Whitehall earns first legion playoff win, bows out at Galesville regional
A Mauston runner slid safely into second base as the ball flipped over the glove of Whitehall second baseman Jonah Czarnopis in last Friday's legion baseball regional tournament opener in Galesville. Whitehall won 8-2. (Times photograph by Benjamin Pierce)
The first ever playoff game for Whitehall Legion Post 191 baseball finished as a big win for coach Mike Gilbertson and his team.
And while Post 191 dropped their next two games, Whitehall was proud to get its first ever postseason victory.
The Norse beat Mauston 8-2 on Friday before dropping games to Prairie du Chien and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau.
Whitehall 8 Mauston 2
Aidan Sonsalla got things started for Whitehall on Friday and opened the scoring on an RBI single from Devon McCune in the first inning. Mauston took a 2-1 lead in the third inning, but Whitehall took over from there.
The fifth inning was the difference on Friday. Broc Coburn stole home on a passed ball to tie the game in the fifth before a triple brought in two more runs for the Norse. They would add four more runs to take a commanding 8-2 lead, which stood up as the final.
Gilbertson said the fifth inning was helped by their ninth hitter in Coburn, who continued to get on base for the top of the lineup.
“The best part about that was when we got the pressure on them, we kept it on them. We kept putting the ball in play, hitting it hard somewhere and really made them make plays,” he said.
Gilbertson was proud of his group.
“Today is a good day for us.”
PDC 10 Whitehall 0
A game that started on Saturday turned into a Sunday game after storms forced an early stoppage with Prairie du Chien up on the Norse 2-0.
Whitehall couldn’t manufacture much offense in the effort and the Hoppers kept their runs coming when play resumed on Sunday. Stats were not reported to the Times.
G-E-T 16 Whitehall 1
The fifth inning wasn’t as kind to the Norse on Sunday as it was in their first ever playoff game on Friday.
The host Red Hawks rallied for eight runs in the fifth inning of Sunday’s second game to end Whitehall’s legion season.
The Red Hawks racked up eight hits and 14 RBI while holding Whitehall to just two hits of their own.
Brock Sluga scored the lone run for Whitehall in the bottom of the fifth inning when Bryce Schorbahn drove him in with a line drive to center field.
Aidan Sonsalla, Mason Peintok and Luke Mateika split pitching duties for the Norse, throwing five strikeouts and 10 walks.
