Pride takes 2nd in Woodside “Hoe Down” Tourney

The Pride U17 baseball team finished with a second place finish, and a 4-2 record this past weekend in the “Hoe Down” advanced level tournament held at the Woodside Sports Complexes in both Wisconsin Dells and Mauston.

The local “9” started off on a low note in a close 2-0 loss to eventual champion, Illinois Destiny Academy out of the Joliet, Illinois area. Pride came back with 4 consecutive victories over teams from Madison, Rockford and Chicago to get into the championship game with a rematch with the Illinois team.

The game was an outstanding pitchers duel all the way to the last inning as Pride’s Kale Weisenberger, with an outstanding breaking pitch and a fastball consistently touching 83 and 84 mph, held the opponents to a single run up to final frame.

With the score at 1-0, Colten Schillinger led off the top half of the final inning with a single to center. Simon Slade came in to run for Schillinger. Kenny Schulz then sharply singled to center with Slade moving to second. This set the stage for Tim Kraus Jr, who sent a 2-2 pitch on a rope to left center, moving Slade around third and in to tie the score.

Cam Daul then stepped to the plate and sent a sacrifi fly to center field plating Schulz and giving Pride its first lead of the game. Unfortunately, it was short lived. With two outs and runners on first and third, Central Michigan University commit, catcher Hal Ryan sent a 1-0 fastball over the left field wall to give Dynasty the victory.

“It was a good weekend for us, and gave our guys a lot of exposure with numerous college coaches on hand to scout the teams,” said Pride Coach Tim Kraus. “Of course we’d have sooner come out on top, but without having a full High School season under our belt, I was happy with our general performance.”

Pride will be hosting a Stevens Point Travel Team for an evening doubleheader at Jack Hackman Field on Friday at 5:30pm.

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