GC batsmen fall to Blue Devils and Vikings
By Cara L. Dempski
It seems the weather has been uncooperative more often than not for the 2017 spring sports season.
Last week was no exception when, after rain most of Monday and into Tuesday, Glenwood City’s baseball team once again found its home field unplayable due to wet conditions.
So, instead of Plum City taking a trip to Glenwood City, the Hilltoppers headed south to Blue Devil country.
The May 16 game was another rough one for the Toppers, who were felled by the Devils 20-1 to remain winless this season.
The Hilltoppers were next scheduled for a May 18 home contest against Boyceville, but it was moved to the Bulldogs’ home field, where the Toppers lost 3-0.
Glenwood City had been scheduled to take on Colfax May 15, but the game was postponed until this past Saturday morning, May 20. That game too was moved from Glenwood City and the Colfax squad took advantage of it to best the Glenwood boys 8-4 in a battle of winless squads.
Glenwood City rounded out its conference season with a May 22 home contest against Spring Valley.
The Toppers are seeded sixth in its Division 3 regional and will travel to open in Spring Valley May 25. The winner of that game will take on second-seeded Elk Mound May 30 at the Elk Mound Village Park.
Plum City
It can be hard to play home baseball games when your field is built bordering the boggy lowlands that accompany so many of the small waterways that wind throughout Western Wisconsin.
It can be even harder when you have a wet, cold start to spring followed by the warmth and instability that is the perfect breeding ground for severe storms and heavy rainfalls.
Glenwood City is finding that out the hard way this season, as the team has had good enough field conditions to play just two home games since the beginning of April. The Hilltoppers’ 20-1 loss to Plum City May 16 was scheduled as a home contest, but was changed to a road game for the Glenwood squad after heavy rain Monday and early Tuesday rendered the field too wet to play.
The Hilltoppers’ lone run was courtesy of Hadin DeSmith, who was sent all the way around by a shot off the bat of Marcus Hurtgen, who copped the Glenwood squad’s only game RBI.
Coach Tony Martinez sent four pitchers to face the Blue Devils. Tanner Davis played two and two-thirds innings, giving up a pair of hits and four runs for a 10.50 ERA, Spencer Peterson took the mound for two innings and struck out one while allowing eight hits and seven runs. Hurtgen took over for one and one-third innings with a 42.00 ERA and one strikeout, and Bryce Fayerweather worked just one inning, but allowed zero hits or runs while striking out two.
PLUM CITY 20, GLENWOOD CITY 1
Plum City…………………2 11 0 7 0 — 20
Glenwood City………….1 0 0 0 0 — 1
Colfax
The baseball game played at Colfax High School on May 20 paired the winless Toppers and Vikings. Heading into last Saturday’s game, the two squads were the only Dunn-St. Croix teams to not have won a game this season.
Well something had to give and that was the Vikings’ winless streak.
Colfax pulled off an 8-6 win over Glenwood City in a five-innings, rain-soaked contest that left the Toppers still searching for a win.
Glenwood City was the first team to score, sending Spencer Peterson, Jake Logghe and Jeff Schone home to score in the first inning for a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Hadin DeSmith added a fourth run to the scoreboard in the second inning to lead 4-0.
Colfax’s bats did not heat up until the fourth inning, but then they sizzled enough to send in eight runs and nab the lead 8-4. The Hilltoppers attempted to regain the lost ground in the bottom of the fifth inning, but could not get more than two runs before taking their third out.
COLFAX 8, GLENWOOD CITY 6
Colfax…………………………0 0 0 8 0 — 8
Glenwood City……………..3 1 0 0 2 — 6