Tri-County prep baseball teams begin playoffs

The Fall Creek High School Baseball Team probably isn't going to feel left out on Thursday, June 10.

They are the only Tri-County area prep baseball team not playing as the WIAA regionals tournaments begin on the 10th with first-round match-ups.

That's because the Crickets are the top seed in their Division 3 regional tournament and will face the winner of the Stanley-Boyd-Osseo-Fairchild ballgame next Tuesday, June 15. Fall Creek has a first round bye.

FC was already in action Monday and Tuesday of this week already, losing at Altoona 3-0 thanks to being held to just one hit before bouncing back to end the regular season on an upswing with a non-conference win at Elk Mound 6-4. Luke Costley was the winning pitcher, striking out eight and giving up zero walks while teammate Jack Riemenschneider had three hits and two RBIs and Nate Sorenson had two hits for the Crickets.

Being up and down unfortunately cost the Crickets the Western Cloverbelt Conference title to Altoona as FC lost not just to the Railroaders on Monday but to Thorp/Gilman last week Friday, June 4 by a 13-2 score at Thorp. And this result was just 24 hrs. after FC notched a big win over Eau Claire Regis 2-1 in eight innings when Logan Gilles hit an RBI-sacrifice to score Riemenschneider for the winning run at home. They also picked up a big win 48 hours before that 5-1 over Chippewa Falls McDonell. This puts Fall Creek at 14-5 overall going into the playoffs.

Also going through swings of momentum before the playoffs is Osseo-Fairchild. The Thunder won two league games in a row last week. Thursday over Cadott 16-6 and Friday at Stanley-Boyd 16-8. Against the Hornets, O-F trailed 5-0 in the fourth before scoring 10 unanswered runs over the next three innings and winning the game with six runs in the sixth inning. Garrett Koxlien went 4-for-4 from the plate and was also the winning pitcher. Brice Shimon hit two doubles for OFHS. However, the momentum would not last for the Thunder (6-14 overall) as they lost a pair of game earlier this week, 12-1 to Neillsville and 6-0 to Bloomer. They are the fifth seed in the regional tournament bracket.

Also in first round action, No. 5 seeded Eleva-Strum (4-14 overall) is at No. 4 Blair-Taylor (8-10) in Division 4. The Cardinals have lost eight straight ballgames but several of those games were by four runs or less including an 8-4 loss to the Wildcats two weeks ago. E-S lost 10-6 to Cochrane-Fountain City last week, Tuesday; 4-1 to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Thursday; 16-3 to Whitehall on Friday and 5-3 to Independence/Gilmanton this week Monday, June 8 despite leading for a good portion of that contest.

Augusta (3-16 overall) is a No. 6 seed and is at No. 3 Clear Lake (9-2), also in Division 4. The Beavers began last week with a 16-6 win at home over Alma Center Lincoln but have lost three straight including 13-3 at Melrose-Mondoro on Thursday, being swept by Alma/Pepin on Friday 13-9 and 13-0 and lost at Whitehall this week Monday.

The regional finals are next week Wednesday, June 16 and sectional tournaments are on Tuesday, June 22.

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