Baseball loses five
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School tennis team polished off its Southern Lakes Conference championship by winning the conference meet at Waterford on May 12. The Badgers were already undefeated in conference dual meets.
“It has been a tremendous season,” Coach Paul Lauterbach said. “The depth of our team and our constant improvement in match play throughout the season were the major contributors to our success.”
Lauterbach also said the team repeatedly found a way to win close matches.
Badger dominated the SLC meet with 16 points. No one else had more than Waterford’s two.
In singles matches, Mason Sniatynski defeated Ben Ulland (6-1, 6-0), Jacob Ludwig (4-6, 6-2, 6-4) and Alec Dam (6-3, 6-2) at No. 1 singles. Ahrum Zafar defeated Brant Christensen (6-3, 6-3) and Jared Holloway (6-0, 6-2) but lost to Jacob Genal of Union Grove (2-6, 6-2, 2-6) at No. 2 singles. Jhon Nicia defeated Hunter Hess (6-1, 6-3), Tom Lestan (6-0, 6-0), and Colin Passler (6-0, 6-4) at No. 3 singles. Josh Bakken defeated Trevor Millhouse (6-1, 6-4), Justin Jacobazzi (6-3, 6-1), and Finn Hourigan (6-0, 6-0) at No. 4 singles.
In doubles action, the No. 1 team of Temuulen Iderzul and Jack Wright defeated Jakob Driscoll and Seth Grabow of Delavan-Darien (6-0, 6-2) but lost to Andrew Brockmann and Adam Nelson of Waterford (0-6, 2-6) and Logan Riese and Carter Olsen of Elkhorn (3-6, 4-6). Avaish Pizrada and Peter Merry defeated Perry Davis and Reese Crull of Delavan-Darien (6-0, 6-0) and Drayke Webster and Joe Koroske (6-7, 6-1, 6-4) but lost to Zach Wermeling and Lucas Wysiatko of Westosha Central (0-6, 3-6) at No. 2 doubles. Ian Schirtzinger and Tim VonSeth lost to Andy Yoder and Bryce Grafton of Waterford (6-2, 4-6, 4-6) but defeated Jaden Wirtz and Michael Bencs (6-0, 6-1) and Tevin Peilhau and Lucas Fitzpatrick (6-1, 7-6).
Badger hosted the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sub-sectional on Monday and Tuesday. The sectional is Wednesday and Thursday at Madison Memorial.
Baseball plays Turner
The Badger baseball team was swept in a double header on May 21 by No. 3 (Division 2) Beloit Turner on the road but put up a good fight.
The Badgers lost the first game 7-2 and their defense did not help by committing three errors. Turner scored single runs in the second and third innings and two in the fourth. The Trojans answered a single Badger run in the top of the fifth with two more of their own in the bottom of the inning and added one more in the sixth. Badger scored once in the seventh to cap the scoring.
Mason DuMez and Isaac Ziervogel both had two hits for Badger.
Badger lost Game Two 9-8. Turner scored two in the first and Badger tied it in the third, but Turner regained the lead with two in the bottom of the third. Badger scored once in the fourth but Turner plated four in its half of the inning to lead 8-3. Turner (21-2) added one more in the sixth, but Badger exploded for five runs in the seventh to make things interesting. Unfortunately the Badgers (4-19, 3-12 Southern Lakes Conference) fell one run short in the comeback bid.
The big hits in the Badger seventh belonged to Tyler Love and Angelo Camalieri with RBI singles and Tanner Hagen with a three-run double. Love went three-for-four in the game.
The Badgers dropped three conference games earlier in the week. Badger lost to Burlington (16-4, 12-1-1 SLC) 20-6 on May 16 at home. The Demons scored twice in the first but Badger answered right back with four in the bottom of the inning to take the early lead. Badger scored single runs in the second and third innings to expand the lead to 6-2, but Burlington exploded for six runs in the fifth and 12 runs in the sixth.
Love went four-for-four with a run scored and an RBI. Brady and Tanner Fields each had two hits. One of Brady Fields’ hits was a home run.
Badger was swept by Westosha Central in two games. Badger lost to the Falcons 10-9 on May 17 on the road. Badger scored first with two in the first but the Falcons quickly answered with four of their own in the bottom of the inning. Westosha Central scored four more in the fourth but Badger responded with two in the fifth and five in the sixth to regain a 9-8 lead. The Falcons scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and held the Badgers coreless in the seventh to emerge with the win.
Brady Fields led the Badgers by going four-for-four with three runs scored and two RBI.
Badger lost the rematch at home 4-3 on May 19. Badger took a 1-0 lead in the first. The Falcons plated three in the second. Badger responded with one in the second. Westosha Central (15-7, 9-4) scored once in the fifth, and Badger answered with one in the sixth but could not do more.
Blake Dodd and Trace LaDu each had two hits for Badger.
Softball to face Craig
The Badger softball team faced off with Big Eight Conference champion Janesville Craig (18-3, 16-2 Big Eight) on Wednesday in Janesville in the WIAA regional opener for both teams. Craig entered regional play as the No. 3 seed behind Union Grove and Westosha. Union Grove was seeded No. 1 just before losing to Wilmot 3-0 at home on May 18, a loss that gave Westosha Central the SLC title and left the Broncos in second place. Badger received the No. 14 seed.
Badger lost to Union Grove, then ranked No. 1 in the state, 10-0 May 17 on the road. Badger (0-20, 0-14) had lost to the Broncos 25-0 in five innings at home earlier in the season. Union Grove (23-2, 12-2) outhit the Badgers 17-3 and scored in five of the seven innings. Cayleen Ryan, Leslie Zelinski and Madison Hunt had the three Badger hits.
Badger lost at Delavan-Darien 5-2 on May 16 after losing to the No. 3-ranked (Division 2) Comets 10-0 earlier in the season. Badger took a 1-0 lead in the second inning but the Comets answered right back with a single run of their own. The Comets scored twice in the third but Badger cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth. Delavan-Darien scored twice in the fifth and kept the Badgers off the scoreboard over the last three innings to come away with the win.
The Badger offense again struggled, managing just three hits off of Jaida and Jennah Speth. Ryan, Taylor Garrels and Alyssa McKeon got the three hits. Jennah Speth homered for the Comets.
