Cross Plains falls to Reedsburg

CROSS PLAINS — ‘Baseball is a game of inches.’ You won’t get an argument from the Cross Plains Businessmen. That saying was never more appropriate than in the opening round of the Home Talent League Northern Section playoffs on Sunday afternoon. Just when it appeared the host Businessmen were going to erase a four-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning, a page ripped out of a Ripley’s ‘Believe it or Not’ episode suddenly ended their season. No. 5 seeded Reedsburg converted a strange game-ending double play to stun fourth-seeded Cross Plains, 9-8, in an amateur baseball game that left the hometown fans and players alike wondering what they had just witnessed.  “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” Reedsburg manager Don Molitor said with a smile, while shaking his head. “Today was one of those days.” Reedsburg (9-4) extended its lead to 9-5 on a two-run home run from shortstop Hunter Wais off Cross Plains (8-5) left-handed reliever Bryce Duhr in the top of the eighth inning. And with right-handed reliever Jake Wegner mowing down Cross Plains hitters – he finished with 12 strikeouts in seven strong innings – Cross Plains entered its final at bat with minimal hopes of a late rally. The Businessmen forged a rally, though, and quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth after third baseman Drew Meinholz and Duhr drew walks off Wegner, sandwiched around first baseman Will Doherty’s single to left field. After Wegner struck out catcher Remington Lockwood for the first out, right fielder Jacob Meinholz laced a bases-clearing triple to right field to pull the Businessmen within 9-8. “That was a great hit right when we needed it,” Cross Plains manager Randy Meinholz said. Shortstop Kenny Allen followed with what appeared to be a sacrifice fly to Sawyer Molitor in right field. Molitor’s throw to home, though, missed the cutoff man and rolled towards catcher Caden Fry. Assuming the tying run was going to cross the plate, Fry patiently awaited the errant throw. But Jacob Meinholz tripped and fell about 30 feet from home plate, and Fry quickly scooped up the ball and tagged Meinholz out to end the game. “I’ve never seen a play like that in my life,” Cross Plains first baseman Will Doherty said. “Jacob goes from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. I feel for him. Super high, and then super low, but that’s baseball. Stuff happens. Jacob’s a good kid, though. I love that guy.” Randy Meinholz said it appeared that Fry was just going to pick up the ball and toss it back to Wegner. “They had to say: ‘tag him,’ ” Randy Meinholz said of Fry’s teammates.  “We made a great comeback and did what we had to do. You just can’t make it up. I’m still in disbelief.” Randy Meinholz said it was the first game back for Jacob Meinholz, who had missed the regular season recovering from an injury. “Jacob had a great hit. I tried talking to him after the game, but he’s really upset,” Randy Meinholz said. “He had a great at bat and got us back in the game. Kenny gave us what we needed, a sacrifice fly to tie it up. But it didn’t work.”  Drew Meinholz, who hit two home runs to pace Cross Plains’ 12-hit attack, said despite the bizarre ending, it was still a “team loss.” “I don’t want Jacob to hang his head because of that,” Drew Meinholz said. “We had plenty of other opportunities to make plays on defense and bring in runs that we didn’t do. If he doesn’t get that big hit, we’re not back in it.  “I think he caught something and tripped. He couldn’t quite stay up. The guy overthrew the cutoff man. He would have been in probably standing up.” Ironically, it was a play for the record books in a wild game where both teams combined for 27 hits, including eight extra base hits. Designated hitter Ben Jones led Reedsburg with three hits, while left fielder Mark Othmer, first baseman Wyatt Molitor, Sawyer Molitor, Fry and Wais had two hits apiece. Drew Meinholz, Garrett Pertzborn and Doherty each had two hits to pace Cross Plains. The Businessmen got on the board with one out in the bottom of the first inning when Drew Meinholz launched a solo home run off a curve ball from Reedsburg left-handed starter Sawyer Molitor over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead. After Doherty drew a walk and moved to second on an infield out, he scored when catcher Mike Hensel ripped a double down the right field line for a 2-0 lead. But the lead was short-lived as Fry drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and center fielder Edison Alonso followed with an RBI single to tie the game, 2-2, in the top of the second inning. Cross Plains didn’t waste much time, though, reclaiming the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. After Pertzborn doubled down the left field line to lead off the frame, Drew Meinholz followed with his second home run of the game to give the Businessmen a 4-2 lead. “That second one felt a heck of a lot better,” Drew Meinholz said of the two-run blast over the left field fence on 1-0 fastball from Sawyer Molitor. “The first one I thought was just a fly ball to left, and it kept carrying.” Doherty then made it 5-2 when he sent a 2-2 slider from Sawyer Pertzborn over the left field fence for the first back-to-back home runs by the Businessmen this season. “It was looking good early in the game, and then Will got one,” Randy Meinholz said of Doherty’s big blast. “But you still look up there (at the scoreboard), and we were only up three. I kept telling them, ‘We have a long way to go.  “But tip your hat to Wegner. He pitched a hell of a game.” After Cross Plains chased Sawyer Molitor, who allowed five earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and two walks in two-plus innings, Wegner entered the game and hit Hensel, the first batter he faced, with a pitch. But Wegner retired the next three batters, which helped swing the momentum back to the Pirates. Wegner scattered five hits and struck out 11 batters with no walks over six innings entering the ninth inning. “He was tough coming after a (Sawyer Molitor) who threw more junk and was a little slower,” Drew Meinholz said. “(Wegner) turned up the (velocity) for sure, and we couldn’t make that adjustment until later in the game.” Normally a three-inning pitcher according to Don Molitor, Wegner threw 109 pitches to pick up the win. “That’s what I’m conditioned to do, to throw a lot. So, I’m glad I was able to do it today and help us win this game,” said Wegner, who started in left field and pitched for UW-Platteville this spring. “We’ve had some tough games here and there. But we’re always in it. We’re always in the battle.”  Reedsburg grabbed the lead for good with a five-run outburst in the sixth inning. Cross Plains right-handed starter Logan Schultz was cruising along, allowing just five hits with six strikeouts through the first five innings before the Pirates got the best of him. Reedsburg strung together five hits and took advantage of two hit batsmen in the sixth to take control. “I kept getting them 0-2, 1-2. But they were too good throwing the bat at it and putting it in the outfield where we couldn’t get it,” Schultz said. “That’s been the story all year. We get a few good innings and get ahead in the counts and then hang one up there too good and they hit it over the second baseman or shortstop. It happens every game.” Pinch hitter Cooper Oakes was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run, and Fry followed with an RBI-single to pull the Pirates within 5-4. Alonso tied the game with a sacrifice fly before Wais singled in another run to make it 6-5. Fry then scored on a wild pitch to end a crazy inning in which Reedsburg batted around. “Logan was on. Maybe I left him in, too long,” Randy Meinholz said. “But after that inning, he seemed stronger. I had a plan to bring Bryce (Duhr) in at some point. But they got to Bryce, too, a little bit. If I could do it all over again, I’d probably use a couple of more pitchers.” After Reedsburg extended its lead to 9-5, things were looking bleak for the Businessmen. But Randy Meinholz said they weren’t finished just yet. “The last inning, we were a little more patient at the plate and got a couple of guys on,” he said. “We made (Wegner) throw some pitches. I could tell we were getting to their guys, in their minds. They were barking at each other, and I said: ‘one more hit, one more hit’.  “We actually got it, but a freak ending, and the season’s over.”  Reedsburg (9-4) advanced to face top-seeded Sauk Prairie (12-1) in Sauk City on Sunday. The Pirates were the only team to defeat the Twins during Sunday League play this season. Wegner said despite his ninth-inning struggles, he believed Reedsburg — which had a combined 20-game winning streak in Night League and Sunday League play snapped in a regular-season finale loss to Ashton — was ready to bounce back if the game had gone to extra innings. “I’m thinking it’s going to be a tie game, but I was very confident in our bats. I was confident we were going to be able to score another one,” Wegner said. “I was confident I was going to be able to go out there one more inning and handle the situation.  “I didn’t even know (Meinholz) had tripped and fallen. It had to have been meant to be. It’s not very often that you see that happen.  It was just so lucky for that to happen. I’m very grateful. We were lucky and good. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.” However, it was another ‘wait until next year’ moment for the disappointed Businessmen and their fans. “After the Sauk Prairie fiasco last year, I think we’re jinxed,” Randy Meinholz said of the season-ending defeat. Sauk Prairie rallied for a walk-off win over the Businessmen a year ago in the first round of the playoffs. “We have a good team if everybody’s here like they were today. We’re as good as anybody in the league,” Randy Meinholz said. “But still, you’ve got to avoid the big inning. We gave up five runs. It seems like that has hounded us all year. We were good enough to win that game.”    Sunday, July 28 Reedsburg 9, Cross Plains 8 Reeds ....... 020 005 020 – 9 15 0 XP …....... 203 000 003 – 8 12 1 Pitchers (ip-h-er-r-so-bb) – R: Sawyer Molitor (2-5-5-5-1-2), Jake Wegner (W: 7-7-3-3-12-2). CP: Logan Schultz (L: 6.2-12-7-7-8-0); Bryce Duhr (2.1-3-2-2-1-0). Leading hitters – R: Ben Jones 3x5 (2B); Mark Othmer 2x5; Caden Fry 2x4; Wyatt Molitor 2x5; Hunter Wais 2x5 (HR); Sawyer Molitor 2x4. CP: Drew Meinholz 2x4 (2-HR), Will Doherty 2x4 (HR); Garrett Pertzborn 2x5 (2B); Jacob Meinholz (3B); Mike Hensel (2B).