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Burlington, Waupaca, Saint Mary Catholic, and Ithaca capture spring baseball state titles

06/17/2016, 8:45am CDT
By Travis Wilson

Yes, there was a rain delay at the 2016 WIAA Spring Baseball State Tournament, but it couldn't put a damper on another outstanding championships.

Close games were the order of the day on Tuesday, when Division 1 quarterfinals and semi-finals produced a state championship contest of Burlington and Arrowhead. Burlington took down defending state champ Janesville Craig in the quarters before blowing out Green Bay Preble. Arrowhead got outstanding pitching performances from Nate Brown and Ryan Schmitt to defeat state powerhouses Sun Prairie and Kimberly. In the title game, Arrowhead jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but Cal Tully and Zach Campbell did a masterful job in relief for the Demons, holding the Warhawks to just 3 hits in the final 6 1/3 innings. It allowed the Burlington offense to claw away for six runs in the final two innings for a 6-4 victory.

In Division 2, defending champion Milwaukee Lutheran got a big game from Nick Winter in a 4-1 semi-final victory over Lodi, as Winter tossed a complete game on the mound and went 2-for-2 with 2 RBI at the plate. Waupaca held off West Salem to advance to the title game. Walker Smith of Waupaca out-dueled James Wright in the championship game as the Comets won 2-0, sending longtime head coach John Koronkiewicz into retirement with his first state title. He also guided the Waupaca football team to a pair of championships plus three runner-up finishes in his tenure, retiring this off-season.

Saint Mary Catholic was the only undefeated team entering the state finals, and the Zephyrs made sure to stay that way. After holding off Unity 6-5 in the semi-finals, the team faced off against Prairie du Chien. SMC went ahead 3-0 in the top of the first, all unearned runs, and cruised home for a 5-1 win. It is the first WIAA state title for the Zephyrs in five appearances.

Redemption has been on the mind of the Ithaca baseball team for a full year, after the Bulldogs dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to Rio in last season's title game. It took a late rally in a sectional final against Hillsboro just to get back to Grand Chute for a third consecutive season, but Ithaca made quick work of Green Bay NEW Lutheran in the semi-finals, 6-2. In the other D4 contest, Rib Lake took down Pepin/Alma by a 6-2 score as well. It set up a title game between Ithaca and Rib Lake that was a rematch of last season's semi-final won by the Bulldogs. Rib Lake answered an early Ithaca run with four runs in the bottom of the second, but it was all Ithaca after that, as the Bulldogs scored nine runs over the final four innings for a 10-4 win, the first state title from any sport in school history.

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