La Grande Legends dominate Bruin Baseball Tournament
Jul. 12—WALLA WALLA — The La Grande Legacy Legends Legion Baseball team took the tournament by storm at the Class AA American Legion baseball tournament in Walla Walla, Washington. The tournament took place at Murr Sports Park at Walla Walla Community College, with nine teams competing.
The competition began on Thursday, July 8, and concluded on Sunday, July 11, following four days of tournament play. The La Grande Legacy Legends Legion Baseball competed in Pool B alongside the Kennewick Phantoms, Mount Spokane Wild and Nampa Chiefs.
The Legends went 3-0 in pool play as they crushed Kennewick 18-3 in the first game, cruised by Mount Spokane 14-4 in game two and easily defeated Nampa 11-4 in the final pool matchup. Devin Bell lit up the plate in the final pool game, going 4-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
In the first round of the tournament on Saturday, July 10, La Grande kept the momentum going and knocked off Gonzaga Prep 15-2 in the second round. Payton Cooper was phenomenal in this matchup, going 3-4 at the plate and scoring three runs.
This set up a rematch against Nampa in the semifinals in which the Legends won 14-6, their closest margin of victory so far in the tournament. Cesar Rodriguez tallied three RBIs in the victory and scored a run.
In the championship round, La Grande Legacy matched up with the host team Walla Walla Bruins in a highly contested matchup. La Grande Legacy Legends scored three runs in the first inning of the championship game on Sunday, July 11, to build an early advantage. The Legends extended their lead to 7-2, before holding off a sixth-inning rally from Walla Walla. The Bruins tallied five total runs, but La Grande pulled off a 7-5 victory to take first place in the tournament.
Logan Williams went 3-4 and scored two runs, while Rodriguez added two hits and Brodrick Hood scored two RBIs. Riley Miller pitched five innings and allowed four hits, two runs and struck out seven opposing batters.
