Two wins were all it would take for the Jefferson City Post 5 Juniors to take the District 8 championship. They made sure they wrapped it up in one night.
The Post 5 Juniors battled Columbia Post 202 in a best 2-of-3 matchup Friday night at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex. Jefferson City won the first game 4-1, then sealed the district title with an 8-5 comeback win in game two to complete the two-game sweep.
Columbia held a 5-2 lead in game two through five innings. Jefferson City rallied with a five-run inning top of the sixth to take a two-run advantage.
Bryce Bond, who was the winning pitcher in relief, started the rally with a two-run double to the left-field fence. After Zach Woehr scored the tying run on a wild pitch, Dakota Kemna gave Post 5 the lead with a two-run single into right-center field to make the score 7-5.
Jefferson City added an insurance run in the seventh to extend the lead to three runs.
Columbia stranded 15 runners on base, leaving the bases loaded in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Post 202 brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, but Austin Troesser ended the game with a strikeout to secure his second save of the night.
Kemna went 3-for-4 with two singles and an RBI triple in the second inning.
Bond pitched 2 innings in relief of Josef Keilholz, who allowed five runs and eight hits while striking out seven in 4 innings. Bond walked seven but did not yield a run.
Jefferson City never trailed in game one. Post 5 plated two runs in the bottom of the first inning, with Woehr scoring on an error after reaching on a bunt single and Parker Bax adding an RBI single.
Post 5 extended the lead to 4-0 in the third with two more runs. Bax and Gavin Stricklan hit back-to-back RBI singles with two outs. Columbia pitcher Zane Parnell then retired the final 10 batters he faced, finishing with three strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
Post 202 scored once off Jefferson City pitcher Gage Bax in the top of the sixth. Bax picked up the win, giving up just two hits in six innings of work. He walked two and struck out five.
Drew Voss relieved Gage Bax in the top of the seventh but loaded the bases with no outs. Troesser got out of the jam with a force out a home on a groundout and a pair of strikeouts to earn the save.
Keilholz and Parker Bax each had two hits to lead Jefferson City at the plate in game one. Jason Binkley also had an RBI.
The Post 5 Juniors (20-6) will advance to the zone tournament, which begins next Friday. The tournament will be hosted by the District 9 champion, which will be either New Haven or Washington.