By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
In an effort to continue the tradition of American Legion Baseball in
the Great Bend area and for an established state tournament, the Great Bend
Bombers baseball organization teamed up with Legion Post 180 to field a
15-and-under team.
In their collaboration, the Great Bend Braves will host this year’s Kansas
American Legion Junior “A” State Tournament. The Braves begin pool play Wednesday, July 27 at 8:30 p.m. against Topeka at the Great Bend Sports Complex.
Landon Sciacca, Chris Umphres and Zach Kaiser have split up coaching duties
this summer for the Great Bend Bombers schedule and the Legion Braves schedule.
"We haven't hosted in a while," said Sciacca. "I think it was 2016. It's going to be fun. Teams play one game a day, so the teams that come here get a chance to do whatever they want to do around the city. It's good for the city and community."
The tournament will consist of Great Bend and seven other teams from around the
state including Topeka, Marysville, Clay Center, Newton, Iola, Pittsburg and Overbrook.
The Great Bend Bombers have a record of 28-3, while the Braves are 9-9-1.
"We're playing midweek for the Braves schedule, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then a lot of our tournaments for the Bombers begin on Thursday. It's a lot of baseball, but we've managed it well. The guys have seen a variety of competition. Those midweek games, we've played older kids."
Along with Wednesday’s game, Great Bend will play at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and 6
p.m. on Friday. The top four teams from pool play will advance to Saturday’s
single-elimination tournament.
The Larned American Legion Baseball team qualified for the Senior AA-AAA State
Tournament. Larned plays in Topeka at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 27 against Hiawatha to begin
their pool play.
See both tournament schedules/brackets below.
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