Hometown
heartbreakers
By Jim den Hollander
The annual Legion Regional tournament seems to bring out the longest lasting memories every summer and they're not always happy ones. On Sunday, the most oft-heard quote around the Veterans' Park ball diamond seemed to be "one pitch away." That after Jefferson, for a second straight summer send the local Post 187 Legionnaires to the tournament sidelines, this time with a heartbreaking 6-5 defeat. The loss, right on the heels of a tough 3-2 defeat at the hands of East Troy, wiped out an awesome start to the weekend and pushed the host team to the sidelines. Things couldn't have gone any better for the Legionnaires in their opener as a seven run fourth inning helped them get off to a dominant start with an 11-0 mercy rule win over Mauston. The other opener saw East Troy pounding three of the longest homers hit at Vets Park this summer en-route to a 9-7 decision over Jefferson. The four team event then pitted Jefferson against Mauston Saturday afternoon in a do-or-die game for both teams, Mauston eliminated with a 5-2 loss. The two first round winners squared off in the next contest, a late rally falling one run shy for the locals in a 3-2 loss that advanced East Troy straight to the championship round. Meanwhile, the game that will be remembered for the locals followed immediately after as they tangled with Jefferson. Jefferson 6 Wisconsin Dells 5 Facing elimination, the Dells' crew surrendered the game's first run in the opening inning, but grabbed three in the second to take control. Jefferson snatched the lead right back with three in the top of the third and the locals responded with a tying run in the bottom half, then moved in front again with a run in the fourth. Still clinging to the one run lead, the Dells' nine moved into the final frame. An infield error put a runner aboard, but a strikeout and pickoff at first quickly had the locals within an out of advancing to the final. Back to back hit batsmen though kept Jefferson in it, the second one coming with two strikes against him, so the locals literally a pitch away from moving on. A double by the next batter scored both runners and put Jefferson in front. The locals had one last shot, but three straight come backers to the pitcher ended the contest and devastated the team and home fans. Dillon Hess started on the mound for the Dells and did all he could to help himself out offensively, scoring runs in both of his first two plate appearances. But the offense that worked so effectively earlier in the weekend dried up suddenly in the late innings. Previous to the ground outs in the final frame, a Matt Lagoda walk was the lone interruption in three straight sixth inning strikeouts and the previous inning saw two K's and a ground ball. An RBI single off the bat of Kalen Mace in the fourth, which plated Hess with the go-ahead run stood up as the final hit of the contest for the Dells. The third inning run came from Jordan Holverson who led off with a base hit, stole second, then scored on double off the bat of Jake Williams. A single by Stowers moved Williams to third but a ground ball left what would have turned out to be a huge run standing 90 feet from home. Williams keyed the second inning rally although he was eventually thrown out. He reached on a single and was erased at second when Kyle Stowers hit into a fielder's choice. Alex Yacko with a walk and Dillon Hess hit by a pitch loaded the bags for Josh Ingersol who hammered a two run double, Hess adding the third on a sac-fly by Lagoda. East Troy 3 Wisconsin Dells 2 The battle of first round winners earlier Saturday saw the locals trying to rally back from a 3-0 deficit in the late innings. East Troy scored the lone first inning run and the 1-0 cushion stood up until the fourth when they added two more. The Legionnaires, with four base hits, but not a runner past second in the first four innings, managed to put something together in the top of the fifth. Ingersol led off the frame with a single, but was caught stealing. Then, with two out, Mace and Phil Showers clubbed back to back doubles, Mace scoring the first run for the Dells. In the sixth, the Dells threatened again, Lagoda walking with one out and Stowers following and reaching on an infield error. Back to back strikeouts ended the threat though. Down to their final three outs, Mace came up with another huge hit, launching a one out triple and scoring on a groundout, but another groundout ended the contest in East Troy's favor. Mace went the seven inning distance for the locals and was tagged with the loss, despite a stellar one-hit effort. A couple of hit batsmen and two errors helped East Troy and that one-hit was a biggie, a fourth inning two-run homer that provided just enough offense for East Troy to squeak out the narrow win. Wisconsin Dells 11 Mauston 0 In its opener, the Legionnaires got five solid innings from Aaron Van Schoyck and an easy mercy rule win. While the Dells' batters were hammering out 10 hits and taking advantage of two walks and a Mauston error, Van Schoyck cruised along, surrendering just three singles and making up for a couple of Dells' defensive errors with four strikeouts, including the final two of the game. Offensively, the Dells' crew had all it needed in the second inning as singles for Williams and Lagoda were cashed in on a double by Stowers. Yacko beat out another infield single, both he and Stowers scoring as well with the help of a base hit by Ingersol. The other seven all came in the fourth inning as the Legionnaires sent 11 batters to the plate and came up with a half dozen hits, the big one a double off the bat of Lagoda. East Troy 11 Jefferson 2 The tournament wrapped up on Sunday, the same way it started. After defeating Jefferson twice in their summer conference, East Troy added two more on the weekend, the second an 11-2 win in the championship game which punched their card to the state A championship tournament scheduled to begin Friday in Lomira-Theresa. Ironically, the final pitted the Region's 2006 winner (East Troy) against the 2007 Regional champion (Jefferson) and marked the third straight season a team from the eastern half of the strange geographic Regional that combines teams from this area with teams from the Madison'/Milwaukee corridor. Wisconsin Dells Legion A Regional July 25-27 Results Friday Game 1 - East Troy 9 Jefferson 7 Game 2 - Wisconsin Dells 11 Mauston 0 Saturday Game 3 - Jefferson 5 Mauston 2 (Mauston eliminated) Game 4 - East Troy 3 Wisconsin Dells 2 Game 5 - Jefferson 6 Wisconsin Dells 5 (Wisconsin Dells eliminated) Sunday East Troy 11 Jefferson 2 (East Troy earns berth as one of eight Regional qualifiers for State Championship August 1-5.