Waupaca comes back to top Berlin
By Greg Seubert
The Waupaca baseball team has taken its fans on an up-and-down roller-coaster ride all season.
That ride continued in the first round of the WIAA state tournament.
The Comets spotted Berlin a pair of early runs and gave up a 7-2 lead before coming back tor a 10-9 win over the Indians June 10 in a WIAA Division 2 regional at Waupaca High School.
The third-seeded Comets faced second-seeded Winneconne in the second round of the tournament June 15.
Berlin opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Waupaca cut into the lead with a run in the second, two in the third and four in the fourth to go up 7-4.
Berlin scored twice in the fifth before coming up with four runs in the sixth to take an 8-7 lead.
“The score definitely reflects a close game, but we broke one of the cardinal sins of baseball and that is, ‘Avoid the big inning,’” coach Rocky Mondello said. “A number of hard-hit balls by the Indians and some errors and mental mistakes made the game very close.”
The Comets scored three runs in the sixth to retake the lead, 10-8. Berlin scored a run in the seventh and had runners at first and second base with one out, but a double play ended the game.
Six of Waupaca’s nine hits went for extra bases. Devin Geary led the team with three hits – all doubles – and Tyler Rogney added a pair of doubles while driving in three runs.