Dairyland gets 9 bids, including 3 local teams

WISCONSIN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS ARE SET

Nine of the Dairyland League’s 14 baseball teams received bids to the 2022 Wisconsin Baseball Association’s postseason tournament, which set the 36-team field Tuesday night.

Locally, the Whittlesey Reds, Rib Lake Osprey and Interwald Woodticks are among the Dairyland’s post-season representatives. Those teams, however, won’t be playing very close to home when district play is held on the weekend of Aug. 12-14.

For the second straight year, the WBA is using a pool-play, regional format for the playoffs, which divides the 36 qualifiers into six, six-team regional sites for the first weekend. Each regional will hold two, three-team mini-tournaments to determine the 12-team field for the WBA Finals, which will be held at four different diamonds within the Mississippi Valley League the weekend of Aug. 19-21. Those hosts are Sparta, Coon Valley, Viroqua and Onalaska.

In setting this year’s field, the qualifi ers were seeded 1-36 based on their finishes within the WBA’s six leagues this season and those seeds determined the 12 three-team brackets.

The Dairyland League’s overall champion, the Wisconsin Rapids Red-Hawks, earned the top tournament seed after going 12-0 in the Dairyland’s Division B and then winning the first-place crossover 5-1 over the Division A champion Everest Merchants. Everest is the number-two seed in the tournament after also going 12-0 in divisional play before Saturday’s loss at Rapids.

Rapids earned a spot in nearby Marshfield for regional weekend, where it will play the 24th-seeded Elmwood Expos and the 25th-seeded Brill Millers. Everest will play in Merrill against the 23rd-seeded Eau Claire Cavaliers and 26th-seeded Spring Valley Hawks.

None of the Taylor County teams will play at the nearby Marshfield and Merrill regional sites.

After posting a 9-3 record in Division B of the Dairyland League and losing 12-2 to Minocqua Saturday in the league’s second-place crossover, the Whittlesey Reds drew the 12th seed and were assigned to the Ellsworth District. The 13th-seeded Hudson River Rats, who were 12-6 in the St. Croix Valley League, and the 36th-seeded Eau Claire Rivermen, 8-10 in the Chippewa River Baseball League, will meet at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13 at Bob Young Field. The loser will play the Reds that night at 7:30 p.m. Whittlesey will face the Hudson/Eau Claire winner at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 14.

Rib Lake, who went 7-5 in Division A of the Dairyland and lost the fourth-place crossover to Marshfield 9-3 on Saturday, was assigned to the Tilden District as the 28th seed in the tournament. The Osprey will play the fourth-seeded Tilden Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 12 at Casper Park in Chippewa Falls. Tilden had the top regular-season record in the Chippewa River Baseball League. Rib Lake will then play the 21st-seeded Viroqua Sox at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13. Viroqua went 7-5 in the Mississippi Valley. Tilden and Viroqua will close the weekend with a 3 p.m. game on Sunday, Aug. 14.

The Interwald Woodticks went 6-6 in Division A of the Dairyland and clinched their playoff spot with a 6-5, 10-inning win over Tomahawk Saturday in the league’s fifth-place crossover game. Interwald was shipped to the River Falls District. The 29th-seeded Woodticks will be challenged as they meet the fifthseeded River Falls Fighting Fish at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 12 at First National Bank of River Falls Field.

If they pull off the upset, they’ll face the 20th-seeded Sparta Miller at noon on Sunday, Aug. 14. If they lose the opener, they’ll play Sparta at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13. River Falls won the 2020 WBA championship in a scaled-down state tournament due to the pandemic and also won the 2011 title. Sparta won backto- back WBA titles in 2016 and 2017. River Falls won the St. Croix Valley League this year at 15-3, while Sparta tied Viroqua for second in the Mississippi Valley behind the 11-1 Holmen Features, who are the third seed in the tournament.

Also from the Dairyland League, Merrill will play on its home field as the eighth seed against Hayward and Jim Falls. Minocqua is the 18th seed and will play in Ellsworth against the host Hubbers and Tony. Wausau is the 27th seed and will play at the Tilden site against Holmen and Lake Superior.

The full schedule for Aug. 12-14 district play follows. The 12 teams that qualify for the Finals will be reseeded before that tournament begins.

The 30th-seeded Haugen Knights are the defending champions. They beat this year’s ninth-seeded team, the Spooner Cardinals, 5-4 in last year’s title game held in Marshfield.

Wisconsin Baseball Association Regional Playoffs Aug. 12-14

Tilden (Chippewa Falls) Regional Gm. 1: #4 Tilden vs. #28 Rib Lake, Fri., 7:30 p.m.

Gm. 2: #3 Holmen vs. #22 Lake Superior, Sat., noon.

Gm. 3: Rib Lake vs. #21 Viroqua, Sat., 3 p.m.

Gm. 4: #27 Wausau vs. Loser Game 2, Sat., 6 p.m. Gm. 5: Wausau vs. Winner Game 2, Sun., noon.

Gm. 6: Tilden vs. Viroqua, Sun., 3 p.m.

Ellsworth Regional

Gm. 1: #18 Minocqua vs. #31 Ellsworth, Fri., 8 p.m.

Gm. 2: #13 Hudson vs. #36 Eau Claire Rivermen, Sat., 12:30 p.m.

Gm. 3: #7 Tony vs. Loser Game 1, Sat., 4 p.m.

Gm. 4: #12 Whittlesey vs. Loser Game 2, Sat., 7:30 p.m.

Gm. 5: Tony vs. Winner Game 1, Sun., noon.

Gm. 6: Whittlesey vs. Winner Game 2, Sun., 3 p.m.

Haugen Regional

Gm. 1: #30 Haugen Knights vs. #19 Glidden, Fri., 8 p.m.

Gm. 2: #9 Spooner vs. #16 Plum City, Sat., noon.

Gm. 3: #6 Osseo vs. Loser Game 1, Sat., 3 p.m.

Gm. 4: #33 La Crosse vs. Loser Game 2, Sat., 6 p.m.

Gm. 5: #6 Osseo vs. Winner Game 1, Sun., noon.

Gm. 6: La Crosse vs. Winner Game 2, Sun., 3 p.m.

Marshfield Regional Gm. 1: #14 Washburn vs. #35 Marshfield, Fri., 8 p.m.

Gm. 2: #1 Wisconsin Rapids vs. #25 Brill, Sat., noon.

Gm. 3: #11 Eau Claire Bears vs. Loser Game 1, Sat., 3 p.m.

Gm. 4: #24 Elmwood vs. Loser Game 2, Sat., 6 p.m.

Gm. 5: Eau Claire Bears vs. Winner Game 1, Sun., noon Gm. 6: Marshfield vs. Winner Game 2, Sun., 3 p.m.

Merrill Regional

Gm. 1: #8 Merrill vs. #32 Jim Falls, Fri., 7 p.m.

Gm. 2: #2 Everest vs. #26 Spring Valley, Sat., noon. Gm. 3: #17 Hayward vs. Loser Game 1, Sat., 3 p.m.

Gm. 4: #23 Eau Claire Cavaliers vs. Loser Game 2, Sat., 6 p.m.

Gm. 5: Hayward vs. Winner Game 1, Sun., noon.

Gm. 6: Eau Claire Cavaliers vs. Winner Game 2, Sunday at 3 p.m.

River Falls Regional Gm. 1: #5 River Falls vs. #29 Interwald, Fri., 7:30 p.m.

Gm. 2: #15 Chippewa Falls vs. #34 LaCrescent, Minn., Sat., 1 p.m.

Gm. 3: #20 Sparta vs. Loser Game 1, Sat., 4 p.m.

Gm. 4: #10 Prescott vs. Loser Game 2, Sat., 7 p.m.

Gm. 5: Sparta vs. Winner Game 1, Sun., noon.

Gm. 6: Prescott vs. Winner Game 2, Sun., 3 p.m