Imperial’s Pinnacle Bank Seniors end season

By Alan Carman
The Imperial Republican
    The Imperial Pinnacle Bank Senior Legion Baseball Team ended the 2025 season with a heartbreaking loss in the third round of the B-7 District Tournament held in Alliance.
    The Horns were the fourth seed and played the fifth seed, Ogallala in the first round on Friday, July 25, at 4:00 p.m. In a game that was close through the first five innings, Imperial  took the win in the sixth inning, winning by nine runs, 16-7.
    That advanced the Longhorns into a game against the number one seed, Alliance.
    In the other half of the bracket, Chadron fell to Gering, 4-12, dropping them into the losers bracket to play Ogallala.
     The Longhorn game against Alliance was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but mother nature brought rain to the area postponing the game until 1:00 on Sunday.
    The Ogallala vs. Chadron game finished Sunday morning due to the rain with Chadron knocking Ogallala out of the tournament, winning 4-1. Alliance handed the Horns there first loss Sunday afternoon, 1-2, dropping the Horns into the losers bracket to take on Chadron.
    In this elimination game, the Horns and Chadron were tied at the end of seven innings, 4-4. In the top half of the seventh, Imperial scored two runs, putting them up 6-4.
    In the bottom half of the eighth inning, The Horns got two outs without giving up a run, but Chadron had runners on first and second base. With just one out to go, Chadron hit a walk off three run homerun  to end Imperial’s season and any hopes of another State Tournament birth.
    Alliance beat Gering in the nightcap game 7-6, setting up a Monday night match between Gering and Chadron. The winner of that game would have to beat Alliance twice to win the tournament and advance to the State Tournament.