with five in their half
with five in their half, walking it off at 10-9 on an RBI double by number-nine hitter James Holliday.
This was a back-and-forth battle between neighboring rivals throughout. The Twins’ Ethan Cook got the scoring started by driving a two-run homer over the fence in left-center in the top of the third inning. Westboro matched it in the bottom half with a two-out double from Tucker Kraemer and an RBI single from Dayne Marlenga, who then scored on Connor Westfall’s infield single, which was thrown away.
Hardy Hueckman singled in a run for Spirit in the fourth. Westboro went up 5-3 in the fifth with Marcus Klemm doubling in two and then scoring on a double by Nick Pittman.
It stayed that way until the top of the ninth when Spirit got two clutch, two-out hits.
Cook had the first one, doubling in Heston Hueckman, who had singled with one out and moved to second out a groundout by Hardy Hueckman. Cook then scored the tying run on a base hit by Brady Heiser.
In the 10th, Spirit broke the 5-5 tie with an error playing a key role. Hardy Hueckman singled in one and Cook drew a bases-loaded walk.
In the bottom half, Marshall Westfall hit a leadoff double to jumpstart Westboro’s offense. Connor Westfall singled and Klemm doubled again to drive in one. After Pittman walked, a run scored on Dawson Grunseth’s fielder’s choice. An error on a ball hit by Connor Nichols allowed two to score and Nichols scored the game-winning run on Holliday’s double.
Kaleb Cracraft and Grunseth each threw five innings for Westboro. Cook got the start and pitched well for Spirit, who got three hits from Heiser and two apiece from Cook and Hardy Hueckman. Marshall Westfall and Pittman had three hits apiece for Westboro. Kraemer and Klemm had two each.
On Sunday, Pittman threw a three-hit shutout and struck out 19 hitters in an 8-0 win over the Tomahawk Titans. He walked six in the shutout and stranded two runners in both the second and third innings before cruising the rest of the way.
Offensively, a five-run fourth broke it open for Westboro. Kraemer and Holiday had RBI singles and Pittman’s two-run double capped it. Dominic Quednow tripled and scored as part of a two-run seventh that included an RBI double by Kraemer. Cracraft hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Marlenga went four for four and scored twice. Kraemer, Nichols and Brant Johnson had two hits apiece.
Rib Lake finishes 2nd
Last year’s Small Division champions, the Rib Lake Osprey, settled for second this year at 6-1 following their 12-7 win over Pittsville, played Sunday after the River Bandits dropped their game with Interwald. So, at that point, Rib Lake knew it wasn’t going to be playing for a division title tie.
Austin Edwards got the Osprey off to a solid start with five shutout innings to begin his outing and the team scored consistently throughout to offset the offense Pittsville finally found in the later innings.
The River Bandits finished 2-5 in league play.
Tony takes down two
The Tony Hayshakers finished off a 5-2 first season in the Small Division with wins over two local squads on Sunday. They finished in third place.
First, the Hayshakers outslugged visiting Medford 14-10. A marathon fourth inning proved to be the game’s turning point. Down 3-1 to start it, Medford scored five times, highlighted by an RBI single from Roy Stinson and a two-run single by Peyton Gilles. But the Moon Dogs could not get the final strike or final out to get out of the bottom half and Ben Kopacz eventually made them pay, hitting an 0-2 pitch for a grand slam that put Tony up 9-6. The Hayshakers went up 11-6 and 12-8 before Medford had a big chance in the eighth. The Moon Dogs got an RBI double from Trent Klemm and and RBI groundout from Stinson to get within two, but left two runners in scoring position. Tony got those two runs back in the bottom half.
Tony then made up an earlier rainout with Spirit and dominated 14-4 in seven innings. That kept the Twins winless in league play at 0-7.
Whittlesey walked off
In the Large Division, the Whittlesey Reds were walked off in the bottom of the ninth by the Rhinelander River Monsters, who scored four times in the frame to steal a 10-9 win in a meeting of teams who brought 5-8 league records into the game.
Number-nine hitter Owen Kurtz won it with a two-out, tie-breaking double that scored Jesse Robinson from second base. The Reds got the second out while still leading 9-6, but four straight batters reached after that to push the final four runs across.
The inning started with an infield hit by Quinn Lamers. Nick Retterath struck out Martin Hoger but then walked Tyler Blomdahl. Sam Schneider grounded out to put the Reds one out away from victory.
Chad Huebner had an infield hit that, combined with an error on the play, allowed two runs to score. Robinson was hit by a pitch and Sawyer Bishop singled in the tying run ahead of Kurtz’s hit.
The teams combined for 28 hits in the back-and-forth battle. Whittlesey had 15 of them. Nick Meyer was four for four with three RBIs and a homer. Cody Loertscher was three for five, Retterath was two for four and Zach Haynes was two for five.
Whittlesey led 3-1 on single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Meyer hit his solo shot in the fifth. An error aided a three-run fifth for Rhinelander that included a two-run single by Hoger. The Reds responded with three in the top of the sixth, a rally that fully happened with two outs. Loertscher singled, Retterath walked, Meyer hit an infield single that scored Loertscher and a single by Spike Alexander with an error added on made it 6-4. Rhinelander tied it in the bottom half on a two-run double by Lamers.
The Reds got an RBI double from Meyer that nearly left the yard in the eighth and got a two-run double from Jeff Kraschnewski in the ninth.
Cade Alexander struck out two, walked two and allowed three hits and two runs, one earned, in four-plus innings. Retterath went the rest of the way and was charged with 10 hits and eight runs, seven earned, while striking out eight and walking two.
