Mounders’ magical baseball season ends with loss to Mondovi in sectional semis
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CUMBERLAND — As the old sports adage goes, it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season.
The Elk Mound baseball, unfortunately, found some truth in that saying last week.
After defeating Dunn-St. Croix Conference rival and defending champion Mondovi twice during the regular season – 8-1 and 9-0 – to secure a perfect 14-0 league record and the 2024 conference championship, Elk Mound, ranked third in the state coaches poll, saw its Cinderella-season came to a sudden conclusion when it lost 4-1 to a feisty group of Mondovi Buffaloes in a WIAA Division 3 Sectional Baseball semifinal contest held last Tuesday afternoon, June 4 at Islander Park in Cumberland.
Host Cumberland, who beat St. Croix Falls 3-2 in the other semifinal, went on to earn the sectional championship and state berth with a 9-1 triumph over Mondovi in the final. The Beavers will play at the state tournament which is being held this week in Grand Chute.
Mondovi’s Austin Remington won an all-senior pitchers duel with Elk Mound ace and the conference’s most valuable player, Kaden Russo. Remington threw all seven innings allowing just one Mounder run on five hits while Russo left in the fifth after giving up all four Mondovi runs in that inning to suffer the eventual loss.
Playing as the home team, Elk Mound drew first blood with what turned out to be its only score of the game in the bottom of the first inning.
Kamron Diermeier singled but was caught stealing second for the Mounders first out. Peyton Vieth drew a walk. Carter Vieth then flew out to center for the second out. Russo helped out his own cause with a base hit to deep center field which allowed Peyton Vieth to make it to third base. Lucas Johnson followed with a single to right that brought Peyton Vieth to home plate for the game’s first score.
Unfortunately, the Mounders would leave both Russo and Johnson stranded on base when Victor Noller grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the first inning of play.
Elk Mound’s 1-0 advantage held until the top of the fifth when Mondovi plated four runs on three hits including a double and a pair of free bases.
Russo retired the first two Buffalo batters of the fifth inning via a strikeout and a pop fly. Hunter Wik, however, started a two-out Mondovi rally with a single to left and took second on a wild pitch by Russo. Jake Linse came on as a pinch runner for Wik. Russo then surrendered back-to-back walks to Porter Bauer and Keegan Catt to load the bases. They were the senior hurlers only two walks in the contest, but both would prove costly. The very next batter Russo faced, left-handed Hunter Sandberg, laced a base hit to center field that scored Linse and Bauer to give Mondovi its first scores and lead of the game at 2-1.
The Buffaloes, however, were not finished. Remington stepped to the plate next and helped his own cause by slamming a double that brought both Catt and Sandberg to home plate for a 4-1 lead.
That would be all for Russo. Kamron Diermeier relieved him on the mound and promptly got the next Mondovi batter, Konnar Johnston, to fly out to finally end the Buffaloes’ fifth frame.
Now trailing 4-1, the Mounder offense, which had found ways to win for much of the season (taking 21 of its previous 22 games) went down in order in the fifth and sixth innings.
Jake Osborne gave Elk Mound a glimmer of hope when he came up with a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh. But, Carter Garnett and Brayden Borek struck out on successive at bats to end the game and the Mounders’ magical season.
Russo ended up taking the season-ending loss as he surrendered just four hits, but all four Mondovi runs, all of which were earned. He finished with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks in four and two-thirds innings on the mound. Kamron Diermeier threw the final two and a third as he gave up a pair of hits but no runs and whiffed two without a walk.
Hits were at a premium in the game as Mondovi finished with six and Elk Mound five. Cater Vieth had a triple for the Mounders which also got solo base hits from Russo, Osborne, Diermeier, and Johnson.
Elk Mound finished the 2024 diamond campaign with a 21-2 record and conference and regional championships.
The team also had to say goodbye to an outstanding senior class. The sectional semifinal game was the final contest in the prep careers of Brady Amble, Carter Vieth, Carter Garnett, Jake Osborne, Kaden Russo and Lucas Johnson.