The American Legion Twins continued their torrid climb through the league standings with a sweep of Dimond on Tuesday at the Kenai Little League fields.
The Twins won the first game, the league contest, 10-3, to move to 10-6 in the league. The nonleague game went to the Twins 15-7. The local nine has now won eight of its last nine league contests.
That puts the Twins in fourth place in the league standings, just a point behind third-place Dimond. But Dimond has just one league game left, while the Twins go to Anchorage to face Eagle River on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Service on Saturday at noon.
Because victories count for four points in the league standings, the Twins can guarantee the third seed in next week’s state tournament with victories Friday and Saturday.
“With the Homer, Kenai and Soldotna teams coming together, it just takes time to get together and play as a team,” Twins coach Robb Quelland said. “Our goal all year was to peak in mid-July and here we are, playing as a team and playing very well.”
In the league game, Kyle Johnson pitched the first three innings and yielded two runs, while Joey Becher pitched the last four and gave up an unearned run.
“Our defense and pitching have been strong throughout and our hitting is coming around,” Quelland said.
The Twins had 10 hits. Josh Darrow and Kenny Griffin were 2 for 4, while Tyler Covey was 2 for 3.
In the nonleague game, Quelland said he wanted to see various pitchers in order to get ready for state.
Jake Conver pitched the first inning, giving up four runs. JJ Sonnen, Mason Prior and Tyler Covey finished up, with Prior yielding a run and Covey giving up two runs.
The Twins had 10 hits. Darrow was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Michael Swoboda was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a double, Klayton Justice was 1 for 4 with three RBIs, and Tommy Bowe was 2 for 3 with an RBI.
