WBA tournament bids determined; Whittlesey goes to Ellsworth next weekend

WISCONSIN BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

The Whittlesey Reds received the 16th seed out of 36 qualifying teams for the Wisconsin Baseball Association’s post-season tournament and will play in Ellsworth during the tourney’s regional weekend Aug. 1113.

The Reds finished regular-season play in the Large Division of the Dairyland League Saturday with a thrilling 10-9 loss in 12 innings to the Marshfield Chaparrals at Mike Roiger Stadium.

The defeat put Whittlesey at 7-5 in league play, good for a third-place tie with the Rhinelander River Monsters, who knocked off league champion Wisconsin Rapids 3-1 on Saturday. Rapids finished 9-3, a game ahead of 8-4 Everest, who beat Merrill 6-0 on July 26 and Minocqua 4-0 in a five-inning, rain-shortened game Friday to close out the season.

Marshfield (6-6) was the fifth Dairyland Large team to make the WBA tournament field. As expected, Minocqua (3-9) and Merrill (2-10) were not chosen to play in the tournament during the WBA seeding meeting Tuesday night in Eau Claire.

The eight teams in the Dairyland League’s Small Division were not part of the WBA this season.

Whittlesey is in a three-team regional pool that includes the tournament’s ninth overall seed, the Eau Claire Cavaliers, and the 33rd-seeded Iron City Miners of the Upper 13 League. The Cavaliers went 14-6 to place second in the South Division of the Chippewa River Baseball League behind 17-3 Osseo. Osseo is the tournament’s fourth seed. Iron City placed sixth in the eightteam Upper 13 at 4-6, finishing ahead of Ashland (3-7) and Grand View (0-10).

Whittlesey’s first game is set for Saturday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. against the Eau Claire/Iron City loser. They’ll play the winner at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 13. The pool champion will earn a spot in the WBA Finals to be held Aug. 18-20 at Eau Claire and Osseo.

Also in Ellsworth regional weekend, a second pool will include the 22nd-seeded River Monsters from Rhinelander, the third-seeded Holmen Features and the 27th-seeded host team, the Ellsworth Hubbers.

Wisconsin Rapids will host four pools on its two fields during regional weekend. Site 1 includes a pool consisting of the eighth-seeded host Redhawks, the 17thseeded Eau Claire Rivermen and 32nd-seeded La Crosse 35ers and a pool consisting of the 12th-seeded Brill Millers, 13th-seeded Tony Hayshakers and 36th-seeded Bay City Bombers.

Site 2 at Wisconsin Rapids includes a pool consisting of 11th-seeded Everest, 14th-seeded Spring Valley and 35th-seeded Bloomer and a pool consisting of fifth-seeded Viroqua, 20th-seeded Prescott and the 29th-seeded Haugen Knights.

Marshfield is the 23rd seed and is at the Augusta regional site in a pool with the second-seeded Tilden Tigers and 26th-seeded Elmwood Expos.

The River Falls Fighting Fish, the defending 2022 WBA champions, hold the number-one overall seed and also are a regional host, along with the Hayward Hawks.

The 12 pool champions will compete in the Aug. 1820 WBA Finals, which again will consist of four, threeteam pools with the pool champions meeting in the semifinals for a shot to play in Sunday’s championship game.