EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial

Tyson Starkey, Sr., P/SS, Fennimore baseball
OSSEO — Fennimore senior Tyson Starkey hit a pair of walk-off RBI singles (both in the bottom of the eighth inning) to lift Fennimore to a WIAA Division 3 Osseo Sectional title last Tuesday afternoon and in the process send the #8-ranked Golden Eagles to their first WIAA State Baseball Tournament.

Fennimore (25–3) survived a pair of emotional roller coaster, extra-inning nail-biters at last Tuesday. With bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth, Starkey laced a walk-off RBI single back through the box to score junior Casey Dresen (who ended up the winning pitcher in both sectional games) to beat #4-ranked Westby, 3–2 in the WIAA D3 sectional final at Osseo's Merchants Park. 

The Westby defense gifted Fennimore another runner — which turned out to be the game-winning run — when Casey Dresen reached on an error by the left fielder to lead off the bottom of the eighth. After a sac bunt by Henkel (the first bunt of his career), Filardo came up with another clutch eighth-inning hit, when he singled to center to put runners on the corners. 

Kinney drew an eight-pitch walk to load the bases, setting the stage for Starkey’s second game-winner of the day — and according to his postgame radio interview — just the second walk-off hit of his baseball life.

Starkey hit a screaming comebacker just to the right of the pitcher into the outfield grass and as soon as he touched first base, and Dresen’s cleats hit home plate, the Fennimore celebration was along the first baseline.

“Two walk-off hits in the sectional by Tyson, two wins in the sectional by Casey with two of his best outings of the season. Two clutch eighth-inning hits by Gianni, who is just a freshman. Unbelievable!,” said Sheckler. “Our pitching — all three guys — were great all day. Our offense struggled in both games, but out pitching kept us in both games and gave us a chance.”

Fennimore opened the day with another heart-racing one-run win — 1–0 to be exact — over Southwest Wisconsin Activities League rival Cuba City (15–9) in Tuesday’ second sectional semifinal to even get to the sectional title game.

Starkey started for the Eagles and struck out eight in seven scoreless innings, but it wasn’t quite enough as the SWAL runner-up Cubans pushed the game to extra on the strength of seven scoreless innings by fellow senior Tyson Richard, who allowed just one Fennimore hit until the final inning.

Casey Dresen (9–0) came on and work a scoreless top of the eighth after Starkey reached the 100-pitch limit and worked around a one-out single and a walk with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

The #8-ranked Golden Eagles (25–3) finally broke through against Richard in the bottom half of the inning when freshman second baseman Gianni Filardo led off with a double and moved to second on junior Jude Kinney’s perfect sac bunt, brining Starkey to the plate.

After taking a first-pitch strike, Starkey lifted the very next pitch into no-man’s land in shallow right centerfield over the second baseman’s head to drive in Filardo with the winning run.

“That game got over and I just shook my head because I don’t know how we won,” said Sheckler. “Twice in that game, I call time out in difficult situations and didn’t know what to tell the guys while I was walking out to the mound. I simply said, okay infield we have to go to the plate on this one, but more than likely Tyson I need you to strike the next two guys out, and he did it both times.”

Starkey and the Golden Eagles (25–4) finished their season with a disappointing 5–3 loss to No. 3 seed Kewaunee (18–5) in Tuesday's WIAA Division 3 State Semifinal game at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute. Starkey (7–2) started for Fennimore and pitched well enough to win, striking out five and allowing one unearned run in six innings, but was undone by four Fennimore errors, and three walks. He also went 2-for-4 at the plate with a triple and a run scored, and started two doubles plays on the day, one at pitcher, and one while playing shortstop in the top of the seventh inning.

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order)
Casey Dresen, Sr., RF/P, Fennimore baseball
Junior Casey Dresen (who ended up the winning pitcher in both sectional games) reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and later scored the game-winning run on senior Tyson Starkey's walk-off RBI single to beat #4-ranked Westby, 3–2 in the WIAA D3 sectional final at Osseo's Merchants Park last Tuesday afternoon. Dresen (9–0) relieved starting pitcher Ethan Sheckler in the top of the sixth inning and struck out two in three shutout innings to earn the win. Dresen worked around a leadoff double by Ben Roethel and a one-out error, but Fennimore caught a break on a squeeze bunt gone wrong. Dresen’s second pitch to Quellhorst was high and Roethel was charging down the third baseline. Quellenhorst couldn’t get a bat on the ball, and Sheckler was able to snag the high pitch and run Roethel down for the second out of the inning. Then Dresen struck out Quellhorst to end yet another threat against the Eagles. Dresen also earned the win in the 1–0 victory over Cuba City earlier in the day, pitching a scoreless top of the eighth before Starkey blooped a walk-off RBI single into shallow right field.

Morgan Freeman, Sr, OF, Belmont softball
Freeman capped her stellar prep career as a Brave by going 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles, three RBI, two runs scored and a walk to help Belmont win the WIAA DIvision 5 state championship last weekend. Freeman went 2-for-3 with two doubles, and two RBI in Thursday's 11–0 state semifinal win over Ithaca. Two days later she went 2-for-3 with with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored in Saturday's 8–3 championship game victory over No. 2 seed Almond–Bancroft.

Kalli Hodgson, Sr, P/1B, Belmont softball
Hodgson (15–2) pitched four shutout innings, allowing two hits, and went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead Belmont (26–3) to an 11–0 victory over No. 4 seed Ithaca in last Thursday's WIAA D5 state semifinal victory. Hodgson then 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored and made seven putouts at first base, which included a nifty snag well over her head on a one-hop chopper, in Saturday's 8–3 state championship game win over No. 2 seed Almond–Bancroft.

Carsyn Ramaker, So., P/SS, Belmont softball
Sophomore Carsyn Ramaker pretty much did it all in Saturday's 8–3 WIAA Division 5 State Championship game victory over No. 2 seed Almond–Bancroft. She started and pitched six strong innings, then played a little shortstop in the top of the seventh inning before coming back to the circle to record the final out of the title game after the Eagles scored a pair of runs on a Belmont error. Ramaker's final pitching line for the day was 6 1/3 innings, two hits, one unearned run, six strikeouts and two walks. For good measure, she also went 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and three runs scored to lead the Braves' powerful offense. Two days earlier, Ramaker went 1-for-2, reached on a hit by pitch, scored two runs, and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in an 11–0 five-inning semifinal victory over No. 4 seed Ithaca. Ramaker finished the year 11–1 with a 1.84 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched and batted .444 (44-for-100) with nine doubles, one triple, two home runs, 19 RBI, 34 runs scored and eight stolen bases to earn the WFSCA Division 5 state Player of the Year award.