Wildcats pull away from Eagles
Payton Kelly of Blair-Taylor made a catch on the run during his team’s game against Alma/Pepin last week Tuesday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
The Blair-Taylor baseball team closed out its regular season with a win, pulling away from Pepin/Alma late.
The Wildcats scored two runs in the fifth inning and one more in the sixth in its 5-1 win to close out the regular season last week Tuesday.
B-T took a 12-7-1 record into Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association play. The team won the Dairyland Conference Small Division with an 11-3 mark.
The third-seeded Wildcats had a bye in the first round of WIAA tournament play, which began last Thursday. B-T began its tournament run with a game against (6) Cashton on Tuesday of this week. The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between (7) Eleva-Strum and (2) Royall on Wednesday with the highest seed hosting.
The sectional will be held this coming Tuesday at Blair-Taylor with the winner of B-T’s bracket playing at 10 a.m. The other sectional semifinal game will be played at 12:30 p.m. and the sectional championship will be at 3 p.m. the same day.
B-T 5 P/A 1
B-T’s pitching and defense kept the Eagles in check before the team pulled away late.
A Kole Trapp RBI single got B-T on the board in the bottom of the first. Travis Pettis brought a run home with a single in the third, making the score 2-0.
The Eagles got on the board in the fourth, taking advantage of a leadoff walk and a wild pitch with two sacrifice bunts, the second of which scored a run. But that’s all A/P would get.
Brady Thompson hit an RBI single for B-T in the bottom of the fifth then Tavian Shramek walked with the bases loaded to bring another run home.
An RBI single by Brayden Paulson in the sixth put B-T ahead by the final.
Peyton Kelly had two of B-T’s seven hits and scored two of the team’s five runs in the game.
Three B-T pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts. Thompson started the game and struck out four in three innings. Shramek pitched the next three, striking out six, and Ty Tranberg closed the game, striking out two in one inning.
