Seniors clinch first-ever state berth

The Imperial Horns’ Senior Legion team blew through the competition at the Area 7 District tournament to earn the Legion program’s first-ever Seniors’ state tournament appearance.
Opening win over Bridgeport
Imperial opened the tournament against the sixth-seeded hosts, Bridgeport.
Horns’ Head Coach Bruce Peterson said Bridgeport was a much better team than their last place seeding showed.
“They gave us a battle until the end,” Peterson said.
Imperial took control of the game early, sitting down all three batters it faced before going on to hold Bridgeport scoreless for another three innings.
Offensively, Triston Hite singled and scored on a double by Trevor Peterson in the first inning.
In the second inning, Emmitt Zuege singled and, despite three-straight strikeouts after his at bat, stole two bases and scored.
Both teams were quiet offensively until the fifth inning when Bridgeport hit two singles to help bring in a run and cut Imperial’s lead to 2-1.
A Bridgeport batter was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth inning and tied the game on back-to-back errors.
The Horns responded in the bottom of the sixth.
Nolan Burrell homered with a runner on first to give Imperial all the cushion it needed.
Three up, three down in the top of the seventh inning sealed Imperial’s 4-2 win.
Each team had four hits in the game.
Peterson said Bridgeport’s pitcher did a very nice job keeping the Horns from building a lead.
Dominic Sis gave up four hits in five innings of work on the mound. Sis struck out nine and walked one.
Jaret Peterson came in for two innings of relief. J. Peterson held the Bombers hitless, struck out two and didn’t give up a walk.
Roll over Hershland
Imperial went deep into its bench in its 20-0 drubbing of Hershland Saturday.
“Saturday was a great opportunity to get everyone into the game for senior experience. They continued to play hard and add to the lead,” Peterson said.
Imperial’s first six batters scored in the game. The inning was highlighted by cleanup hitter J. Peterson’s grand slam.
The Horns were leading 10-0 and doubled their advantage with a 10-run fourth inning that included a two-run homer by Cooper Dillan.
“We blasted a pitcher that kept us off balance earlier in the season,” Peterson said.
T. Peterson pitched four and a third innings for the Horns, striking out four, walking one and giving up one hit.
Colin O’Neil finished off the game striking out two Hershland batters.
Imperial racked up 19 hits.
Zuege went 3-3. Sis and J. Peterson were each 3-4.
Sis had two of the Horns’ nine doubles.
J. Peterson totaled six RBIs.
Take down Valentine
The Horns came out swinging against second-seeded Valentine Sunday.
“The bats just got hot. I don’t think it would’ve mattered who Valentine pitched, the guys were hitting,” Peterson said.
Three of Imperial’s first four batters singled. Sis led off with a single and scored after singles by T. Peterson and J. Peterson. Zuege also earned an RBI with single.
Imperial allowed a base runner in each of the first four innings, but kept each away from home plate.
The Horns stranded two base runners in the second, its only scoreless inning.
Imperial found a variety of ways to advance runners in the game. The Horns totaled 16 hits in the game, but also earned eight walks and had three batters hit by a pitch. Valentine had six wild pitches that advanced runners, plus the Horns stole four bases.
T. Peterson kept Imperial’s home run streak alive with blasts in the fifth and seventh innings. He finished with four RBIs.
The Horns took a 10-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, but Valentine wasn’t ready to give up.
Imperial was outscored 4-6 in the fifth and sixth innings. “Valentine is scrappy, but the runs we gave them were during one bad inning where we made about three errors. That shouldn’t have happened and the game would’ve been over by run rule earlier,” Peterson said.
Imperial sealed the 14-6 seven-inning win by sitting Valentine down in order.
Burrell gave up seven hits in six innings of work. Burrell struck out 10 and walked one.
Hite finished off the game, striking out two batters.
Zuege remained hot, going 3-3.
Rematch with Valentine
Even without a the day off the Horns had Monday, Imperial was in good shape on the mound heading into the Horns’ championship game rematch with Valentine Tuesday evening.
    “Our pitchers are in great shape and we’ve been able to stick to our pitching plan for the overall tournament that we came in with originally,” Peterson said.
    Sis took to the mound with a three-run lead after Imperial batted around to start the game. Sis helped his own cause with a lead-off single, followed by a T. Peterson single and J. Peterson double. All three scored, but the Horns left the bases loaded.
    Valentine’s lead-off batter scored, but Valentine left runners on second and third when Sis struck out three-straight batters.
    Imperial batted around once more in the second inning. Hite doubled to set the tone for the inning. Both Petersons earned walks and would come around to score as Zuege and Lempke singled. Though three runs scored and the Horns forced a pitching change, Imperial left the bases loaded once more.
    The game moved quickly through the middle innings. Imperial stranded one runner in the third, fourth and fifth innings before sitting down in order in the sixth as they struggled with their timing of the Valentine pitcher.
    Valentine took advantage of a walk and an error to narrow Imperial’s lead to 6-2 in the fourth inning, but found no traction in the third and fifth innings.
    After Valentine stranded two runners in the sixth inning, the Horns blew the game open in the seventh inning.
    Walks by Bryder Hickey and Bauerle, followed by Keenan Cole being hit by a pitch, had the bases loaded for T. Peterson who’s long fly ball was dropped by the center fielder. Three runs scored on the error. T. Peterson scored Imperial’s fourth run in the inning and gave the Horns plenty of cushion heading into Valentine’s final at bat.
    Valentine did score one run on one hit in the inning, but Hite ended the game on a strike out to send Imperial on to the state tournament in Palmer.
    Sis and Hite struck out 11 and walked six.
    Imperial out hit Valentine 11-5.
    Peterson said he thought his team played great.
    “Experience came through and we got the job done,” he added.
State begins Saturday
The double-elimination state tournament will begin Saturday, giving the Horns two more games together.
“This is a great bunch of young men and they carry a great energy on the field and in the dugout. They enjoy playing and they love winning,” Peterson said.
Many on the team were part of Imperial’s 2018 and 2019 juniors’ teams that went to state.
They’ll see familiar faces at this year’s tournament.
Shelby-Osceola-Stromsberg won the juniors tournament in 2018. Dannebrog-Cairo-Broelus, Pender and host Palmer-Wolbach-Greeley have perennially strong programs and also competed in this year’s junior tournament.
Imperial will take on Louisville-Weeping Water in the first round. LWW upset Syracuse at districts.
The schedule for the 2021 Nebraska American Legion Class C Senior Playoffs can be found at www.nelegionbaseball.net/class-c-2021-post-season.
Games will be broadcast on 102.9 and on the KADL app.