METAIRIE — The road may have been longer and with a few more bumps, but the Pedal Valves American Legion baseball team took it right back where it wanted to be — the Mid-South Regional Tournament at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

In its second summer of existence, the independent all-star team made up of players from throughout the New Orleans area, including five from St. John the Baptist Parish, won its second American Legion State championship Wednesday and secured a berth in next month’s tournament.

To get it, Pedal Valves had to overcome Townsend Homes, the team based at St. Charles Catholic, in their fourth meeting of the summer, their second in just the last week.

It was Townsend Homes’ first ever appearance in a Legion state championship game.

And it will go down as a classic.

Townsend Homes jumped out to a 3-1 lead after three innings before a lightning delay interrupted the action for nearly an hour at Mike Miley Stadium in Metairie.

Shortly after play resumed, Pedal Valves scored six runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth on the way to an 8-4 win.

Townsend Homes tried to rally late, scoring one run in the top of the seventh and sending the tying run to the plate before the final out.

Pedal Valves (25-6) now will represent Louisiana in the Mid-South Regional, which includes teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi, plus host team Jesuit-based Retif Oil.

The team will begin its quest for the American Legion World Series against Kansas  at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

“It’s amazing,” said Justin Ory, who graduated from St. Charles, signed with Delgado Community College and is now the Pedal Valves shortstop. “I can’t believe we won it two years in a row. That’s crazy.”

While the win was great, Ory said he didn’t particularly care for playing against his former coach, Wayne Stein, and some of his former teammates at Townsend Homes.

“They know all your secrets,” he said.

Stein, however, said he couldn’t be prouder of his Townsend Homes team, which beat Pedal Valves 7-6 June 29 to win the Second District West title and secure its spot in the state tournament.

The team then beat the Crowley Millers 6-2 July 15 and posted a 4-0 victory over Gauthier-Amedee on Sunday behind a stellar pitching performance by Peyton Broussard.

Following a 1-0 loss to Pedal Valves on Monday, Townsend Homes beat St. Landry 5-2 to reach its first final.

Even after losing the lead, Stein’s team had the tying run at the plate for the final out.

“I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but it’s what we do here,” Stein said. “We compete, we win. I’m not surprised by any win with this group, especially if somebody tells them they can’t do something. They kind of take on that mentality of, ‘I’ll show you.’ And we did that.”

Pedal Valves coach Danny Riehm said Wednesday’s final was a testament to the amount of baseball talent in the River Parishes. He carried former Riverside players Connor Poche, Evan Keller (who had three hits and two RBIs in Wednesday’s game) and Mason Vicknair, along with former Comets Zack Roussel and Ory.

“It’s a tradition-rich area,” Riehm said. “The kids play hard. Townsend Homes in the last two summers definitely was the toughest opponent we played. We were in some absolute battles with them whenever or wherever we got together on a diamond.”

Vicknair, who also signed with Delgado, is spending his second summer with the Pedal Valves.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “We came out with a new group of kids and a couple of guys from last summer. It was just another great summer in the books. I can’t wait to continue it.”

Wednesday’s game was particularly stressful for Robby Gilbert, the owner of the Pedal Valves company that sponsors the championship team. His son, Robby Jr., played for Townsend Homes.

“I’m rooting for Townsend Homes,” he said. “No doubt about it. I’m so proud of Danny and the job those guys have done. They did a fantastic job with them. Just the hurdles that Townsend had to get through to come here. I’m so proud of Coach Wayne to get them to this point. The kids fought hard. I’m proud of both of them. For Pedal Valves to win two years in a row, they’re representing the company well.”