By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
The conclusion to the regular season took place on May 24 for the Whitewater High School baseball team against Delavan-Darien and the Whippets continued its winning ways. Heading into the final week of play, the team was on a six-game winning streak, but by the time the regular season ended, the Whippets now possess a 10-game winning streak heading into the postseason.
The team is now 19-6 overall after starting 9-6 in 2016 and will begin postseason play on May 31 at home against the winner of Racine Lutheran/Prairie School-East Troy. The game’s start time has not been announced yet and the Whippets earned a No. 2 seed in Division 2’s Sectional No. 3 thanks to its play in the regular season.
On May 19, the team played East Troy on the road after beating them at home, 7-0, just two days prior. This game came down to the seventh and final inning, as the Whippets led, 3-0 after five innings of play.
In the sixth inning, East Troy scored four runs to take the lead heading into the last inning. In the seventh, Whitewater answered back with two of its own and then shut down East Troy in the bottom of the inning for the 5-4 victory.
The Whippets out-hit East Troy, 9-4, and got the win despite making three errors compared to East Troy play error-free baseball. Four different Whippets knocked a run in during the game and four players earned walks – led by Jimmy DuVal getting on base three extra times due to seeing four balls go past him.
Five different players also scored a run in the game. On the mound, Bryce Parrish pitched all seven innings, striking out five batters while walking two in his win.
A day later, the team travelled to play Lakeside Lutheran and won, 14-2. No stats were available at the time of publication for this game.
Moving onto its second-to-last game of the season on May 23, Whitewater hit the road to face Lake Mills and came away with another victory, winning, 11-6. The Whippets got its offense going early with a run in the top of the first inning and while the team never gave up the lead throughout the game, Lake Mills tied it twice.
In the bottom of the third, after the Whippets scored four more at the top of the inning, Lake Mills tied it at five with five runs scoring. In the bottom of the fourth, Lake Mills also matched the Whippets’ one run scored with a run of its own.
In the sixth and seventh innings though, innings in which the Whippets scored three and two runs, respectively, the team held Lake Mills scoreless. Three different players recorded two RBIs in the game and the offense was statistically led by Julian Sonn, who went 4-for-5 at the plate while scoring four runs and getting three RBIs throughout the contest.
Tyler Niemuth started the game on the mound for the Whippets, but after two innings, Parrish came in for relief and allowed two runs, one of which was earned, over five innings. Parrish struck out three and walked one during his time pitching for the win.
A day later, in the team’s final day of the regular season, Whitewater travelled to play Delavan-Darien and got to end the game early thanks to a 17-6 victory. The Whippets recorded 14 hits in the game and scored six runs in the top of the second inning to take a 6-1 lead.
The finishing blow came in the fourth inning, when the team scored 10 runs, pushing its lead to 17-4. Eight different players knocked in at least one run throughout the game. Jake Riemer led the Whippets with five RBIs, going 2-for-3 at the plate while walking twice and hitting a home run.
Jason Curtis began the game on pitching duties and allowed six runs in four innings. Jacob Lee took over in the fifth and final inning, striking out a batter and not allowing a hit to end the regular season.
The team’s next possible opponent – in the first round of the playoffs – either No. 3-seeded Racine Lutheran or No. 6-seeded East Troy, will present its own set of challenges for the Whippets. The two teams were set to play each other on May 26, and Racine Lutheran entered the game with a 13-7 record on the season.
Whitewater hasn’t played Racine Lutheran this year, bringing an unknown factor into the potential matchup. Racine Lutheran won eight of its final nine games heading into the postseason.
If East Troy advances, the Whippets played and beat East Troy both times during the regular season. A saying in sports is that it’s tough to beat a team three separate times in a season – something the Whippets may have to do on May 31 at home.
