On to championship Tuesday

The Powell Pioneers maximized their stay at the 2009 Northwest region Legion baseball tournament with an 11-5 victory over previously undefeated Laurel, Mont., on Monday. The Pioneers are one of three teams still alive in the championship hunt in Salt Lake City.

Tyler Dahlgren and Colter Bostick combined for five RBI's in the final three innings as Powell pulled away from a 5-5 deadlock for the win. Bostick also grabbed the win on the mound, throwing seven innings, surrendering five runs and fanning seven Laurel batters. Scotty Jameson came on in relief in the eighth inning and picked up the save, punching out four of the six batters he faced after surrendering a lead-off single to open the eighth.

Powell chased the Laurel starting pitcher less than two innings into the game, but missed on an opportunity early to break things wide open. After loading the bases with nobody out, the Pioneers were retired on an infield pop-up, and infield grounder and a throw-out at home plate. Despite the stranded baserunners, the team held a 4-2 lead at the end of two innings.

Laurel tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the fourth, then matched a Powell run in the middle innings to send the game to a 5-5 count before the Pioneers mounted their late charge.

Powell faces the winner of the Kennewick, Wash.,-Fairbanks, Alaska, contest at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The loser finishes third in regional play. The winner advances to face Laurel in the championship game that follows.

Diamond notes:
* Powell reliever Scotty Jameson reportedly was clocked at 90 miles per hour on the radar gun on a pair of eighth-inning pitches.

* Despite losing to the Pioneers on Monday, the Laurel Dodgers advance into Tuesday's championship game by virtue of being the last undefeated team standing in the tournament field.

* Monday's meeting between Powell and Laurel paired the tournament's highest scoring team (Powell) against the team with the lowest tournament ERA (Laurel). The 11 runs tallied by the Pioneers on Monday were more than Laurel had allowed in its first three tournament games combined.

* There is apparently no Legion World Series at the Class A level as I'd previously been led to believe. Therefore, Tuesday's games, win or lose, mark the conclusion of the Pioneers' season.