No one will ever accuse the Washington Post 218 Juniors (30-4) of being boring.

Throughout the Junior Legion state tournament, Post 218 found itself behind in three of its first four contests.

It was more of the same in the state championship game Sunday, when Washington trailed early. 

But, as it was able to do all tournament long, Post 218 rallied, then staved off a comeback attempt by Sedalia to capture the state title, 4-3. 

Washington was essentially playing catch-up for the entirety of the tournament, as a first round loss to Cape Girardeau meant it would have to win its next four games. Post 218 did just that, defeating Elsberry, bouncing back to defeat Cape and then winning two games in a row against Sedalia.

Washington Manager Kent Getsee said his team’s experience helped dig itself out of holes.

“We have experience from last year,” he said. “I have five guys from last year and they know what it’s like, they know you have to fight all the way to the end. When you have that knowledge that you have to come back and you can’t just assume that you’re done, you can mount comebacks like we did.”

With the state championship, Post 218 advanced to the Central Plains Junior Regional Tournament in Rapid City, South Dakota at Floyd Fitzgerald Stadium. Washington’s first game is Wednesday against South Dakota at 4:30 p.m.

Getsee said he was expecting for his team to be holding up the state championship plaque all season.

“It was an expectation for me,” he said. “We had five guys back that were state champions last year. All of the other guys on this team except for one played in the freshman state championship last year. We had as much experience as any team could have, and playing on our home turf we knew it should be a win.”

Managing a group of players he already knew gave Getsee an advantage this year, he said.

“Any time you have familiarity, you know who can do what,” he said. “Especially for me when I’m coaching, I can say, ‘This guy is a good bunter or this guy’s got wheels,’ and it makes a big difference for me.”

Zach Stahlman bounced back from a loss against Cape Girardeau Thursday to earn the win for Washington. 

Stahlman tossed a complete game, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits with two strikeouts.

Sedalia jumped out to the early lead in the bottom of the first inning, as a fielder’s choice hit by Nick Cashman scored Alec Luyet.

Post 218 didn’t get its first baserunner until the third inning, but finally got its offense going when Teddy Meyer walked, Jake Jinkerson singled and Tommy Ruether hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.

The game remain knotted up for an inning and a half, until Post 218 broke the game open in the top of the fifth.

Eli Marquart led the inning off with a single, which resulted in Sedalia pulling starting pitcher Connor Tichenor. Tichenor exited with a line of two runs, two hits and two strikeouts.

After Jinkerson bunted to move Marquart to second base, Post 218 greeted Sedalia’s reliever with three consecutive hits.

Ruether singled to right field to score Marquart and give Washington its first lead of the game. Logan Gratza doubled in Ruether, then Justin Heggemann singled home Gratza to bring the score to 4-1.

Getsee said Post 218 got back to hitting the right way in the fifth.

“I think there’s a couple of things that happened,” Getsee said. “We got the jitters out and we got back to our approach. Early on we were swinging at balls up in the zone, and were hitting pop-ups. We kind of just got back into our rhythm and were swinging at everything that was middle-down and we started putting the bat on the ball.”

Stahlman worked his way through two more innings on the mound for Post 218, bringing his team to the seventh inning with a four-run lead.

But Washington couldn’t close out the game without first giving its fans one more dose of anxiety.

Sedalia got runners on first and second with one out, then Tichenor drove in Grant Eifert with a single to make it 4-2. 

After a fielder’s choice which was almost turned into a double play, Post 218 needed just one out to win the championship. 

It looked like Stahlman had gotten the out when he got Corbin Reese to line to left field, but the ball deflected off Teddy Meyer’s glove and scored Brant Gideon, cutting Washington’s lead to just one.

With runners on first and second, a Sedalia single would likely tie the game and an extra base hit could have won it. But Stahlman was able to force Sedalia cleanup hitter Gunnar Creach to groundout to second base, clinching the AA program’s second consecutive state championship.

Post 218 collected six hits in the game.

Ruether, Gratza, Heggemann, Marquart, Jinkerson and Hunter Mehler had Washington’s hits.

Ruether drove in two runs, while Gratza and Heggemann each had an RBI.

The runs were scored by Ruether, Gratza, Marquart and Chris Broeder. 

Heggemann and Meyer drew a walk.

Jinkerson was hit by a pitch.

Sedalia had seven hits. 

Clayton Meyer went 3-4 and Tichenor went 2-4. Reese and Gideon had the other hits. 

Sedalia’s runs were scored by Luyet, Eifert and Gideon.

RBIs were off the bats of Tichenor and Cashman. 

Eifert drew Sedalia’s lone walk. 

STATE CHAMPS —The Washington Juniors celebrate after winning the state tournament Sunday afternoon. Michael Alvey photo.