Rosetown Goes 2-1 in Moose Country Challenge

Two-time defending tournament champion Rosetown Post 542 stayed alive in its quest to win a third straight Moose Country Challenge American Legion Baseball Tournament Saturday.

Rosetown went 1-1 Saturday after winning Friday's game to move into Sunday morning's championship bracket.

In the championship bracket, West St. Paul will meet Rosetown in the 10 a.m. game, followed by Stillwater vs. South St. Paul, both games at Henry Sibley High School. The winner of those two games will meet for the eight-team tournament championship at Henry Sibley at about 2:30 p.m.

In American Pool games Saturday it was Rosetown over Rosemount 6-3, St. Paul Park over Rosemount 1-0, Stillwater over St. Paul Park 12-3 and Stillwater over Rosetown 2-1.

In the first game Saturday Rosetown jumped out to a 5-0 lead after four innings then held off Rosemount for the win.

Chris Dishop went 2-for-4 with two RBI to lead Rosetown, while Austin Colvard was 2-for-3 and drove in a run.

Ryan Minder got the win, pitching 4 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, three earned runs, walked four and struck out one.

Saturday's second game was tougher and tighter in the wood bat tournament for both teams. Neither Stillwater nor Rosetown gave up much and the two teams went into the 10th inning tied at 1-all.

Stillwater got on the scoreboard first with a run in the second, but Rosetown followed to tie the game at 1-all,. And that's where it stood until the 10th inning.

In the 10th inning Stillwater's Scott Livermore tapped a ball that fell in between second base and centerfield to reach base, and then a throwing error allowed Livermore to go to third. He then scored on a sacrifice by Austin Holmberg for what turned out to be the winning run.

Despite the loss, Rosetown coach Jess Lopez was pleased with the play of his team.

"Really good baseball," said Lopez. "That was fun baseball. At this level, when you've got this kind of talent, the plays that our guys made, the plays that their guys made, it's what you expect. And it was a really good, hard-fought game.

"From the start of the game to the end of the game we had good plays in the field, we had good at-bats, we had good base running decisions," Lopez added. "If I could play this kind of game every week, I'd take it."

In the National Pool games Saturday at St. Thomas Academy, Hamline Purple edged Chester Bird 8-7, West St. Paul tipped Chester Bird 3-2, South St. Paul topped Hamline Purple 5-4 and West St. Paul bombed South St. Paul 11-2.

In Friday games, Chester Bird defeated South St. Paul 1-0, West St. Paul dropped Hamline Purple 3-1, Rosetown topped St. Paul Park 3-1 and Stillwater edged Rosemount 2-1.