Osprey soar over Abby in first round

The Rib Lake Osprey handed Abbotsford a lopsided loss to end the regular season and they slapped the Merchants with another one Saturday night to close out the quarterfinal round of the Dairyland League’s Small Division tournament.

On the heels of that 15-5 win in Abbotsford on July 30, the Osprey were given some free bases early Saturday and they paid them off with big hits in a 142, seven-inning rout of the sixth-seeded Merchants.

The third-seeded Osprey advanced to a Sunday semifinal against second-seeded Interwald, which they lost 10-7.

Abbotsford pitching issued 11 walks and Rib Lake needed just nine hits to score its 14 runs. Ten of those runs were scored in the first three innings when the Osprey built a comfortable 10-2 lead.

Three walks issued by Abbotsford starter JV Castillo led to a run on a wild pitch and Steve Mann’s two-run double in the bottom of the first inning. Austin Zondlo walked and Jeff Ziembo doubled leading to runs on a wild pitch and a balk in the second.

After the Merchants got their two runs in the top of the third, Rib Lake broke it open in the bottom half. Four walks got the first run of the rally in, then Levi Ewan’s three-run double cleared the bases and Austin Ewan’s double scored the fifth run and knocked out Castillo.

Zondlo doubled in a run and Ziembo added a run-scoring single in the fourth. Rib Lake closed the scoring in the sixth when Dawson Hauschild reached on an error and scored on Jon Dallmann’s pinch-hit double and Dallmann scored on a hit by Levi Ewan.

Levi Ewan was three for four with a walk, scored twice and drove in four runs. Ziembo was two for four, scored two and drove in two.

Austin Edwards covered all seven innings, which the Osprey hoped would open up some pitching options for two games on Sunday. He gave up just three hits and two walks while striking out six and allowing one earned run.

Castillo’s rough start lasted just 2.2 innings. He walked eight, struck out five and allowed 10 runs on five hits.