Also, recaps for the local baseball, golf and soccer teams
By Dan Truttschel
Sports correspondent
The boys tennis season has one last stop on it for the Big Foot-Williams Bay duo of Hamilton Smith and Logan Grunow.
Smith-Grunow qualified for this weekend’s WIAA Division 2 State Tournament at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium, Madison, with a pair of victories at last weekend’s sectional round.
The pair defeated Watertown Luther Prep’s Joe Micheel and Marcus Sims, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, which automatically qualified them for state.
In the second match, Big Foot fell 1-6, 3-6 to the Kewaskum pair of Jared Chesak and Brent Goeden – but they bounced back to beat the Whitewater duo of Justin Brantmeier and Mitchell Dalzin, 6-1, 6-2, to finish third.
Smith-Grunow (14-5) opened state tournament action Thursday against Sauk Prairie’s Parker Chrisler and Kelby Mach (17-4).
The winner of that match advanced to face the fourth-seeded Shorewood team of James Ewing and J.J. Nelson in a second-round matchup Friday afternoon.
Big Foot’s other sectional qualfier, Jack Heidenreich, fell in his first-round matchup to Luther Prep’s Jeremy Ryno, 3-6, 5-7.
Rowe at sectional
Sophomore Finn Rowe tied for 52nd with Dodgeville senior Jared Yingst at Wednesday’s Division 2 Viroqua Sectional played at the par-71 Viroqua Hills Golf Course.
Madison Edgewood won the team title with a 295, followed by Lodi with a 302 and Waupun with a 316.
Lodi’s Logan Walzer captured the individual sectional title with a round of 67, ahead of senior teammate Jacob Michel’s 70.
Soccer wins finale
The Big Foot-Williams Bay girls soccer team closed its regular season last week with a 6-1 victory at Palmyra-Eagle.
Big Foot drew the fifth seed in the Division 3 regional tournament and hosted 12th-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran in the first round Thursday night. The winner advanced to a regional final Saturday against fourth-seeded Shorewood or 13th-seeded Milwaukee Veritas.
Abby Peterson led the way in the win over Palmyra with three goals. Abby Van de Bogert and Hannah Palmer also had one goal each. The Chiefs’ sixth goal was not listed.
Collecting assists were Maya Torrez and Penny Brooks. Big Foot goalies Caitlin Sternberg and Enna Peterson finished with four and three saves, respectively.
Baseball pulls upset
The Big Foot baseball team’s season ended Tuesday in a Division 2 regional semifinal – but the Chiefs advanced to that round with a bit of a minor upset in the opener last Thursday afternoon.
Big Foot scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning and then held off a furious Edgerton rally for a 9-6 victory that sent the Chiefs to the regional semifinal.
In that contest, Big Foot fell to second-seeded Brodhead-Juda, 14-1, to close its season at 4-18. Brodhead was knocked out Wednesday by top-seeded Beloit Turner.
Matt Gramm had two hits, a run scored and four RBI to lead the way, followed by Jack Gillingham (two hits, run), Scott Day (two hits), Travis Berryman (two RBI) and Heath Dillenbeck (two runs).
Dillenbeck earned the win, as he allowed five hits, three earned runs, five walks and struck out one in six innings. Kaleb Greco picked up the save in relief, as he allowed a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
