The
Stevens Point Sixers American Legion baseball team was unable to pull out
another come-from-behind victory, as their season came to an end with a loss in
the Championship of the AAA Region 2 Regional Tournament in Marshfield.

Down
9-5 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Sixers rallied for
five runs to knock off second-ranked Marshfield 10-9 Thursday, July 21, and
then followed with a 9-5 win over D.C. Everest to advance to the Regional
Championship.

There,
Point was unable to overcome an early deficit against Wausau at Jack Hackman
Field in Marshfield Friday, July 22, and fell 7-4 to have its season come to a
close at 13-15, while Wausau (19-18) advanced to the AAA State Tournament in
Marshfield Tuesday through Saturday, July 26-30.

“We
battled throughout the whole weekend, beat a lot of good teams, and it just
didn’t quite fall our way the last game,” said Point catcher Brady Erickson. “We
beat Marshfield, ranked No. 2 in the state, and knocked out Plover; they’ve
been at state for the last five years.”

“We
thought maybe we had one more miracle up our sleeve for that ninth,” said Point
manager Jason Rieck. “But we just came up a little short.”

The
Sixers opened the double-elimination Regional Tournament with a 15-3 loss to
Marshfield (22-7) Tuesday, July 19, and then were tied 4-4 in the top of the
seventh inning in an elimination game against Plover (12-18) Wednesday, July
20, before they scored five runs over the final three innings to pull out a 9-5
victory.

That
sent Point to face Marshfield in an elimination game Thursday night, after
Marshfield fell 9-3 to Wausau Tuesday night to drop to 1-1 in the Regional.

Marshfield,
which already had an automatic bid to state locked up as the host team for the
State Tournament, got out to an early lead on Point Thursday night, as it
scored three runs in the top of the third inning off Sixers pitcher Nathan Olds
to go up 3-0.

It
stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Sixers used a
squeeze bunt from third baseman Hunter Lodzinski and a sacrifice fly from
Erickson to score a pair of runs and pull within 3-2.

Marshfield
answered with one run in the top of the seventh inning to make it 4-2, and then
scored four unearned runs with two outs in the top of the eighth to go up 8-2.

The
Sixers began their rally in the bottom of the eighth inning, as they scored
three unearned runs with two outs to close within 8-5.

“We
gave them some runs, and eventually in the eighth inning we were like, ‘we can
still do this,’” said left fielder Jake Dufresne. “We scored three in the
eighth inning, and that gave us some life going into the ninth.

“And
the ninth inning was crazy,” he said.

Marshfield
scored a run in the top of the ninth inning to increase its lead to 9-5, and
the Sixers were down to the final out of their season in the bottom of the
ninth inning, when they scored on a throwing error to make it 9-6.

Dufresne
followed with a single to score two runs and pull Point within 9-8 after a
throwing error on the play, as Dufresne ended up on third base.

“I
went up there, a guy on first and second, I was down 0-2, and they threw me a
curveball,” said Dufresne. “I just got the bat to it, got it out there.

“And
the only thing I remember is just how livid the Marshfield coach was that they
gave me something to hit,” he said.

In
the next at bat, Dufresne broke for home on a passed ball and slid in safe to
tie the game at 9-9, while second baseman Joe Strigel drew a walk.

With
Olds at the plate, Strigel stole second base, and Olds followed with a single
to right field.

“I
was right at the edge of the dugout, I was getting ready,” said Dufresne. “As
soon as I saw Olds off the bat, I was running out there.”

Strigel
rounded third on the play and headed home, and beat the throw to the plate to score
the winning run and cap a five-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the
ninth inning that gave the Sixers a 10-9, come-from-behind victory.

“I
just put my hands up, and I was like, ‘yes,’” said Olds. “The best feeling
ever.

“It
was amazing, having all of the guys swarm out,” he said. “That’s just what
every ballplayer lives for.”

“Joe’s
extremely fast, and you knew anything that was touching the grass, he was going
to score on, or we were going to take the chance on,” said Rieck. “That ball
wasn’t hit extremely hard and found a spot where nobody was, and as soon it was
off the bat, I knew we had won that game.

“And
it was an awesome feeling as a coach, but I can’t imagine being the kids in
that situation,” he said. “To be a part of that was really something special.

“To
knock off not only a team that beat you the first game, but the team that’s
hosting it, and one of the Top Five teams in the state,” he said. “That says a
lot about the kids.”

The
win sent Point to play 1-1 Everest in the next game Thursday night, which
started around 10:30 p.m. due to a rain delay earlier in the day, with a berth
in the Regional Championship on the line against 2-0 Wausau.

Everest
scored one run in the top of the second inning off Point starter Brady Franz to
take a 1-0 lead, which it stayed until the bottom of the fourth inning, when the
Sixers scored three runs to grab a 3-1 lead.

Everest
answered with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to go up 4-3 and then
added another run in the sixth to build a 5-3 advantage.

Point
rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning, as it used a sacrifice fly from Olds
and a RBI single from center fielder Gus Turner-Zick to tie the game at 5-5,
while Jacob Piotrowski had a two-out RBI single to give the team a 6-5 lead.

The
Sixers tacked on three more runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth
inning and went on to a 9-5 win to advance to face Wausau Friday in the
Championship, where Point would need to win twice to earn a trip to state for
the first time since it hosted the State Tournament in 2003.

“Brady
came back and threw extremely well to earn the win, and it was just a good
battle,” said Rieck. “The kids were emotionally drained, were physically
drained after coming back to beat Marshfield, and they picked it up for nine
more innings and they played extremely well.”

After
beating Marshfield 9-3 in the final game Tuesday night and then winning 10-2
over Everest in the final game Wednesday to improve to 2-0 in the Regional,
Wausau had an off day Thursday, and then returned for the Championship Friday
afternoon.

Wausau
started the bottom of the first inning with three consecutive hits off Point
starter Matt Helms, and all came around to score to give Wausau a 3-0 lead.

Wausau
scored three unearned runs in the top of the third inning to go up 6-0, and
then added another unearned run in the top of the fifth to increase its lead to
7-0.

It
remained that way until the top of the seventh inning, when Strigel walked,
Olds reached on an error and Turner-Zick singled to load the bases with nobody
out.

Following
a strikeout, shortstop Andy Tepp delivered a RBI single to left field to make
it 7-1, while a throwing error on a ground ball hit by right fielder Zach
Ksicinski with two outs allowed Olds and Turner-Zick to score to bring Point
within 7-3.

Lodzinski
followed with a RBI single to score Tepp and make it 7-4, before Wausau got a
strikeout to end the inning.

“We
were hoping this was going to be like a normal game for us, where we just come
back at the end,” said Olds. “We’ve done that all season long.

“And
just the feeling, scoring four, we thought we had it coming back,” he said.

Wausau
worked its way around a one-out single from Olds in the top of the eighth with
a fielder’s choice groundout and a popup to first base, and then set the Sixers
down in order in the top of the ninth inning to advance to state with a 7-4 win
and end Point’s season.

“We
left a lot of guys on base (12), and Wausau’s a good team,” said Erickson. “We
beat them in the regular season, but they definitely played good today.”

“We
were that one hit away all game, and they capitalized when they needed to,”
said Rieck. “But there’s nothing for those kids to hang their head about.

“They
played a lot of games, getting home last night at 2:30 (a.m.), and getting up
and doing it again today,” he said. “But I hope they enjoyed it. I know we had
a lot of fun as coaches this year, and really enjoyed this group of guys.”

Wausau
(19-18) went on to lose to top-ranked Eau Claire (27-7) 10-0 in seven innings
and Marshfield (23-7) won 5-4 over Sheboygan (19-20) in the opening day of the
State Tournament in Marshfield Tuesday, July 26.

Wausau
bounced back with an 18-2 win over Sheboygan Wednesday, July 27, with Marshfield
set to play Eau Claire in the final game Wednesday night, while the tournament
will run through the State Championship Game at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 30.

Meanwhile,
the Regional Championship was the final game for a group of Sixers that
included 19-year olds Dufresne, Olds and Erickson.

“The
last couple of years, being on the Senior team, having played with a lot of
great guys, it’s just been really fun,” said Olds. “Learned a lot about
baseball, and I’m definitely going to have a lot of memories to share.”

“The
Sixers team is a family, we all work together, and it’s been a blessing,” said
Erickson. “I’ve been playing for four or five years now, so seeing it come to
an end is tough, but I love the team, love the guys, so it’ll definitely be a
memory I won’t forget.

“And
that Marshfield game will probably stick in my head forever,” he said. “Just
the way we battled back, that’s what a team does, and it’ll definitely be
remembered.”