The Merrill 12U Little League All-Stars pulled off its third?? win of the District 5 tourney with a 5-4 triumph over Wausau National last Tuesday.
But Antigo exploded on the young squad for a 20-10 victory on Wednesday to win the loser’s bracket final and face Rhinelander for the title. The Hodag team rallied from a 13-0 hole to a 18-15 victory to qualify for state.
Merrill finished with a 3-2 record in the tournament.
“They’re a great team,” Merrill manager Mike Schielke said. “They’re easy kids to coach. It makes it easy when they’ll do whatever you tell them to do.”
Merrill was the rallying team last Tuesday, bouncing back from a 4-0 deficit with a solo run in the 3rd and 4 more in the 4th.
“That was a real exciting game,” Schielke said. “At first the kids didn’t seem into it. After Wausau put them down, they got a spark going and that spark ignited into a fire. We were down 4-0 after the second inning, but then we didn’t give up another run.
“The kids played really well. They all took turns playing good defense and all took turns hitting. It was a good team effort.”
Wausau had grabbed a 2-0 edge in the 1st without a hit, then tallied 2 more in the 2nd with a pair of doubles and a single.
Quinn Steckbauer entered with a runner on second and struck out the first batter to end the inning. Only two more Wausau batters would reach second base as he allowed 2 hits, 1 walk and struck out 4 in 4-1/3 innings.
“Quinn did an excellent job,” Schielke said. “He kept them off balance and mixed speeds.”
An error, Kordell Renken hit and Steckbauer steal of home let Merrill cut it to 4-1 in the 3rd. In the 4th, Kole Meyer and Steckbauer singled, then Hunter Hintze hit an RBI single and Renken followed with a two-run hit. That would prove to be enough.
Renken (3-3, 2 RBI) had the only multi-hit game for Merrill as it collected a half-dozen raps.
Solid start
Renken bashed a two-run homer in the 1st inning of the Antigo game, and Brodey Gehrke’s two-run single and an RBI hit from Chase Bonnell gave the locals a quick 5-0 lead.
“In the Antigo game the kids were ready to go from the drop of the hat,” Schielke said.
But Antigo immediately answered with a trio of runs, and after holding Merrill scoreless in the 2nd, exploded for 11 runs.
“We had a rough inning on defense, but not wheels-come-off bad,” Schielke said. “Normally our defense has been pretty solid.
“The kids kept battling, but you’ve got to give Antigo credit. They kept putting up hits and we couldn’t keep up with them. We have a young team. Antigo is pretty much all 12-year-olds.”
Merrill cut it to 14-9 in the 3rd, Steckbauer walking, Hintze getting hit by a pitch and Renken singling drove in consecutive runs.
But Merrill would manage a single run in the 5th while Antigo would tack on 1 in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th.
“I liked it that the kids had a never-say-die attitude,” Schielke said. “We just didn’t have enough in the tank for Antigo. They were the better team that day. Sometimes when you get to that level of play, that’s what you’re going to get. Whichever team went to state between Antigo and Rhinelander, they’re going to do well. Those are good teams.”
Gehrke (2-3), Chase Bonnell (2-3), Renken (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Hintze (2-4, 2B) and Steckbauer (3 W, 2 R, 2 SB) helped the Merrill offense that had 10 hits.
Bonnell, Zach Mootz and Zach Anderson combined to allow 17 hits, 5 walks and 2 strikeouts.