The Austin-Albert Lea Legion baseball team finished its season strong, but it wasn’t enough to get them to the District Finals.

AAL had its season end on a 16-7 loss to Owatonna Post 77 in the District 1 semifinals in Marcusen Park Sunday night.

Owatonna put the game away with six runs in the seventh inning to take a 15-7 lead. AAL had led 5-3 going into the bottom of the second when Post 77 took a 7-5 lead on a one-out, three-run triple after AAL had committed two early errors in the frame.

AAL (11-17 overall) played Sunday’s round without starters Zach Huntley, who was injured, and Marcus Stoulil and Tommy Olmsted, who were had a church commitment.

“What hurt us was numbers at the end. We hit the wall and we lost some key players. It was tough for us,” AAL co-head coach Jay Enderson said.

AAL wasn’t happy to have its season end, but the team was glad to finish third in the tournament after being seeded No. 6.

“Just winning three games was exciting,” AAL Gabe Kasak, who was 3-for-5 with a triple and an RBI against Owatonna, said. “Going into the game, I was okay with whatever the outcome would be. Finishing third is not too bad.”

AAL 7, Rochester Redhawks 6

The AAL baseball team looked like its season was going to be over early Saturday as it trailed the Rochester Redhawks 6-0 after three innings and the team was playing without three starters.

But they weren’t going out without a fight.

AAL tallied three runs in the sixth when Steven Clennon doubled in two runs and the team added four more runs in the seventh Ethan Horstmann and Dylan See-Rockers each had two-run singles.

In the end, AAL came back to win 7-6 against all odds.

“Regardless of being short on guys, we came into the game the same as we did yesterday,” Kasak said. “We figured why not knock off another team, especially a big Rochester school. It was nice to take it away from them.”

Clennon picked up the mound win after a slow start. Over the last six innings, he allowed just one run .

“Those first three inning sucked,” Clennon said. “Then we roped together a couple of hits and we ended up ahead.”

AAL 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 – 7 11 1

Red 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 6 10 4

AAL pitching: Steven Clennon (W), 9 IP, 10 H, 6 BB, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 K, 1 HBP

AAL hitting: Ethan Horstmann, 2-for-5, 2 RBIs, R; Jonathan Fleek, 3-for-4, 2 R; Gabe Kasak, 2-for-5, 2 RBIs, R; Dylan See-Rockers, 2-for-5, 2 RBIs, R; Clennon, 2-for-4, double, 2 RBIs; Chris Enderson, 0-for-4, RBI; Jacob Kempen, 0-for-2, R, 2 BBs; EJ Thomas, 1-for-4, R; Tyler Persig, 0-for-2; Dalton Carlson, 0-for-2

AAL 3 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 – 7 12 5

Owa 3 4 1 0 0 1 6 1 X – 16 14 2

AAL pitching: Kempen (L), 6 1/3 IP, 11 H, 5 BB, 15 R, 10 ER, 2 K; Horstmann, 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER

AAL hitting: Horstmann, 0-for-5, BB; Fleek, 3-for-5, 3 R, 3 S, BB; Kasak, 3-for-5, triple, RBI, 3 R; See-Rockers, 2-for-2, double, 2 RBIs, R, BB; Clennon, 2-for-5, 3 RBIs, SB; Kempen, 1-for-3, 2 BBs; Thomas, 1-for-3, RBI, HBP, BB; Enderson, 0-for-4, BB; Carlson, 0-for-4