Four days after New Baden and Trenton had set the bar for tension in an American Legion baseball game, the two squads raised it.

New Baden swept the two contests, by a combined score of 3-2 over 16 innings of play.

Last Wednesday at New Baden, the host Post 321 squad came away with a 2-1 victory behind an overpowering pitching performance from Tyler Kehrer, who no-hit the Trenton line-up.

Trenton's Tyler Shaw matched Kehrer for most of the contest. Both of New Baden's runs were unearned, while Trenton's only tally came on a series of walks and a successful squeeze play.

With the win, New Baden earned the top seed in the 23rd District West tournament which began this past weekend in Trenton.

Both squads advanced past first-round contests and played a rematch Saturday night. New Baden again came out on top in another pitching duel, 1-0, with Richie Derbak getting the win over a deserving Blake Zurliene.

The only run of the game came in the fourth, when Derbak doubled and scored on Tyler Kehrer's single.

Trenton threatened in the ninth, when Post 778 put runners at the corners with no out but failed to score.

Each team had five hits. Ryan Spicer tripled and singled for Trenton, and Justin Dunning, Zurliene, and Jameson Rakers all had hits.

Derbak doubled twice for New Baden, and Andy Keuhn, Wes Moll, and Kehrer all had hits.

It's possible the two teams will hook up again, and maybe once more after that. Trenton was set to play Centralia in an elimination game Tuesday night. The winner of that contest will face New Baden tonight (Wednesday) in the championship. A New Baden win will end the tournament, but if New Baden loses the game, the two finalists will hook up again on Thursday.

Aviston, Mt. Vernon, and Salem have been eliminated from the tournament. Aviston fell to Trenton and Salem, Mt. Vernon lost contests to New Baden and Centralia, and Salem was bounced by Centralia.

New Baden's Post 321's American Legion baseball team advanced to the championship game of the 23rd District West tournament at Trenton this past weekend, winning an opening round game over Centralia before edging Trenton 1-0 Sunday night (see related story) before a capacity crowd at Pete Schumacher Field.

Post 321 will be gunning for its first-ever district championship with two opportunities to win it, tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow if necessary.

New Baden 8, Centralia 5

New Baden pelted a dozen hits in an opening round win over Centralia, sending 11 men to the plate and scoring six runs in the fourth inning to decide the contest for winner Stephen Siegel, who trailed 2-0 heading into New Baden's half of the inning.

Jason Heinzmann had three hits and drove in three runs for New Baden, while Tyler Kehrer had two rbi on three hits.

The Trenton Torpedoes had a great end to their season as they competed in the Kaskaskia Dive Conference held in Columbia on Wednesday July 18. The Torpedoes finished with a close 5th, only 5 points from 3rd place, and Ryan Turner came home with the Most Valuable Diver Award. The results of the night include:

10& under Boys: 1st place Brennan McVey

10& under Girls: 5th place Emma Haag

7th place Katja Doebelin

11-13 Boys: 5th place Trent Rieger

8th place Conward Swift

11-13 Girls: 5th place Teah Bliven

6th place Kelsey Huelsmann

14& over Boys: 1st place Ryan Turner

12th place Jason Bliven

14& over Girls: 9th place Stephanie Saunders

11th place Maria Zagorski

The Trenton Torpedo Dive Team had a very successful season this year and we are proud of all of them!

The Trenton Torpedoes put on a good show at this years conference swim and dive meet held in Columbia, Illinois this past week. The Torpedoes placed 3rd in the seven team Kaskaskia Swim/Dive Conference and the Torpedoes had many good diving and swimming performances.

Four of the Torpedo swimmers were Gold medalists in their individual swimming competitions: Nathan Brown, 12, won Gold in the breast stroke; Sarah Denaro, 14, was a Gold medalist in butterfly; Conward Swift, 13, was a Gold medallist in freestyle; and Scott Delorme, 17, was a Gold medalist in butterfly.

Six of the Torpedo swimmers received acknowledgement as being in the top three most valuable swimmers in their age groups. Gretchen Krumsieg and Maddie Chapman, both 8 years old, tied for 3rd most valuable swimmer in the 7-8 girl category. Rachel Ford, 10 years old, was recognized as the 3rd most valuable 9-10 girl swimmer. Blake Baer, 10 years old, was the 2nd most valuable swimmer in the 9-10 boys age group. Blake Gibson, 12 years old, was the 2nd most valuable swimmer in the 11-12 boys age group. Sarah Denaro, age 14, was the 3rd most valuable swimmer in the 13-14 girls category.

Medley Relays:

The 8 and under girls medley relay team of Sierra Zanger, Maddie Chapman, Gretchen Krumsieg and Paige Thomas won Gold in their relay event to get the Torpedoes off on a good start.

They were followed by a 3rd place finish by the 9-10 boys medley relay team of Tyler Woods, Blake Baer, Wade Rieger and Jacob Brown. The 9-10 girls medley relay team also placed 3rd with Rachel Ford, Renee Rivera, Zoe Conley and Teah Bliven doing the honors.

The Torpedoes 11-12 boys medley relay team were conference champs on the strength of the swimming of Adam Ford, Nathan Brown, Alex Timmermann and Blake Gibson. The 11-12 girls medley relay team placed 3rd, swimming Anna Quitmeyer, Zoe Christopher, Kami Moorhead and Tori Krumsieg.

The 13-14 boys medley relay placed 3rd with Michael Swift, Conward Swift, Nick Takacs, and Nick Stason. The 13-14 girls medley relay placed 4th with Maria Zagorski, Ellen Maue, Sarah Denaro and Lauren Dowd.

The 15 and over boys placed 4th with most of them swimming up two age groups to join coach Scott Delorme in a medley relay of Jordan Gibson, Nathan Kunz, Scott Delorme and Daniel Takacs. The 15 and over girls medley relay placed 4th with Sam Crandall, Amy Ford, Caitlyn Dunning and Lauren Haukapp completing the medley relays.

Individual Medley:

In the individual medley swim, Blake Baer won the Silver medal and Wade Rieger placed 7th for the 9-10 boys. In the 9-10 girls, Katie Foppe placed 7th and Renee Rivera placed 8th.

For 11-12 boys IM, Blake Gibson placed 2nd and Alex Timmermann placed 3rd, both winning conference medals. In the 11-12 girls, Kami Moorhead placed 6th and Zoe Christopher placed 7th.

For the 13-14 boys, Nick Takacs placed 4th and Michael Swift placed 5th. Sarah Denaro won the Silver medal for the 13-14 girls IM with Ellen Maue coming in 7th place.

For boys 15 and over, Scott Delorme placed 6th and Nathan Brown, swimming up two groups, placed 10th.

Freestyle:

In the freestyle races, swimming in the 7-8 age group, Ryan Timmermann placed 10th and Jacob Brown placed 11th. For the girls, Maddie Chapman won a Bronze medal placing 3rd, and Allison Smith placed 12th.

For the 9-10 boys Tyler Woods placed 5th and Wade Rieger placed 8th. For the girls, Rachel Ford took home a Bronze medal and Zoe Conley placed 12th.

For the 11-12 boys, Blake Gibson won the Silver medal and his brother, Jordan Gibson, was right behind winning the Bronze medal. For the 11-12 girls freestyle Tori Krumsieg took 5th place and Alexis Zanger placed 12th.

For the 13-14 boys, Conward Swift won the Gold medal and Nick Stason placed 4th. For the girls, Maria Zagorski placed 6th and Lauren Dowd placed 7th.

In the senior boys Adam Ford placed 8th and Daniel Takacs placed 10th. Both of them were swimming up two age groups! The senior girls closed out the freestyle with Caitlyn Dunning taking 5th place and Sam Crandall 7th place.

Butterfly:

For the butterfly, Ryan Timmermann placed 6th for the 7-8 boys with Gretchen Krumseig winning the Silver medal and Maddie Chapman placing 4th for the girls.

In the 9-10 boys butterfly, Blake Baer won the Silver medal and Tyler Woods took 9th. In the 9-10 girls, Rachel Ford placed 4th and Zoe Conley placed 5th.

In the 11-12 boys butterfly Alex Timmermann won the Silver medal and Nathan Kunz took 10th. For the girls, Tori Krumsieg placed 6th and Kami Moorhead placed 7th.

For the 13-14 boys, Nick Takacs placed 4th and Conward Swift placed 5th. For the girls, Sarah Denaro won the Gold medal and Cristina White placed 7th.

In the senior boys category our own assistant swim coach, Scott Delorme, finished out his swimming career with a Gold medal performance with his fastest ever butterfly time. For the girls, Caitlyn Dunning placed 6th and Amy Ford placed 7th.

Backstroke:

In the backstroke races, Jacob Brown placed 8th for the 7-8 boys. Gretchen Krumsieg won the Silver medal for the girls and Sierra Zanger placed 6th.

For the 9-10 boys Tyler Woods placed 4th and for the girls, Rachel Ford won the Silver medal and Katie Foppe took 7th place.

For the 11 and 12 boys Adam Ford won a Bronze medal and Jordan Gibson placed 4th. For the girls, Anna Quitmeyer placed 6th and Zoe Christopher placed 10th.

Nick Takacs won the Bronze medal and Michael Swift took 4th for the 13-14 boys, with Cristina White winning the Bronze medal and Maria Zagorski placing 8th for the girls.

For the 15 and over girls, Sam Crandall placed 4th and Lauren Dowd placed 7th.

Breast Stroke

For the 7-8 boys breast stroke event, Ryan Timmermann started the Torpedoes with a 6th place finish, which was followed by Maddie Chapman winning the Silver medal and Paige Thomas placing 4th for the girls.

For the 9-10 boys Blake Baer won a Silver medal and in the 9-10 girls Renee Rivera placed 4th and Lauren Donnewald placed 5th.

Nathan Brown and Blake Gibson swept the Gold and Silver respectively for the Torpedoes in the 11-12 boys breast stroke, and for the girls, Anna Quitmeyer placed 7th and Zoe Christopher placed 8th.

For the 13-14 boys Conward Swift placed 5th and Michael Swift placed 6th. For the girls, Sarah Denaro placed 3rd and Ellen Maue placed 8th.

In the senior boys breast stroke, Scott Delorme placed 7th and for the girls, Amy Ford won the Silver medal and Caitlyn Dunning placed 4th.

Freestyle Relays:

The last events were the freestyle relays with the girls 7-8 freestyle relay team winning the Gold medals, swimming Gretchen Krumsieg, Sierra Zanger, Paige Thomas and Maddie Chapman.

Placing 4th for the 9-10 boys were Tyler Woods, Jacob Brown, Wade Rieger and Blake Baer. The 9-10 girls team of Katie Foppe, Zoe Conley, Teah Bliven and Rachel Ford placed 3rd.

The 11-12 boys team of Alex Timmermann, Jordan Gibson, Adam Ford and Blake Gibson won the Gold medal. The 11-12 girls team of Tori Krumsieg, Kami Moorhead, Anna Quitmeyer and Zoe Christopher placed 4th.

For the 13-14 boys, Nick Takacs, Nick Stason, Michael Swift and Conward Swift took 2nd place with the girls team of Lauren Down, Ellen Maue, Maria Zagorsky and Sarah Denaro placing 4th.

The 15 and over boys of Daniel Takacs, Nathan Kunz, Nathan Brown and Scott Delorme (three of whom were swimming up two age groups) placed 4th, and the senior girls team of Sam Crandall, Stephanie Saunders, Caitlyn Dunning and Amy Ford finished the meet with a 3rd place finish.

The Torpedoes finished the season with a banquet, awards ceremony and pool party Sunday night. Congratulations to all the Torpedo swimmers and divers for a great season! Stay active and we'll see you next summer.

After the anguish of a second one-run loss at the hands of New Baden Post 321, Trenton Post 778's American Legion baseball team awakened Monday morning to find themselves still alive in the 23rd District West tournament, but facing a considerable climb.

The host team must win three consecutive games to take the title, and two of those wins will have to come against New Baden.

First, Trenton was set to face Centralia Tuesday night for the right to advance out of the bottom bracket and into a championship game. The winner of that game is scheduled to play top-seeded New Baden tonight. New Baden, with no losses, will clinch the tournament championship with a win.

If Trenton or Centralia wins tonight, it will force a second championship game against New Baden tomorrow.

Before losing Sunday night to New Baden, Trenton survived Aviston 5-4 in one of the more exciting games of the tournament.

Trenton 5, Aviston 4

It took two eighth-inning runs and seven Aviston errors, but Trenton survived Saturday's opening round game by scoring runs when they needed to.

Aviston took a 4-3 lead with an unearned run in the seventh, but Post 778 charged back with a pair of tallies in the eighth to give the win to reliever Paul Ritzheimer, who recorded the final nine outs in the contest.

Justin Dunning started Trenton's winning rally, doubling in the eighth and scoring on a throwing error. Jim Ritzheimer scored the winner on a successful squeeze bunt from Rob Meyer.

Ryan Spicer had two hits and drove in a run for Trenton, and Blake Zurliene doubled and singled for Post 778. Dunning, Jim Ritzheimer, Tyler Shaw, and Jameson Rakers all had hits.