MONTGOMERY &8212; Considered a powerhouse team in Alabama Independent School Association, the Marengo Academy junior varsity baseball team once again made a deep run into the state baseball playoffs, ending their season in second place.

Coach Eddie Edwards said the school has played in the playoff tournament every year since its inception six years ago, the only team in the association to do so. He said the school has seen a run of good athletes come through that have helped put it in the tournament every year and this year&8217;s group was no exception.

This year&8217;s team only lost two games in its regular season play, going 20-2 heading into the tournament in Montgomery at the Macon-East Montgomery Academy. The two games it dropped were both to Pickens, 9-8 in the first match and 6-5 in the second.

The first day of the state tournament for the team, last Friday, the team decimated three teams in a row and looked unstoppable. They beat their first opponent, Lowndes, 10-0, their second, Pike, 6-1, and their third, hosting team Macon-East, 9-2.

But a long layoff between game three and four, where the team would face the winner of the losers&8217; bracket seemed to throw the seemingly invincible team off. Edwards said the group came back for their fourth round game against Macon-East, who had worked their way back, not looking as sharp.

The team lost its fourth game to Macon-East, 6-1, leading to an if game to decide the championship. The team still couldn&8217;t rise out of the funk in the second game of the night that ran until 2 a.m. falling 5-1.