AURORA, ORE. – The Roseburg Pepsi Bottlecaps rallied through the loser’s bracket of the American Legion Class A state tournament over the weekend to reach Championship Sunday for the sixth time in a decade. The Bottlecaps faced an undefeated North Willamette Valley team and needed two wins to claim the state title.

Doran Gillespie hit a solo home run in the first inning to give Pepsi a 1-0 lead, but that was the only bright spot offensively for the Bottlecaps. The Huskies didn’t allow another Roseburg run the rest of the game and cruised to a 12-1 win in five innings to win the championship.

The Bottlecaps might have fallen short of the title, but their season isn’t done just yet. Pepsi will move on to the Northwest Regional in Eugene along with North Willamette Valley to face teams from Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Eugene doesn’t have a Single-A Legion team to host the regional tournament, so the top two teams from the Oregon state tournament advanced and keep their seasons going.

Head coach Justin O’Byrne said after the game that it was disappointing in the moment that the team fell short of its goal, but now they have another opportunity in front of them.

“We’re excited to represent Oregon along with North Marion at next week’s Northwest Regional. It’s going to be a great opportunity for us to continue our season for another nine or 10 days, which is paramount for our process with with these young kids.”

The Northwest Regional Legion A tournament gets underway Friday from Swede Johnson Stadium in Eugene. Pepsi will face the state champions from Montana at 12:30 p.m. The tournament runs until a champion is crowned on Tuesday next week.