Serving Algoma, Casco, Kewaunee, Luxemburg and all of Kewaunee County
Dan Spranger’s unranked Kewaunee Storm beat two state-ranked teams in the WIAA Div. 3 sectional at Chilton Tuesday, earning the school’s first-ever trip to the state baseball tournament.
They’ll need to do it again at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute Tuesday, when third-seeded Kewaunee (17-5) plays second-seeded Fennimore (25-3) at 2:30 p.m. The other semifinal pits top-seeded Kenosha St. Joseph (22-7) against four-seed Barron (20-9). The winners play at noon Thursday.
Kenosha St. Joseph ended the season ranked #1 in Div. 3, and Fennimore was #7. But the Storm already beat a pair of ranked teams, topped sixth-ranked Chilton 1-0 in Tuesday’s semifinal, then eliminating third-ranked Wittenberg-Birnamwood 6-5 on a perfectly-executed squeeze bunt from junior Brett Paulsen, handing the Chargers only their third loss in 28 games this season. Chilton ended 19-8.
“He’s our No. 3 hitter all year, and one of our best bunters,” Spranger said. “It was the perfect surprise with a great hitter up there and only one out. The ones who needed to know knew it was happening. Nobody else saw it coming.”
The high-risk, high-reward gamble in the bottom of the sixth inning paid off.
“When you’re trying to win a championship, a little surprise might come in handy,” Spranger said. “He laid down the perfect bunt.”
Ethan Paplham, one of only three seniors on the team, played a big role in the sectional title. The leadoff batter singled to open the game against Chilton, advanced on Connor Kilgore’s single, and then made it to third on Paulsen’s groundout. Another senior, Brady Pribek, hit a sacrifice fly to get him home.
Paulsen and Delain split time on the mound and got out of a number of jams, some of it due to baserunning errors by the Tigers. The Storm stranded 14 baserunners.
“We couldn’t come up with a clutch hit, but sometimes that happens,” Spranger said. “In the top of the first, they had runners on second and third and nobody out. They had a baserunning error. We were fortunate.”
In the title game, Delain had an RBI double in the second, and an RBI single in the fifth. Tied at 5 in the bottom of the sixth, Paplham singled, and advanced to third on a hit and run single by Connor Kilgore. He then scored on Paulsen’s bunt.
Jackson Walecka finished off the Chargers on back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the seventh, and the celebration began.
“My guys believe that they belong in the top four teams in the state,” Spranger said. “They’re so resilient. They proved to themselves that they can play with anyone.”
Earlier, Kewaunee beat New Holstein 7-2 to win the regional title at home last Thursday.
Pribek picked up the win, allowing only three hits in six innings with no walks. Delain shut out the Huskies in the seventh.
The Storm took advantage of eight walks. Delain and Carlson had RBI doubles in the second inning and Carlson an RBI single in the third.
Spranger is in his ninth season at Kewaunee, and 12th overall as a head coach. His team won a regional title at Racine Park in 2014, and another at Kewaunee in 2022. Spranger is a special education teacher and co-athletic director at Kewaunee.
Kewaunee junior Hannah Miller got to the podium twice at the WIAA State Track Meet at UW-LaCrosse last weekend, finishing third in the Div. 2 800-meter run and fourth in the 1600.
Miller ran the 800 in 2:15.56, less than three seconds behind the winner. She ran the 1600 in 5:01.40, about seven seconds behind the champion. Three of the five individuals placing ahead of her in the two races were seniors.
Luxemburg-Casco’s Mason Trimburger finished seventh in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 40.05, and ninth in the 300-meter hurdles in 15.38. Kyan Lynts was 16th in the 1600 meter run (4:27.40), and Claire Duchateau 16th in the 3200 (11:25.50).
In Div. 3, Algoma sophomore Estella Marrero tied for seventh in the pole vault, scaling 9-1/2 feet. The top two individuals were seniors. On the boys side, junior teammate Brennan Buckman tied for 12th, clearing 12 feet.
The Algoma baseball team got a two-RBI single from Charlie Prokash and an RBI hit from Jacob Massey in the sixth inning, but fell 4-3 in the regional title game at Chilton last Thursday. Carson Leist pitched his last high school game, giving up just five hits and two earned runs while striking out five against the state-ranked Tigers.
A day earlier, the Wolves softball team lost at the state’s second-ranked team, Mishicot, 4-0 in a sectional semifinal. Brooke Mattson got the only hit off of Indian senior star Kiran Sanford, who struck out 14. Algoma junior pitcher Macie Zimmerman allowed just three hits and struck out seven.
L-C’s girls soccer team beat Waupun 2-1 last week to earn its first regional final appearance since 2021, but couldn’t generate offense against state-ranked Kiel, falling 5-0 in the championship game.
In the semifinal, Emi Kuhn scored the first goal in the 51st minute.
Waupun tied it 20 minutes later, and Cassidee Jacobson won it in overtime after a pass from Diem Bonness in the 96th minute. Ashley Fameree had five saves for L-C.
Luxemburg-Casco senior Josh Parins was a first-team selection on the All-North Eastern Conference golf team. Parins ended his senior career tying for 19th out of 52 individuals at a very tough Div. 2 state tournament at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison. He shot +18 over the two-day event.
Luxemburg-Casco senior pitcher Erin Cherovsky earned first-team All-North Eastern Conference softball honors. Senior teammates Kate Vanessa (infield) and Kacie Jorgensen (outfield) made the second team, as did junior outfielder Rylan Kaminski.
L-C sophomore pitcher Jacob Coisman and senior infielder Landon Derenne earned second-team selections on the All-NEC baseball squad.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here