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Si Charro! Tucson wins the American Legion state championship

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Post 7 Tucson Moondogs. (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson)

Post 7 Tucson needed to beat Post 73 Crush twice Monday night to earn another trip to the American Legion West Region tournament and the Moondogs pulled it off with a 7-0 victory in the first game over Sunnyside held at Vista Grande High School followed by a dramatic 8-7 win the second game. A team from Tucson has won the American Legion state championship 54 times in the 100 years of competition and Post 7 has won 31 of those including the last four in a row.

The Moondogs went 10-3 in the summer leading up to championship play and the Crush went 11-2. The Post 8 Spartans went 11-1 to earn the top seed and the team from Vista Grande hosted the state playoffs. Tucson lost to Flowing Wells 11-9 in the opening round on July 14 and the Moondogs had to win three times in three days to get to the championship series and one of those wins was a 9-1 victory over Vista Grande last Friday. Sunnyside sent Vista Grande to the Elimination Bracket last Thursday to set up the games with Tucson.

Luis Camacho limited Sunnyside to two hits in the first game Monday night and the Moondogs were paced by Antonio Trejo, who went 2-3 with a double and three RBIs. Louie Rodriguez went 2-4 with a double, Marcelo Carpio went 2-4 with two doubles and Jordan Lesley went 2-3. Emrick Thompson got the start for Sunnyside and Armando Bejarano pitched the last two innings.

It looked like the Moondogs were going to pull away from Sunnyside in the second game after building a 3-0 lead but Sunnyside scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game up and then the bats exploded for both teams with Tucson scoring five runs in the top of the sixth to make it 8-3, only to have Sunnyside cut the lead back down to 8-7 in the bottom half of the inning.

Lesley took the mound for Tucson and Trejo took over with one out in the sixth and he collected two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh for the save. Pedro Lopez threw into the third inning and Dominic Thompson took over and he collected six strikeouts down the stretch. Alan Krimpe went 3-4 with two RBIs for Tucson and Lesley went 2-4 with an RBI. Lopez went 3-4 for Sunnyside with a double and two RBIs, Emrick Thompson went 2-4 with an RBI and a double, Lucas Mata went 2-3 with a double and Diego Garcia had a double and an RBI.

Tucson will take on the host team in the first game of the Western Regional on Aug. 6. The Regional is scheduled to be played in Fairfield, California from Aug. 6-10.

AMERICAN LEGION STATE TOURNAMENT AT VISTA GRANDE

JULY 14: 132 Rio Rico 7, Post 132 Tucson Prospects 4
JULY 14: Post 132 Caballeros 11, Post 7 Tucson Moondogs 9
JULY 15: Post 8 Vista Grande Spartans 11, Rio Rico 1
JULY 15: Post 73 Sunnyside Crush 10, Cabs 0
JULY 16: Moondogs 14, Rio Rico 0 (Elimination)
JULY 17: Moondogs 8, Cabs 0 (Elimination)
JULY 17: Crush 6, Spartans 1
JULY 18: Moondogs 9, Spartans 1 (Elimination)
JULY 21: Moondogs 7, Crush 0
JULY 21: Moondogs 8, Sunnyside 7 (Championship)

AMERICAN LEGION WESTERN REGION AT FAIRFIELD

AUGUST 6: Post 7 Tucson Moondogs vs. Fairfield, 7 p.m.

LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL REGIONALS

SENIOR LEAGUE IN OAKLAND
JULY 16: Hawaii 4, Douglas 0
JULY 18: Douglas 8, Oregon 3
JULY 19: Douglas 18, Montana 1
JULY 20: Douglas 6, No. California 1
JULY 21: Hawaii 6, Douglas 3

INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE IN NOGALES
JULY 16: Nogales 12, Washington 2
JULY 17: Southern Cal. 5, Nogales 3
JULY 18: Nogales 27, Idaho 0
JULY 19: Nogales 14, Colorado 4
JULY 22: Nogales vs. Alaska, 8 p.m.

JUNIOR LEAGUE IN OREGON
JULY 23: Sunnyside vs. Oregon, 1 p.m.

LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL REGIONALS

JUNIOR LEAGUE AT ARTHUR PACK
JULY 22: Northern California vs. Oregon, 9 a.m. (Championship)

LITTLE LEAGUE AT SAN BERNARDINO
JULY 19: Thornydale 9, Hawaii 6
JULY 20: Thornydale 8, So. California 2
JULY 23: Thornydale vs. No. California, 6 p.m.

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