Brackets set for WBA Finals in Whittlesey and Rib Lake

WBA DIVISION B FINALS

BY MATT FREY

SPORTS EDITOR

The pre-fireworks July 3 matchup between the Interwald Woodticks and Ub Lake Osprey is typically one of ft* local highlights of the Daityknd Baseball League regukr-season schedule.

On Sunday, the friendly local rivals could meet for much higher stakes — the Wisconsin Baseball Association’s B Division championship.

The two teams, ¥*o co-hosted a WBA. regional tins past weekend, are the two local representatives in the new B Division Finals weekend, which will make its debut in Whittlesey and lib lake. They are on opposite aides of the bracket with Rib Lake drawing the one-seed and Interwald the two-seed in the eight-team siiigleelimination bracket, Two wins from each team would pit them against each other in Sunday’s championship game, set for noon at Whittlesey's Mke Mger Stadium.

For the first time dnce 1967 the WBA, consisting ofsixbasebal leagues in northern and western Wisconsin, split into two divisions for its. 2024 post-season tournament The eight finalists in each division won threeteam, round-roWn groupings in their respective regional events to earn spots in this weekend’s Finals. We A Division Finals are in Uiver Pals.

Rib Lake won the Dairyland League’s Small Division this summer with a 7-0 record. Wat included a 6-5 win over Interwald in their July 3 dash at Tannery Greek Park. We loss was the only one for 6-1 Interwald in league pl^ Ads season.

Rib Lake will open Finals play on its home diamond Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts the Bay City Bombers. Bay City, the third seed in its three-team grouping in the CSidden regional, earned its spot wfth a 1-0 upset win over the topseeded Whittlesey Reds on Sunday as well as a 13-11 win in a shiest Saturday over the secondseeded Iron City Miners.

Interwald’s first Finals matchup is set for 9:30 am. Saturday in Whittlesey. The Wooddeks will fece the New Richmond Millers, also a third seed that won its grouping in regional play. New Richmond ta»dted out the second-seeded Westboro Trojans Sunday in Augusta with a 13-3 win and also beat top-seeded Augusta 15-5 on Saturday.

New Richmond and Bay City both play their aanuner ball in the always-tcragii SL Croix Valley League and actually finished at the bottom of the league standings. The Millers were 4-13 and the Bomberswere4-14.

Rib Jnke won its grouping this past weekend with a 7-2 victoiy over second-seeded Tri-County and a 13-3 win over third-seeded Beef River. Interwald cruised to a 12-2 win overthird-aeeded Ashland Saturday and then held on for a 10-9 win over second-seeded Plum CSty on Sunday to earn its Finals spot Plum CSty is another St Croix Valley team. The Blues were 7-11 in league

See WBA on page 4 play.

Interwald has not played in a WBA Finals event since 1998 when it lost to Augusta 6-1 in a quarterfinal matchup. Rib Lake has three WBA Finals appearances in the last 20 years, making it in 2006, 2009 and 2011. Then known as the Lakers, Rib Lake reached the semifinals in 2009 with a 2-1, 11-inning win over La Crescent, Minn. before losing in 11-0 to the Eau Claire Bears and they reached the semifinals again in 2011, beating Osceola 8-6 before losing 5-3 to Beef River.

The 2009 Rib Lake team and 1998 Interwald team both won Elmer Swanson Sportsmanship awards at the Finals.

A noon quarterfinal Saturday in Rib Lake has the third-seeded Elmwood Expos facing the sixth-seeded Ellsworth Hubbers in a matchup between St. Croix Valley League teams. Elmwood was 9-7 in league play and Ellsworth was 5-11. Elmwood beat Bangor 96 and the Dairyland League’s Tomahawk Titans 10-3 in regional play. Ellsworth beat Tony 13-0 and the Dairyland’s Abbotsford Merchants 4-1 in a regional the Hubbers hosted.

The other quarterfinal is set for 1 p.m. in Whittlesey Saturday and has the fourthseeded Osceola Braves meeting the fifthseeded Norwalk Knights. Osceola, yet another St. Croix Valley team, was 6-6 in league play and beat Blue Hills (Bloomer) 8-3 and Glidden 9-3 in regional play. Norwalk is the only B Division finalist from the Mississippi Valley League, where it finished 6-6. The Knights beat Grand View 22-1 and Pittsville of the Dairyland League 6-5 in the Augusta regional.

Semifinal games are set for 3 p.m. in Rib Lake and 3:30 p.m. in Whittlesey on Saturday.