The
Stevens Point Sixers and Plover Black Sox American Legion baseball teams will
look to earn a berth to state at the AAA Region 2 Regional Tournament at Jack Hackman
Field in Marshfield Tuesday through Friday, July 19-22.

Point
(10-11, 6-2) will open the double-elimination tournament against Marshfield
(19-4) at 1 p.m. Tuesday, while Plover (9-14, 4-5) will follow against D.C.
Everest at 4 p.m.

The
AAA State Tournament will also be held at Jack Hackman Field in Marshfield July
26-30, so Marshfield already has an automatic bid, which means one other squad
from the five-team Region 2 Regional will also advance to state.

“It’s
anybody’s game,” said Point manager Jason Rieck. “It’s Marshfield, and someone
else is going with them.

“It’ll
be exciting, hopefully we can play some good ball, and hopefully we can change
a little luck around and we can move on with Marshfield,” he said.

“What
we’re looking at is trying to take care of opportunities that we have,” said
Plover manager Wayne Sankey. “We’re kind of Jekyll and Hyde this year, there
are games we look really good, then there are games that we don’t.

“But
looking at the teams in the Regional, we’ve been close with every team, and
with the exception of Stevens Point, we’ve beaten every team once,” he said
prior to Plover’s game against Point Wednesday, July 13. “So I really think a
lot of the games are coin flips, and they’ll get really interesting when you
get into the third game of the weekend, if you get that far.”

The
Sixers will start Tuesday afternoon against Marshfield, which is ranked second
in the state in the AAA Wisconsin Legion Baseball Poll and fifth in the Wisconsin
Baseball Central Power Rankings, with the winner to face Wausau at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, and the loser to play in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July
20.

Point
and Marshfield split a pair of games during the regular season, as Marshfield
won 5-1 at home June 17 and the Sixers won 3-2 at home June 29.

Marshfield
beat Plover 20-7 Tuesday, July 12, to improve to 7-2 in the Wisconsin Valley
Legion League (WVLL) heading into its regular season finale against Wausau
Thursday, July 14, with Point (6-2) a half-game behind in the conference
standings before hosting Plover Wednesday, July 13, and Merrill Thursday night.

“All
the guys are hitting pretty good right now, and hopefully they can continue
that to next week,” said Rieck. “We’ve got a tough draw; we’ve got to win two
on the first day against two pretty good teams (to remain in the winner’s
bracket).

“But
I think what’s nice about this Regional is, anybody’s beatable on any given day,”
he said. “So we’re going to have to come out and play our best.”

Plover
(9-14, 4-5) will take on D.C. Everest in its Regional opener at 4 p.m. Tuesday,
with the winner to play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s 7
p.m. game, and the loser to play in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Wednesday
against the loser of the Point/Marshfield matchup.

The
Black Sox split a pair of games with D.C. Everest so far this season, as they
lost 3-2 at D.C. Everest June 16 and won at home 7-6 June 29, while the two
teams will also meet as part of the Central Wisconsin Classic at Memorial Park
at 8 p.m. Friday, July 15.

“They’re
not a team to look past by any means whatsoever,” said Sankey. “We’ll hopefully
come ready to go.

“Getting
that first win is always the big one, and getting into the winner’s side of the
bracket,” he said.

The
AAA State Tournament will be held in Marshfield Tuesday through Saturday, July
26-30, so if Marshfield wins the Regional Title next week, the Regional
Runner-up will also advance.

That
leaves Point, Plover, Wausau and D.C. Everest in the mix for one spot, as Point
is aiming for its first trip to state since 2003, while the Black Sox will look
to make their sixth consecutive appearance.

“We’re
going to have to be successful in all three phases,” said Rieck. “We’re going
to have to play defense behind the pitchers, the pitchers are going to have to
give us a chance and limit the walks to very few, and we’re going to have to
hit and hit with guys in scoring position.

“But
the team with the least amount of mistakes is going to win each game,” he said.

“I
think it’s up in the air, and obviously it’s nice that Marshfield’s hosting so
it will give another team an opportunity in it,” said Sankey. “But we need to
be able to drive guys in, not leave guys on base, and we need to have some good
defense.

“We
typically have been beating ourselves,” he said. “And when we get opportunities
to drive guys in, we really haven’t been doing it.”

AAA
Region 2 Regional Tournament at Jack Hackman Field in Marshfield

Tuesday,
July 19

Game
1: Stevens Point vs. Marshfield, 1 p.m.

Game
2: Plover vs. D.C. Everest, 4 p.m.

Game
3: Winner Game 1 vs. Wausau, 7 p.m.

Wednesday,
July 20

Game
4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m.

Game
5: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 4 p.m.

Game
6: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3, 7 p.m.

Thursday,
July 21

Game
7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5, 4 p.m.

Game
8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, 7 p.m.

Friday,
July 22

Game
9 (if necessary): Loser Game 8 if first loss vs. Winner Game 8, 4 p.m.