By John Kemmeter

After advancing to the championship as the last remaining unbeaten team in the AAA Region 2 Regional Tournament at Memorial Park in Plover, the Stevens Point Sixers American Legion Baseball team had its State Tournament hopes come to an end with a pair of losses against Wausau Friday, July 21.

The Sixers carried a 3-0 record into the final day of the double-elimination tournament, where they rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning against Wisconsin Valley Legion League (WVLL) Champion Wausau to tie the game at 5-5 and send it to extra innings, before Wausau pulled out a 7-6 win in 10 innings.

That set up a winner-take-all battle for a trip to the State Tournament, where Wausau (16-20) led 6-5 in the fifth inning, and then scored seven unanswered runs the rest of the way to win 13-5 and beat Point (17-13) in the Regional Championship for the second year in a row.

Dylan Richter (14) and the Stevens Point Sixers celebrate after Cole Wright’’s two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning tied the game at 6-6, in the first of two AAA Region 2 Regional Championship Games at Memorial Park in Plover Friday, July 21.
(John Kemmeter photo)

“We were down every game in this tournament, and we came together as a team, and came back and fought hard,” said Sixers first baseman/designated hitter Cole Wright. “And it just didn’t end the way we wanted it to end.”

“It’s tough because we played so well going into it, and I feel bad for the kids, that this is how it had to end,” said Sixers manager Jason Rieck. “Because they played really well all tournament, up until this last game.”

Zach Zimmerman sends a pitch home during the Stevens Point Sixers’ 13-5 loss to Wausau in the second Championship Game at the AAA Region 2 Regional Tournament at Memorial Park in Plover Friday, July 21.
(John Kemmeter photo)

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