Eagles hold off Sparta in playoff opener

Survive and advance. It wasn’t always pretty for Sauk Prairie’s girls softball team in its WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal on May 16. But the Eagles did just enough to edge Sparta, 9-8, and advance to the second round of the playoffs. Sauk Prairie, the No. 8 seed in its sectional, improved to 4-18 and traveled to top-seeded Mount Horeb (17-3) Tuesday for a regional semifinal. Sparta, which was the No. 9 seed, ended the year 2-16. Morgan Larsen had a huge game for the Eagles against Sparta, belting a third inning home run and driving in four runs overall. Larsen finished the night 2-for-4 and scored a run. While Lexi Cegielski went 2-for-3 with a double, three runs scored and an RBI. Aubrey Zick went 2-for-3 with three RBI and Alayna Robertson went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Riley Kerl went the distance and picked up the win. Kerl allowed 11 hits, six earned runs, struck out seven and walked three. Sauk Prairie broke a 4-4 tie with five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Larsen had a two-run single that scored both Kylee Ballweg and Robertson, and two batters later, Zick had a two-run single that plated Cegielski and Brooke Heinz to give the Eagles a 9-8 lead. Sparta refused to go away, rallying back to score four runs in the top of the seventh to close within 9-8. Sparta had runners on second and third with just one out, but Kerl picked the runner off of second base. And when the runner from third tried scoring, the Eagles got her in a rundown and Robertson eventually tagged her out to end the game. Now, Sauk Prairie will certainly have its hands full against Mount Horeb. The Vikings swept the season-series, winning the opener, 14-0 and taking the second game, 13-3. Mount Horeb has won 16 of its final 17 games and went a perfect 14-0 in the Badger Small Conference.