MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (July 23–30)
American Legion 19U baseball Class A PdC Regional Final: Fennimore 14, Prairie du Chien 6

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

Fennimore scores eight in the last inning to beat PdC for Class A Legion regional title
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN — Fennimore baseball earned the rare opportunity to compete for a state championship for the second time this summer.

The 19U Fennimore Post 184 American Legion team beat host Prairie du Chien twice Sunday to win the three-team double elimination PdC Class A Regional title. The Railers (10–6) beat the Railers (18–8) 7–4 in Sunday's first game to force winner-take-all championship game, then scored eight runs in the top of the seventh to win the regional title, 14–6.

The regional was slated to be a four-team regional with Stoddard, but when the Stoddard 16U team advance to the 16U state tournament — which was also held last weekend — Stoddard’s 19U team had to withdraw from the 19U PdC Regional due to a lack of players.

The Fennimore Golden Eagles posted a 24–5 record, went 14–0 to win an undisputed SWAL title, and reached the WIAA Division 3 State Baseball Tournament for the first time in school history this spring. The Eagles were eliminated by eventual D3 runner-up Kewaunee (18–5) in a state semifinal game June 17, 5–3.

Now the Fennimore 19U Senior Legion team — made up of mostly the same players, along with Riverdale’s Carson Kinyon — will have a chance to make amends at this week’s American Legion 19U Class A State Tournament in Westby.

The Fennimore Railers (10–6), as they are called in the summer, will face St. Mary’s Springs (15–6) in an opening round game at 4 p.m. at Westby’s Veterans Memorial Stadium. 

The winner will face the winner of Friday’s 7:30 p.m. between Lomira and host Westby/Coon Valley (18–10) Saturday at 7 p.m. Friday’s losers will meet in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The first-round matchups on the other side of the eight-team Class A bracket are Stratford (9–7) against Wittenberg (15–5), and Viroqua (20–14) vs. Denmark (8–7).

The Railers were forced to beat the Grasshoppers twice on Sunday after losing their opening game to Prairie du Chien, 10–0 in five innings in the opening game a day earlier. 

Ethan Sheckler (2–1) started Saturday’s first elimination game against Prairie du Chien and went the distance, allowing four runs, two earned, on seven hits and a walk, while striking out seven in a 7–4 victory. 

The Grasshoppers tied the game with three runs in the top of the sixth, but Fennimore plated three in the bottom half of the inning.

Jude Kinney and Gianni Filardo drew back-to-back one-out walks before Starkey reached on an error to load the bases. Noah Needham was hit by a pitch to drive in a run, then Casey Dresen delivered a clutch two-run single to make it 7–4.

The victory set up a true winner-take-all championship game as both Fennimore and PdC were now 2–1 in the tournament.

Fennimore started Casey Dresen, while the Grasshoppers went with Cale Koenig for the title bout.

“We still had Casey available to start the championship,  and Prairie was running short on pitchers, especially after we got past Koenig,” said Fennimore coach Brent Sheckler. “The conditions were just terrible for pitchers. It was hot and muggy and we made it even harder on Casey because we had some errors that forced him to throw a lot of extra pitches he shouldn’t have had to.” 

It was an ugly defensive game for both team as Fennimore committed five errors, while Prairie made seven fielding miscues. PdC built a 5–1 through four innings. Fennimore committed a pair of errors in the bottom of the fourth which led to a three-run inning. 

The ‘Hoppers returned the favor in the top of the fifth, allowing the Railers to get back in the game. Gilardo reached on a one-out error, before Starkey and Needham hit back-to-back singles to trim the deficit to 5–2. Following a strikeout, PdC intentionally walked Ethan Sheckler to load the bases with two out.

Then the wheels fell off for the home team. Shawn Jahnke-Fiedler reached on a dropped fly ball in left field, allowing two runs to score, followed by Corey Dresen reaching on an fielding error at third base to keep the inning alive. Kinyon then reached on a fielding error by the second baseman, allowing two more runs as Fennimore nabbed a 6–5 lead.

Dresen began to tire in the heat and lost his command in the bottom of the sixth. He walked a pair, then with two out and first base open, coach Sheckler elected to intentionally walk Wyatt Marx to load the bases. Dresen then walked Bryce Lenzendorf to force in the tying run. Coach Sheckler made a bold move and went to Filardo to get the final out of the inning.

“Casey got in a jam there in the sixth and he was already at 94 pitches, so I brought in Gianni to face Blake Reynolds with bases loaded; and struck him out on three pitches to get us out of it,” said Sheckler. “That was huge.”

Fennimore responded to the swing in momentum, and the exit of Koenig (who reached the 105-pitch limit) from the mound with an emphatic eight-run rally in the top of the seventh.

Ethan Sheckler led off with a double to left field, Jahnke-Fiedler reached on a dropped third-strike and Corey Dresen  singled to left to make it 7–6.

Another dropped fly ball in the outfield produced two more runs. Casey Dresen added a two-run single, and Sheckler came up again and smashed a booming 3-run homer to make it 14–6.

“That took all the wind out of their sails,” said coach Sheckler. “It was a tough tournament. It was really hot and we played four games in two days and had two win three of them. Prairie du Chien had a nice team this summer and it wasn’t easy beating them twice on Sunday.”

Filardo (1–0, 1.1IP, 0H, 0R, 1K, 1BB) worked around a lead off walk in the bottom of the seventh and ending the game with three quick outs to send Fennimore to state.

“Im really excited making it to state again," added coach Sheckler. "We made it a couple years ago in Legion ball and it was a fun experience. Personally, I’ve been running on fumes lately, but this is my last chance to coach my boys together and this group of seniors, and I really want to win this tournament."

American Legion Class A PdC Regional
Fennimore 7, Prairie du Chien 4  
(from Sunday, July 27 @ Prairie du Chien)
Prairie du Chien...100 003 0 —  4   7  2
Fennimore.............000 403 x —  7   5  3
Leading hitters — PdC: Cale Koenig 2x4, Bryce Lenzendorf 3x4 (R), Blake Reynolds 1x2 (RBI, R), Brady Lenzendorf 1x3 (2RBI); F: Gianni Filardo 2x3 (RBI, R, BB), Casey Dresen 1x4 (2RBI), Jude Kinney 1x2 (RBI, 2R, BB). 2B — PdC: Reynolds, Koenig.
W — Ethan Sheckler (2–1, 7IP, 7H, 4R, 2ER, 8K, 1BB). L — Abe Amundson (3.2IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 2K, 4BB).

Legion Class A PdC Regional Final
Fennimore 14,  Prairie du Chien 6  
(from Sunday, July 27 @ Prairie du Chien)
Fennimore............100 050 8 — 14 10  5
Prairie du Chien...200 301 0 — 6   4  7
Leading hitters — F: Tyson Starkey 2x5 (2R), Noah Needham 1x4 (RBI, 2R), Brock Henkel 1x4 (RBI), Casey Dresen 1x1 (2RBI, R), Ethan Sheckler 3x4 (3RBI, 3R, BB); PdC: Bryce Lenzendorf 1x3 (RBI, R, BB), Brady Lenzendorf 1x3 (RBI), Wyatt Marz 1x2 (RBI, R, BB). 2B — F: Sheckler; PdC: Lenzendorf. 3B — PdC: Marx. HR — F: Sheckler.
W — Gianni Filardo (1–0, 1.1IP, 0H, 0R, 1K, 1BB). L — Cale Koenig (6IP, 5H, 6R, 1ER, 8K, 2BB).