SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (July 11–17)
HOME TALENT LEAGUE BASEBALL: Wiota 18–8, Ridgeway 8–4
WIOTA – The Wiota Indians Home Talent League baseball team took sole possession of the Western Section South Division on Sunday afternoon following a two-game sweep over co-leading Ridgeway.
The Indians (12-7 overall, 8-5 Sunday League) rallied from behind to down the visiting Cardinals, 18-8, in seven innings in their originally scheduled game at Wiota Park on Sunday, July 15, and then came from behind once again to defeat the Cardinals, 8-4, in a rescheduled game from June 10.
The wins– coupled with Argyle’s two-game sweep over Shullsburg/Benton over the weekend– puts Wiota atop the divisional standings with three games to play in the regular season.
Argyle moves into second place at 8-6, while Shullsburg/Benton (6-7) and Ridgeway (6-7) each fell from first to fourth behind Blanchardville (6-6) following a tough weekend. All four teams remain in the playoff race heading into the stretch run.
Jesse Sturtz homered, drove in four runs and scored three times to help the Indians rally from a 6-0 first inning deficit in game one, and he earned the complete-game pitching victory in game two with three more RBI and another run scored to rally the Indians again in game two.
The Cardinals led 6-0 in the first inning of game one and 4-0 in the first inning of game two, but managed to plate just two runs in the other 14 innings against the Indians.
Sturtz’s three-run blast into the corn highlighted Wiota’s five-run uprising in the first inning of game one.
The Indians rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the third to overtake the Cardinals at 13-6, and then added a single run in the fifth and four runs in the seventh to seal the 10-run rule decision.
Brad Schliem, Matt Keister, Tommy Meier, Casey Schraeder and Merrill Brunson each had a run-scoring single in the third, while Jeff Solberg singled in a run in the fifth and Sturtz and Will Schwartz singled in runs in the seventh for the Indians.
In game two, Kevin Oimoen’s three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning put Ridgeway ahead, but the Cardinals could not hold off another Wiota rally.
Jeff Solberg’s RBI-single in the fourth inning got the Indians on the scoreboard, and he had another run-scoring base hit in the fifth as Wiota struck for four runs in the inning to grab a 5-4 lead. The Indians strung together six straight two-out singles during the inning with Sturtz, Schliem and Brad Solberg each driving in runs in the stanza.
Sturtz added a two-run single in the top of the eighth to put Wiota ahead 8-4, and then worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the frame to secure the win.
Sturtz was 6-for-9 at the plate on the day with seven RBI and four runs scored, and he improved his record to 2-0 after holding the Cardinals to four runs on three hits over nine innings with six strikeouts and eight walks.
J. Solberg finished 5-for-9 on the day with three RBI and four runs scored for Wiota. Brunson scored three runs and drove in two, while Schliem tallied three RBI and scored once and Rooney Janecke scored four times and drove in one run during the sweep.
Ben Conway (4-1) earned the other complete-game victory for the Indians, allowing eight runs– six earned– on 15 hits and four walks with five Ks in seven innings of work.
SUNDAY LEAGUE
Game One
Ridgeway… 600 020 0 – 8 15 1
Wiota……… 508 010 4 – 18 17 2
Leading Hitters: R- Rolli 3x4, Thousand 2x4, James 2x3, Calvert 3x3. 2B– Thousand, Barrette, DeVoss. W- Rooney Janecke 2x3, Jeff Solberg 3x4, Jesse Sturtz 3x4, Tommy Meier 2x3, Will Schwartz 2x2. HR– Sturtz.
W- Ben Conway (7IP, 15H, 8R, 6ER, 5K, 4BB). L- Cady (2IP, 7H, 10R, 10ER, 0K, 2BB).
At Wiota, on Sunday, July 15
Game Two
Wiota……… 000 140 030 – 8 15 2
Ridgeway… 400 000 000 – 4 3 4
Leading Hitters: W- Mitch Marty 2x5, Merrill Brunson 2x4, Jeff Solberg 2x5, Jesse Sturtz 3x5, Brad Solberg 2x5. R- HR– Oimoen. 2B– Thousand.
W- Sturtz (9IP, 3H, 4R, 0ER, 6K, 8BB). L- Thousand (9IP, 15H, 8R, 3ER, 4K, 2BB).
