Early lead slips away in final
By Greg Seubert
In the end, it was too much Oakfield and not enough Iola-Scandinavia.
The Thunderbirds’ season ended June 7 with a 13-6 loss to Oakfield in a WIAA Division 4 baseball sectional final in Rosholt.
Iola-Scandinavia had advanced to the championship game earlier that day with a 5-1 over Gibraltar/Washington Island.
Although the T-Birds headed into state tournament play with a 5-16 record, they won a regional title following wins over Rosholt, Pacelli and Pittsville. Pacelli and Gibraltar/Washington Island were No. 1 seeds in the Rosholt sectional bracket, while Iola-Scandinavia was a No. 5 seed.
Oakfield 13, Iola-Scandinavia 6
Iola-Scandinavia scored all six of its runs in the bottom of the first inning before Oakfield’s Bailey Schepp held the T-Birds’ bats in check the rest of the way.
The Oaks opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first.
Kaden Jueds, Will Tappa, Jackson Fredy and Alek Rogalla drove in runs off of Oakfield starting pitcher Hunter Sabel to give the T-Birds a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Schepp relieved Sabel with one out and gave up two more runs on a single, but the T-Birds never scored again.
“We couldn’t get as good a rhythm going when (Schepp) came in,” coach Jon Berg said. “We hit the ball, we just couldn’t get a couple together.”
The score remained 6-1 until the Oaks came up with seven runs in the fourth to go up 8-6. They added two more runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Coach Jon Berg said there’s a good reason his team was able to make a deep tournament run.
“We knew we could compete with some teams because it’s not like we got blown out,” he said. “The boys got hot, got positive and kept showing up. Things were going our way and we used that momentum each week, each game to keep pushing us forward. We haven’t been making a ton of errors and throwing strikes.
“Today, we had some walks, we had some errors and they hit the ball,” he said. “When you give them free runners and they put a couple in play, it affects you. Like I told them, this is the sectionals. Everyone’s on a roll, everyone’s playing good ball. We ran into a solid team here.”
Iola-Scandinavia 6, Gibraltar/Washington Island 1
Gibraltar/Washington Island came up with a run in the bottom of the first inning.
The T-Birds tied the game in the fifth on Parker Gullixon’s solo home run before adding four more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.
Iola-Scandinavia took the lead for good after two errors and a walk loaded the bases. Fredy scored the go-ahead run on Jayden Singh’s walk, Isaiah Hoyord and Gullixon had RBI singles and Carter Melum drove in another run after hitting into a fielder’s choice.
Singh drove in the T-Birds’ final run in the seventh.