Twins silenced in HTL title game

VERONA – In a season with multiple walk-off victories, Sauk Prairie’s bats went silent at the worst possible time. Luke Yapp hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally defending champion Verona to a 3-2 victory over the Twins in the championship game of the Home Talent Sunday League round-robin tournament at Stampfl Field at Community Park on Sunday. Sauk Prairie (19-5, 2-2 Final Four) managed just three hits off Verona starter Kyle Nelson and reliever Justin Scanlon and only one hit after the first inning. “We just didn’t quite execute well enough today,” Sauk Prairie player/manager Lucas Koenig said. “It was a little bit of execution stuff, which is hard because in these games you’ve got to execute. We didn’t quite do it.” The Twins, who were also runner-up in the HTL Final Four in 2016, were trying to win their first championship since 1966. After defeating Verona and Sun Prairie in the first two rounds, Sauk Prairie faced Evansville on Sept, 8 needing a victory to clinch the title. Evansville held Sauk Prairie to four hits, though, and blanked the Twins 2-0, while Verona eliminated Sun Prairie with a 6-1 victory to set up the winner-take-all matchup in Verona. The host Cavaliers (21-2, 3-1) then got a measure of revenge for Sauk Prairie’s 8-6 victory — a game in which Sam Koenig hit a 10th inning grand slam for a walk-off win in the first round of the HTL Final Four. “The toughest part is the season we had, especially the run at the end, we felt it was our time,” Twins’ left fielder Tyler Prime said. “It’s tough to lose the two games in a row. They had a great team. But we all shared a mutual feeling that this was ours. It didn’t come to fruition. “I’ve never been on a team that was this close. It was one of the more talented teams I’ve been on, too. We had all the parts. It just didn’t fall our way.” Yapp, who played collegiately at Northern Illinois, homered off Sauk Prairie right-hander Connor Leister in the team’s earlier playoff meeting. So when Yapp stepped to the plate in the eighth inning for his fourth at bat of the game and third appearance against Leister, the right-hander knew what he had to do. “I tried to keep everything outside on him, but he still went opposite field on me,” Leister said after the right-handed hitting Yapp drove a 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence for the eventual game-winner. “He’s a good hitter. I needed to put it a little lower.” Yapp also had a plan. “I flew out in the third inning on a curveball away,” Yapp said. “(Leister) kept attacking away, away, away. I came back up the at-bat before I hit the home run and shoved it to right (for a single).” But Yapp said when Leister delivered a fastball on the outer half of the plate, he knew what to do. “Luckily I dove in and got it on the barrel,” Yapp said. “As soon as I saw it start spinning and carrying, I was like, ‘That has a chance.’ I saw (right fielder Elliot Dederich) turn. When he got near the fence, ‘I was like, ‘It’s gone.’ ” Sauk Prairie got off to a great start with two runs in the top of the first inning. Sam Koenig reached base with one out on an infield single. One out later, Lucas Koenig lined a single to center field. Elliot Dederich then reached on an infield error to score Sam Koenig that moved Lucas Koenig to third base. When Dederich stole second, Lucas Koenig scored on a throwing error by catcher Nick Cheaney to stake the Twins to a 2-0 lead. But Verona tied the game in the bottom of the first when the first four Cavaliers batters reached base. Verona chased Sauk Prairie starter Taylor Koenig after three batters — a lead-off walk to Derek Burgenske, David Lund’s double to left-center field and Justin Scanlon’s RBI-single. Leister relieved Taylor Koenig and walked Mike Jordahl. One out later, Yapp grounded into a force play to score Lund to tie the game at 2-2. The matchup then settled into a pitcher’s duel with Nelson and Leister each tossing six shutout innings. “I was just trying to pound the strike zone with my fastball, attack and get ahead,” said Nelson, who had seven strikeouts while allowing three hits in 8 2/3 innings. “It took an inning for me to really figure it out. “My pitches were working today. I had three of them — changeup, fastball and curveball. This is the second time I faced them. They got me out in the fifth last time, so I really thought I had to prove myself today.” Leister had his longest outing of the season, allowing four hits and five walks with four strikeouts over eight innings. He threw 118 pitches, 71 for strikeouts and recorded 23 first-pitch strikes. “That’s what he’s done all year for us,” Lucas Koenig said of Leister. “He threw well.” Sauk Prairie had one final opportunity to at least force extra innings when Chucky Schara reached base on an infield error with two outs in the ninth inning, and Jeremy Meier walked on four pitches. But Scanlon, who started at shortstop, relieved Nelson and induced pinch hitter Benjamin Lenerz to ground out to second baseman Klayton Brandt and unleash a celebration for the Cavaliers, who won their third title in five years and seventh overall — all since 2008. “After I got on second I was thinking, ‘Oh, here we go, another extra inning game’,” Schara said. “Having Benjy up there was smart on Lucas’ part. He’d been swinging a hot stick.” While Nelson, who announced his retirement after the game, wanted to finish what he started, he didn’t second guess the decision to end his outing after 140 pitches. “I think it was the right decision,” he said. “I was laboring, they could tell.” However, the loss was a painful way to end the season for the Twins, who came ‘oh, so close’ to winning it all. “We had a real fun run for the last two months dating back to July 20 when we had our Hall of Fame day, inducting our 1966 team,” Lucas Koenig said. “Those guys have been following us ever since. “We walked off that day and then we had our alumni game where we had 50, 60 guys, former high school guys there. It was awesome. We see those guys coming back out following us, and then the three walk-offs in four games. That was incredible. We just didn’t have the magic today.” Sept. 15 Verona 3, Sauk Prairie 2 Sauk Prairie .... 200 000 000 – 2 3 2 Evansville ....... 200 000 01x – 3 6 4 Pitchers (ip-h-er-bb-so) -- SP: Taylor Koenig (0-2-2-1-0), Connor Leister (8-4-1-5-4). V: Kyle Nelson (W, 8.2-3-0-3-7), Justin Scanlon (S, 0.1-0-0-0-0). Leading hitters – SP: Sam Koenig (1x3), Lucas Koenig (1x3), Jeremy Meier (1x2). V: David Lund (2x3), Luke Yapp (2x4). 2B – Lund 2, Nick Cheaney. HR – Yapp.