The Arlington Junior Legion baseball season ended Saturday with the second of two close losses during the Class B Area 4 Tournament in Wahoo.
The Post 71 Eagles first loss to Seward on Friday at Sam Crawford Field, 5-4, before Valparaiso eliminated from contention the next day, 4-2.
Coach Tom Shearer said Arlington was solid from the pitching mound during tournament play, but could have had better batting, base-running and defense.
“Most games you can't run away from teams without getting some hits strung together,” he said. “We need to work on our confidence at the plate.”
The coach noted how he believed Valparaiso was able to earn a two-run victory against his lineup.
“Hats off to them for stealing a couple of runs that made the difference,” Shearer explained.
The victors successfully executed a suicide squeeze during the game and once had an alert runner race from third to home plate as Post 71 returned the ball to the infield.
In its first game of the Area 4 Tournament, however, Arlington nearly rallied back from a four-run deficit during the bottom of the seventh inning of a one-run loss.
Cameron Wirsen led off and reached base with his team trailing Seward 5-1 on Friday. Liam Shearer claimed a walk between a pop out and a groundout, too, before Burke Quinn hit into a run-scoring error with two outs.
Now down three runs, Post 71's Luke Ott hit a two-RBI single to pull his team within one run. A flyout, however, ended the game.
Though the postseason tournament marked the end of the season, Coach Shearer said, “The future is solid.”
The Arlington Juniors roster is young with only two players set to age out going into next summer.
“But, overall, we need them to get some work done in the offseason to improve their batting — whether that's getting stronger, getting extra swings in or finding some camps or clinics,” Shearer said.
More pitching help would solidify the roster as well.
POST 71 JUNIOR LINE SCORE
Saturday
Valparaiso 4, Arlington 2
VALPO 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 — 4
ARLO 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 — 2
Friday
Seward 5, Arlington 4
SEW 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 — 5
ARLO 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 — 4
