Baseball wins regional opener, softball wraps for season
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
For the 20th straight season, the East Troy High School boys tennis team will compete at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 State Tournament this weekend in Madison.
The Trojans landed a spot in both singles and doubles, as senior Johnathon Brehm and the No. 1 doubles team of juniors Brody Woodson and Vince Baxter were added to the field as a special qualifier after the sectional meet last week.
Brehm (15-7) will open play at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium Thursday at 5 p.m. against Ashland sophomore Porter Beilfuss (17-4).
The winner advances to a second-round matchup Friday at 11 a.m. against either Edgewood junior Cecil Lingard, seeded fifth 18-6, or Racine St. Catherine’s senior Patrick Anderson (17-5).
“I’m so happy for (Brehm),” East Troy coach Dave Lindow said. “He has worked really hard, and (advancing to state) has been his goal all year.
“He is playing the hardest spot in tennis and has met the challenge every match. It is great to see kids achieve their goal. He has a tough first-round match, but (an opponent) he will match up well against.”
Brookfield Academy freshman Anand Saluja (18-1) is the top-seeded singles player in the field.
Woodson-Baxter (8-3) have a first-round matchup Thursday at 7 p.m. against the Reedsburg duo of senior Jack Yager and junior Luke Friede (15-5).
The winner of that contest faces the fourth-seeded team o Edgewood seniors Connor Maloney and Thomas Thelen Friday at noon.
“I’m very proud of these guys, as they were great team players this season, playing singles to help our team get wins,” Lindow said. “Their goal was to get to state, and they now have achieved that.”
University School of Milwaukee seniors Zach Schneck and Jake Coran (20-3) hold the top seed in the doubles field.
Lindow is excited for another opportunity to see his program at the state tournament.
“It’s a great place to end the season,” he said. “It’s a fun atmosphere, and I’m proud of my kids for working hard and earning their way to play in it.”
Baseball wins opener
The East Troy baseball team picked up an 11-1 win in its WIAA Division 2 regional opener last week over Racine Lutheran-Prairie.
Details from the victory over the third seed by the sixth-seeded Trojans were unavailable.
East Troy improved to 4-16 overall with that victory and advanced to a second-round matchup at second-seeded Whitewater.
That game had been scheduled for Tuesday but results were not available on the WIAA website.
The winner advances to a regional final against fifth-seeded Delavan-Darien, which upset top-seeded Greendale Martin Luther 3-2 on Tuesday.
Softball season ends
The East Troy softball team fell 10-0 to top-seeded Delavan-Darien May 25 in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal.
East Troy, which finished the spring at 10-11, defeated Big Foot the previous day 5-4 to open regional action.
Statistics and details from both games were unavailable this week.
