Overin Field.
O’Neill led 4-2 in the third when they put up four runs in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by a two-run single by Nick Haburchak, to take an 8-2 lead into the seventh inning.
West Point wouldn’t go away, however. RBI singles by Bryant Rief, Luke Knad and Brandon Haas highlighted a five-run inning that put the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second before Alex Throener secured an infield fly with two outs to end the game and send O’Neill to state.
West Point reached the championship game with an 11-9 win over Lakeview, holding off a late challenge to win the play-in game for Tuesday’s championship.
West Point built a 7-2 lead in the third with the help of a bases-clearing double by Kobe Benne. Lakeview was able to get back into the game with four runs in the sixth to make it a 10-9 game, but West Point got a key insurance run on Tate Toelle’s RBI single to score Derek Petz and help West Point move on to the championship game.
O’Neill will face Wahoo in the first round of the Class B American Legion Seniors state tournament that begins Saturday in Alliance.
Class B Area 5 at Hank Overin Field
(Seeds in parenthesis)
Friday, July 21 Results
Game 1 — (1) West Point bye.
Game 2 — (4) Lakeview 3, (5) Neligh 1
Game 3 — (6) Wayne 5, (3) Ponca 0
Game 4 — (2) O’Neill 17, (7) Schuyler 1, 5 inn.
Saturday, July 22 Results
Game 5 — Neligh bye.
Game 6 — Ponca 6, Schuyler 2 (Schuyler eliminated)
Game 7 — Lakeview 9, West Point 8
Game 8 — O’Neill 8, Wayne 2
Sunday, July 23 Results
Game 9 — West Point 10, Ponca 0, 6 inn. (Ponca eliminated)
Game 10 — Wayne 17, Neligh 12 (Neligh eliminated)
Game 11 — O’Neill 11, Lakeview 6
Monday, July 24 Results
Game 12 — West Point 5, O’Neill 2 (O’Neill’s first loss)
Game 13 — Lakeview 5, Wayne 4 (Wayne eliminated)
Tuesday, July 25 Results
Game 14 — West Point 11, Lakeview 9 (Lakeview eliminated)
Game 15 — O’Neill 8, West Point 7 (O’Neill advances to state)
