Clutch hits in late innings get Westboro the win, top seed

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE SMALL DIVISION

Willy Johnson and Marshall Westfall pitched out of trouble when they needed to and Westfall, James Holiday and Dakota Willemssen got run-scoring hits in the late innings to lift the Westboro Trojans to a 4-1 win over host Interwald Sunday and give the Trojans the regularseason championship in the Dairyland League’s Small Division.

Westboro will have the top seed in the division’s post-season tournament Aug. 11-13 in Rib Lake after going 6-1 in divisional play the past two months. Interwald finished 4-2 and will settle for the two-seed in the tournament.

Interwald had its chances to vault over Westboro in the standings Sunday. The big one that got away came in the bottom of the second inning.

Westboro jumped ahead right away, getting a run-scoring single in the top of the first from Dakota Willemssen, knocking in Tucker Kraemer who started the game with a base hit. In the second, Interwald’s Nick Gerstberger hit a leadoff single and moved to third on Logan Blomberg’s double. But Johnson struck out Michael Borchardt and Jackson Blomberg and escaped the inning unscathed by getting the third out on a popup by Luke Blomberg.

Interwald and pitcher Peter Devine kept Westboro off the scoreboard through the sixth and threatened again in the bottom half. David Fliehs beat out an infield hit and Matt Mohr singled to put two on with no outs. Westfall struck out Gerstberger but walked Logan Blomberg to load the bases. Borchardt popped out, but Fliehs scampered home on a wild pitch to finally get the Woodticks on the board and put the go-ahead runs in scoring position. But Westfall enticed a ground ball from Jackson Blomberg to keep the game tied at 1-1.

The Trojans got some two-out offense in the next two innings to grab the lead.

With two down and no outs in the top of the seventh, Brant Johnson smoked a double to left-center, Kraemer walked and Westfall pulled one down the leftfield line. Johnson scored, but the relay throw from shortstop Dalton Strebig got home in time to nab Kraemer for the final out of the inning despite Westboro’s unheard protests that Kraemer’s path to the plate was blocked.

In the eighth, Butch Wiegel and Connor Westfall singled with two outs and Dayne Marlenga walked to load the bases. Former Woodtick James Holiday bounced a base hit up the middle to score Wiegel for a two-run Westboro lead.

The Trojans added an insurance run in the ninth when Marshall Westfall singled with one out, Dustin Freeman added a single off the fence in left-center and Willemssen singled in Westfall.

Marshall Westfall got the win with five solid relief innings. He allowed a run on just the two sixth-inning hits while striking out six, walking one and hitting two. Willy Johnson struck out four and allowed two hits and a walk in the first four innings.

Devine went the distance for Interwald. He allowed 12 hits and four earned runs while striking out six and walking three. Willemssen, Brant Johnson and the Westfalls had two hits apiece for the Trojans.

The game had several defensive highlights. Interwald centerfielder Jackson Blomberg made a diving catch to rob Marlenga in the second. Later, Sam Gumz took over in center and made a nice grab while running toward the fence to take extra bases away from Connor Westfall. Kraemer, playing shortstop for Westboro, made a nice play on a ground ball hit by Gumz in the seventh and Westboro turned a double play to quickly end a potential threat by Interwald in the eighth.

Westboro will face eighth-seeded Spirit at 3 p.m. in a tournament quarterfinal on Aug. 12. Interwald meets seventh-seeded Medford that day at noon.

Bryant Konieczny threw six innings of three-hit ball and struck out nine hitters and a six-run eighth inning blew the game open in Rib Lake’s 15-5 win at Abbotsford. The Osprey banged out 17 hits against three Abbotsford hurlers and scored in every inning but the seventh.

Down 4-3, Rib Lake took the lead for good with a tworun top of the third, then added a run in the fourth, two more in the fifth and one in the sixth to go up 9-4. After the Merchants got a run in the seventh, Rib Lake had its big inning.

Dawson Hauschild was three for four with three runs scored, a double and an RBI. Drew Hauschild was three for four with three RBIs and he pitched the last two innings for Rib Lake. Austin Zondlo was three for five and scored three runs.

Seth Mudgett was two for four and drove in two runs. Levi and Austin Ewan both went two for five and drove in a pair of runs.

Abbotsford was held to four hits. The teams will see each other again in a tournament quarterfinal at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12.

Gilman’s Bryn Hendricks (l.) and Emilia Reid work together to block an attack by Stanley-Boyd’s leftside hitter during their matchup in the final round of scrimmages Thursday in Gilman.PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

The Gilman Pirates used a summer contact day Thursday to host their annual volleyball summer scrimmages. Phillips, Ladysmith and Stanley-Boyd attended this year. The teams scrimmaged in the morning, then played a round-robin tournament in the afternoon. Above, Pirate Kenlyn Kroeplin serves during the team’s afternoon matchup with Phillips, which was won by the Loggers 2-1.

Rib Lake’s Joe Frombach watches a baseball he hit fly toward the outfield during the Osprey’s 15-5 win at Abbotsford Sunday afternoon.NATHANIELUNDERWOOD/TRIBUNE-PHONOGRAPH

Claire Drier digs up a shot and Abby Chaplinski sends a tip over the net during Gilman’s matchup with Phillips during Thursday’s varsity volleyball scrimmages.