CG foils American Legion Post 366 state bid years ago
Legion's season ends
in 5-1 regional loss
to Council Grove
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Being in a 5-0 hole and down to your last three outs is a little late to stage a rally.
Hillsboro American Legion Post 366 never got on track with batting, mustering just four hits in a 5-1 season-ending loss to regional host Council Grove.
Post 366 ends the year at 18-11 while Council Grove moves on to this weekend's state Legion tournament in Burlington.
The season got off to a good start for Post 366 last month, opening with a sweep of Council Grove. Hillsboro couldn't keep that momentum through the season — especially at a time when it was most needed.
Needing to beat Council Grove twice to move on, the going got tough for 366 as starter Mitch Enos yielded a run in the lower half of the first inning.
Council Grove got to Enos in the fifth, scoring its four remaining runs for a 5-0 lead.
In one last attempt to stave off elimination, Jimmy Shipman led off the seventh with a double.
Caleb Marsh finally broke up the shutout, scoring Shipman with a sacrifice fly while Hillsboro was down to its final out.
Playing their final game for 366 and coach Lyman Adams were Shawn Hughbanks, Enos, Steve Chisholm, and Dustin Jost, who was lost for the season early due to a hamstring injury.
Game 5
Post 366 took revenge Sunday night against Peabody.
Hillsboro got a four-run explosion in the second inning to send Peabody packing, 8-1, setting the table for the final game.
Kyle Jilka started the second inning with a leadoff double before scoring on Chad Hughbanks' stand-up double and Chisholm singling in a run.
This time, Hillsboro was able to build on the lead and a large portion of that was attributed to the stellar pitching of game MVP Chad Hughbanks.
Chad Hughbanks and Chisholm combined for a three-hitter with Chisholm notching the win.
Up 5-1 closing out the fourth and Marsh and Chad Hughbanks on board, Chisholm cleared the bases with a two-run single.
Justin Moore capped off the scoring for 366 with a sacrifice fly.
Game 4
Maybe the biggest question Sunday was where 366's game has been hiding when it plays McPherson.
Still staring defeat in the face against a team that has handled Hillsboro four out of six times, 366 passed McPherson's test with ease, 16-4.
With the game knotted at 1-1 after the first inning, 366 pushed a pair of runs across the plate with Marsh scoring after a double before he and Chisholm swiped home.
McPherson roughed up Marsh in the bottom of the third, finally knocking him out after he beaned a batter, walked two, and surrendered an RBI single.
By the time Shipman was called on in the third, he inherited a 4-3 deficit.
The kind of hitting Hillsboro could have used Monday came to life in the sixth with 19 hits counting for seven runs.
Marsh made up for the rocky third inning three later, going deep for the game-tying solo homer for the first of two sixth inning RBIs.
Marsh's sixth inning heroics helped capture game MVP honors and keep 366's season alive.
Enos had a one-out two-run bases-loaded double that made it a 6-4 game.
Tyler Goldsby, Jilka, and Marsh all added to the seven-run onslaught with run-scoring singles.
The fireworks for 366 weren't quite over as it added six more runs in the seventh and give Shipman the victory.
Game 3
On Saturday in the consolation bracket, Enos put Post 366 on his back and carried them to the finish line, firing a one-hitter against the Abilene Outlaws.
With Hillsboro only able to muster a quartet of hits, it was Enos' pitching that was pivotal in deciding the 5-1 game and clinching the game MVP.
Half of 366's four came in the lower part of the first with Enos scoring Jared Fish with an RBI single.
The Outlaws tied the game in the top of the second with a sacrifice fly.
Hillsboro had a feast on Outlaw blunders, ripping off the go-ahead run in the third after Abilene's one-armed center-fielder, Drew Kogler bobbled an Enos pop-fly that allowed Fish to score from third.
Post 366 put one more up in the fourth with Chad Hughbanks getting an RBI sacrifice and scoring Jilka.
Still clinging to life down 3-1, the Outlaws had the wheels come off in the bottom of a hostile sixth inning.
Jilka singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a muffed catch before Marsh had a bunt turn into an infield single that left runners on first and third.
Then Outlaw pitcher Justin Schuster was charged with a balk, allowing Jilka to score and start the Abilene fans complaining.
The grumbling caused such a ruckus a jeering fan was even tossed.
Marsh used another Outlaw miscue to put the finishing touches on the win.
Game 2
If 366's game had yet to hit rock bottom yet this season, it reached a new fathom July 15 with a real punch in the gut from Peabody.
All seemed to be heading in 366's direction after it used up all its fireworks with a five-run explosion in the second.
The 5-1 lead wasn't stable enough as Shipman and 366 fell through the floor in the fourth inning and became victim to a 6-5 groaner.
Amidst knocking Shipman out in the fatal fourth, reliever Chisholm ran into trouble too, as a missed pop fly allowed Peabody to score the go-ahead run.
Chisholm was named 366's MVP.
The heartbreaker snapped Hillsboro's 10-game winning streak.
Game 1
So much for Moundridge being the same team its high school team was.
Post 366 opened the District 4 regional July 14 in blowout fashion, making short work of Moundridge in a 10-0 pasting.
Up 1-0 after Fish scored off an Enos' sacrifice fly, 366 blew the lid off in the second inning, rallying for eight runs from six hits.
Benefiting from a trio of Moundridge errors, run scoring singles from Fish, the Hughbanks brothers, and Shipman, along with a two-run double by Enos, 366 was in the driver's seat for a game with Peabody.
Enos was named the first of his two-game MVPs in the opening round rout.
