Twins still in the running

By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle

Admittedly, Heath Salveson knew he was taking a risk. But he also knew it was a risk with a big reward.

Namely, the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of Sauk Prairie's Home Talent League Northern Section semifinal match-up with Waunakee on Aug. 10.

"As soon as I saw the ball pop out of the first baseman's glove ... . I decided right away (Bob Spangler) was going," said Salveson, the third-base coach when Chase Suchla delivered a slow roller to third baseman Ryan Statz — whose throw to first popped away from Matt Ripp — of his decision to give Spangler the green-light to try and score from second on the play.

Fortunately for Sauk Prairie, reward won out over risk and Spangler slid in safely for what proved to be the game-winning run as the top-seeded Twins went on to defeat fifth-seeded Waunakee 6-3 at Sauk City Athletic Field.

The Twins (15-1) will play in their fifth consecutive Northern Section championship game and try for a third consecutive title when they host Middleton (13-4) at 1 p.m. Aug. 17.

Second baseman Brandon Adler retrieved the ball quickly and it looked as though he was going to prevent Spangler from scoring, but Jimmy Marks mishandled the throw in an attempt to catch it and make a swipe-tag in one motion.

"If they would have had a good throw, Bob would have been dead by five feet," said Salveson, who is also the Twins' third baseman. "But it worked in our favor."

Spangler, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Twins' offense, agreed.

"I glanced (at first) and saw the ball kick away and thought, 'I've got a pretty good chance,'" he said.

"Then when he threw, I thought I was pretty much dead. I got lucky."

Chuckie Schara and Brett Dederich followed with back-to-back RBI singles to punctuate the three-run inning — the Twins' second three-run burst of the game.

The usually sure-handed Twins' defense committed four errors, including a pair in the first inning which allowed designated hitter Matt Salzberry to hit a two-run single and give Waunakee (9-8) a 2-0 lead on two unearned runs and hope for an upset.

But Paul Lenerz, who was responsible for two of the errors, limited Waunakee to four hits and kept the Twins in the game.

"It could have been a lot worse if they capitalized on every single one of those errors," he said, adding that the errors forced him to re-focus and limit the damage.

"I had pretty good stuff. I was able to locate pretty well (and) I got the ball in on their hands and got a lot of weak ground balls.

Added Waunakee manager Craig Zirbel: "He pounds it, pounds it and pounds it inside and he's got good control. He's a smart pitcher."

The Sauk Prairie offense helped Lenerz in the fifth. Schara led off with a single and stole second before Dederich drew a walk, and William Gorsuch followed with a sac-bunt to put runners at second and third with one out.

Salveson, Trent Sorg and Spangler followed with three straight RBI singles to put the Twins ahead 3-2.

But Waunakee struck back in the seventh. Lenerz hit Jordan Zirbel with a pitch to lead off the inning, and then allowed Zirbel to advance to second when his pick-off throw to Steve Pacholke went in the dirt and squirted into foul territory.

Zirbel moved to third on a sac-bunt by Marks and scored on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by Cody Zirbel to make it 3-3 before the Twins put the game away an inning later.

Afterwards, Craig Zirbel said his team, which entered on a seven-game win streak, couldn't quite take full advantage of Sauk Prairie's mistakes.

"We had our chance," he said. "It was there for us to get and we didn't get it; they did and that's why they're the No. 1 seed and they're moving on."

WAUNAKEE					SAUK PRAIRIE
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Acker lf	4	0	0	1	Salveson 3b	5	1	2	1
Greiber 1b-p	3	0	0	0	Sorg rf	4	0	1	1
Statz 3b	4	1	1	0	Spangler ss	3	1	3	1
Adler 2b	2	1	0	0	L. Koenig c	4	0	1	0
Ripp rf-1b	3	0	0	0	Pacholke 1b	4	1	1	0
Salzberry dh-rf	4	0	2	2	Suchla cf	4	1	0	0
J. Zirbel cf	3	1	0	0	Schara lf	4	1	2	1
Marks c	3	1	0	0	Dederich dh	3	1	1	2
C. Zirbel ss	4	0	1	1	Gorsuch 2b	2	0	0	0
Hill p	0	0	0	0	Lenerz p	0	0	0	0
Totals	30	3	4	3		33	6	11	5

Waunakee
200
000
100
-
3
4
1
Sauk Prairie
000
030
03x
-
6
11
4

DP - Wauankee 2. LOB - Waunakee 6 - 5, Sauk Prairie 6

Waunakee
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
Hill 
6
6
3
3
2
3
Greiber L
2
5
3
2
0
1
Sauk Prairie
Lenerz W
9
4
3
0
2
3

HBP - J. Zirbel by Lenerz