Finale a classic duel

In a Big League-style game befitting a championship it was a Little League-style error that decided the finale of the Wood Bat Classic Senior American Legion baseball tournament Monday afternoon at Gonzaga.

Great Falls pitcher Casey Johnson rushed a throw to second base that skipped into center field, allowing Dennis Millar to score the only run that Prospect Baseball Academy needed, especially with Ethan Elias on the mound.

Elias retired the first 13 batters he faced and finished with a one-hit, one-walk performance in the 1-0 win for PBA (52-21) out of St. Albert, Alberta, a suburb of Edmonton.

“I just got up there and threw strikes; let them hit the ball,” Elias said. “It was just fastball location, basically, getting ahead (in the count).”

Great Falls (38-19) couldn’t blame its lack of production on the wood bats, although it only beat another Alberta team, the Okotoks Dawgs, 3-1 in the semifinals. The Chargers only had a couple of strikeouts and hit a number of balls sharply.

“We couldn’t find any holes,” Great Falls coach Aaron Johnson said. “We hit balls right at them. That’s baseball.”

Elias allowed Cole McPherson’s sharp single to left with one out in the fifth inning and a two-out walk in the sixth.

“They’re pretty good out there,” Elias said of his defense. “They don’t make many errors.”

While the Chargers only had one hit, Elias’ teammates only had four, three by No. 7 hitter Millar.

Casey Johnson wriggled out of trouble from the outset, starting with a bases-loaded jam in the first inning that began with Ryan Johnson’s one-out triple to right-center field.

However, the only time he was nicked was in the second.

PBA, which draws players from all over and has 10 players signed with American junior colleges, got Millar’s lead-off double to left and a sacrifice by Colton Thurott. No. 9 hitter Kevin Czarneki walked, and it was on his delayed steal that Johnson rushed his throw into center field for the only error of the game.

Johnson, a side-armer, only allowed three hits but allowed four walks and hit two batters. He got a fortunate bounce in the fifth. After two were out, his second hit batter, third hit and fourth walk loaded the bases.

Then there was a 25-minute rain delay and his first pitch afterward skipped past the catcher. However, the ball bounced straight back to McPherson, and Travis Steinke was easily put out at the plate.

Elias threw about 70 pitches in a 5-2 in over Pullman on Saturday so coach Cam Houston wasn’t worried about bringing him back, which paid off in the dominating 75-pitch performance.

“I got tighter; it wasn’t too serious” Elias said of the affects from the rain delay, that was longer for him because of the threat by his offense. “This is as close as I’ve been (to a no-hitter). I’ve had complete-game shutouts. It’s pretty cool. There was more on the line, a little more adrenalin going.”

Millar got his third hit in the bottom of the sixth off Casey Johnson’s brother Trevor.

Prospect beat Cheyenne, Wyo., 2-1 in 10 innings in the other semifinal in which the two starting pitchers combined for 20 strike outs.

Cheyenne is ranked third in the Western Region and could return to Spokane next month for American Legion World Series.

Junior division: The Sandpoint Lakers defeated the Shadle Park Highlanders 4-1 in the championship game at McEuen Field in Coeur d’Alene on Tevin Hamilton’s second complete-game one-hitter in 24 hours. He struck out 10.

In the semifinals, Shadle Park overcame the Walla Walla Bruins 3-2 in 11 innings on John Winkler’s RBI single that drove in Nick Bettinson, who got aboard on an error.

Sandpoint shut out the Snohomish Steel 5-0 on Cole Tonnemacher’s three-hit pitching and some key defensive plays led by shortstop Ryan Schwarz.