Junior Hoppers achieve fifth place in state tournament
By Zach Mara
After an impressive second half and a regional championship, the Prairie du Chien Grasshoppers traveled to Viroqua this weekend, looking to take home the Jr. Legion State Championship trophy for the first time in program history.
Despite a shaky start to the season, the Hoppers entered the state tournament with a 15-7 record, good for the number four seed.
Prairie du Chien took the field confidently, looking to continue where they left off in regionals, dominating on the mound and producing large amounts of hits and runs at the plate.
The Hoppers opened up the tournament on Friday against 2017 state-runner up Waupun and started the game on a good note, scoring two runs in the first inning after a double by Zach Mara to lead off the inning.
Mara took the mound looking to keep the Waupun hitters in check and lead the Hoppers to victory in game one. After the middle innings turned into a pitcher’s duel, Prairie du Chien entered the seventh inning with a 2-1 lead and Mara still on the bump.
Following a leadoff single, the Waupun top of the order put together a string of hits to grab a 3-2 lead on a two-run double with one out.
The Hoppers fielded their way out of the jam to keep the deficit at one, but the offense went quietly in the bottom of the seventh as the Hoppers dropped their first game of the tournament in a 3-2 heartbreaker. Mara took the loss, pitching seven innings and allowing three earned runs (ER).
The Hoppers were back in action on Saturday, facing off against West Salem in each team’s first elimination game of the tournament.
The Hoppers again turned to season-long ace Garett Young to keep their season alive.
Young dominated early, keeping West Salem hitters off-balance and forcing weak contact throughout the game.
Prairie du Chien’s offense reappeared and strung together five runs in the middle innings to grab the lead.
Young allowed his first runs in the sixth inning after a couple timely hits and an error.
The Hoppers took a 5-2 lead into the seventh and Young shut the door, improving to 3-0 in the postseason and advancing Prairie du Chien to game 3 on Sunday.
Sunday afternoon came and the Hoppers took the field against Allenton in Prairie du Chien’s second elimination game of the tournament.
Jon Nicholson took the mound for the Hoppers, looking to continue his impressive season and propel the Hoppers into Monday’s semifinal.
Each team was held scoreless through the early innings, as the pitchers continued to dominate the tournament.
Trailing 1-0, Prairie du Chien’s first hit came in the sixth inning on a triple down the right field line by Conner Smith.
A run batted in (RBI) single by Aden McCluskey evened the score at one and McCluskey would later come across to score and give the Hoppers a 2-1 lead.
Nicholson held Allenton scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, and the Hoppers added another run in the 7th to take a 3-1 lead into the final half-inning.
With two on and one out, Allenton evened up the score on a triple in the right-center gap that plated both runners and put the winning run just 90 feet away with one out.
As the rain moved in and began to pour down on the field, Nicholson got the next batter to pop out as he reached his 105-pitch limit.
The Hoppers then handed the ball to Aden McCluskey in an attempt to get the final out and send the game to extras.
However, on the third pitch of the inning, the wet ball slipped past Smith and the Allenton runner slid in safely to win the game 4-3 and eliminate the Hoppers with another heartbreaking loss.
The Junior Hoppers were led by sophomores Blake Bremmer, Dylan Coleman, Kyle MacEachern, Zach Mara, Ben Riter, Conner Smith and Gaige Toberman during this successful and exciting season.
The Hoppers’ players and coaches, John Bouzek and Aaron Peterson, would like to thank all of the fans and families that came out to support the team on their state tournament run.
As one player put it, “We certainly could not have gotten that far without all of you there to cheer us on and remind us that, at the end of the day, it’s been one amazing and fun journey this season.”
