OSSEO — The Fennimore baseball and head coach Brent Sheckler are finally going to state.
Sheckler — and all Fennimore fans in attendance and at home — survived a pair of emotional roller coaster, extra-inning nail-biters at last Tuesday's WIAA Division 3 Osseo Sectional. But theGolden Eagles won both games on walk-off RBI singles by senior Tyson Starkey in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn the program's first trip to the state tournament in coach Sheckler's 20th season.
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.
"We finally did it, after 20 years," said Sheckler. "The feeling is nothing like I could have ever imagined and the 20 years were definitely worth the wait. Tuesday night after the game, I had 350 messages from former players, former parents, fans, friends and fellow coaches. The unwavering support is just awesome!
"We are thrilled to make it this far, for the first time in school history. We are going to everything in our power to win it, and don't think there is any team left that is clearly better than us. Doing this as a dad, with two sons on this year's team makes it extra special. We definitely want to enjoy this experience, but as the head coach, I also have to get the guys mentally prepared and ready to win.
The #8-ranked Golden Eagles (25–3) earned the No. 2 seed in next week's WIAA D3 state tournament and will face Packerland Conference champion and No. 3 seed Kewaunee (17–5) in a D3 state semifinal game Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium, Grand Chute (near Appleton).
No. 1 seed and #1-ranked Kenosha St. Joseph's (22–7) will meet No. 4 seed Barron (20–9) in the other D3 semifinal following Fennimore's game. Tuesday's winners will meet for the D3 state title next Thursday at noon, immediately following the Division 4 state championship game, which starts at 9 a.m.
"We kind of figured we would get the 2 seed," said Sheckler. "I thought we could get the one and I fought for it, but we lost the appeal. St. Joe's has a big name behind them and they play a lot of bigger schools during the year. But we are happy to be the 2 seed. We don't know a lot about Kewaunee, but they have a really good lefty pitcher. They don't look to have a high-octane offense, so I think they compare to a Belmont or Cuba City or Dodgeville type of team, built on pitching and defense."
Senior Ethan Sheckler got the ball for Fennimore in the sectional final and struck out eight in five strong innings, but gave way to Dresen in the top of the sixth inning after 91 gutty pitches.
The Eagles scored the game's first run in the bottom of the second when the other Dresen twin — junior first baseman Corey — drew a walk, moved to third on an error by Westby pitcher Beckett Brueggen and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
The Norsemen (24–6) evened the score in the third when back-to-back two-out singles by Gavin Larson and David Nedland drove in Quellhorst, who led off the inning with a base hit of his own. Everett Hoven added an RBI double an inning later to give Westby a 2–1 advantage.
Fennimore had a golden chance to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth when Macoy Miles led off with a double, and Corey Dresen singled to left field to put runners on the corners. But Larson fielded Casey Dresen's swinging "bunt" and made a great play to throw out Miles at the plate.
The inning then ended when senior Brock Henkel grounded out to second and Hoven, the Westby first baseman, threw out Corey Dresen at the plate attempting to score from second for an inning-ending double play.
Filardo reached on a Westby error to reach the top of the seventh and Kinney reached on a perfect bunt single down the first baseline to re-open the door for coach Sheckler's team. The Eagles then loaded the bases on a perfectly placed bunt single down the left field line by Starkey.
"I told Tyson he had to make sure he got the bunt down while he was still in the batter's box and to not rush it," said Sheckler. "It was much more important to get the bunt down than beat out throw, but he did both."
The Noresmen got an out on Shawn Jahnke-Fiedler infield fly pop up to first base, but senior Ethan Sheckler drew a four-pitch walk to tie the game at 2–2.
With the infield in, Miles grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop with Nelson getting pinch runner Cooper Imhoff on the force at home for the second out, before Westby escaped the jam without further damage on Corey Dresen's ground out back to the mound.
Casey 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 Eagle.
"The whole day seemed to be, 'how bad of a situation can we put ourselves in before we battle back to get out of it,'" joked coach Sheckler. "But this same group of kids, the often times melted down in similar situations last year have proved just how mentally tough they are now, one year later. In this year's playoff with three one-run wins, and a two-run win in the regional final, I think they have proved they can handled themselves in pressure situations."
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."
Casey Dresen improved to 9–0 on the season with three scoreless innings of relief, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out two.
WIAA Division 3 Sectional Semifinal
No. 1 Fennimore 3, No. 1 Westby 2
(from Tuesday, June 10 @ Osseo)
Westby.........001 100 00 — 2 8 5
Fennimore..010 000 11 — 3 9 1
Leading hitters — W: Ben Roethel 2x4; F: Tyson Starkey 2x4 (RBI), Ethan Sheckler 2x3 (RBI), Gianni Filardo 2x4 (R), Jude Kinney 2x3. 2B — W: Roethel, Hoven; F: Sheckler, Macoy Miles
W — Casey Dresen (9–0, 3IP, 3H, 0R, 2K, 1BB). L — Gavin Larson (2.1IP, 3H, 2R, 0ER, 0K, 2BB).
EAGLES SURVICE RICHARD, CUBA CITY TO ADVANCE TO SECTIONAL FINAL
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."
WIAA Division 3 Sectional Semifinal
No. 1 Fennimore 1, No. 3 Cuba City 0
(from Tuesday, June 10 @ Osseo)
Cuba City.....000 000 00 — 0 6 2
Fennimore...000 000 01 — 1 3 2
Leading hitters — CC: Andy Loeffelholz 2x4, Reed Shepherd 2x3; F: Tyson Starkey 1x4 (RBI), Gianni Filardo 2x3 (R). 2B — CC: Loeffelholz, Shepherd; F: Filardo.
W — Casey Dresen (8–0, 1IP, 1H, 0R, 2K, 1BB. L — Tyson Richard (7.1IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 4K, 2BB).
