Seniors will face Valentine in area tournament’s first game

    Now it’s the senior Legion team’s turn.
    After a state qualification berth by Imperial’s juniors last week, the seniors start post-season play Friday in the C7 Area Legion Baseball Tournament in Gordon and Rushville.
    Imperial will face Valentine in their 4:45 p.m. opener Friday at Kiwanis Field in Gordon, which will host the first three days of the tournament.
    Rushville’s Modisett Park will host the tournament July 23-24 and July 25 if necessary.
    Coach Bruce Peterson’s team enters the area senior tournament with a 2-10 record, and earned the No. 4 seed.
    He said he doesn’t know much about the other five tournament teams, only that Imperial played Bridgeport last year in this tournament.
    Peterson believes his team can compete with any of them.
    He said the hardest thing entering the senior tourney is the long break between their last game and now. In between have been the junior area and state tournaments, when no senior games were played.
    The positive, though, Peterson said, is that six of the junior players will be on the senior roster for the tournament.
    He’ll take a roster of 12 to the area tournament, with six “true” seniors.
    The seniors will practice Wednesday and today (Thursday) before leaving Friday morning.
    Other teams in the double elimination tournament include Bridgeport, Morrill, Gordon and Ainsworth.
    The C7 winner will advance to the Class C state tournament in Albion July 28-Aug. 1.