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WIAA State Finals: Day Two Recaps

June 14, 2023
By: Isaiah Glidden & Maddox Durst
Wisconsin Staff

Day Two of the WIAA State Tournament brought inclement weather, postponements, and two dramatic games under the lights at Fox Cities Stadium. With the heavy amounts of rain, the Division 4 Semifinals were pushed to Tuesday evening, while the Division 3 Semifinals were moved to Wednesday morning, pushing Division 1 and 2 back to the afternoon and evening of Wednesday.

Two games were played on the second day of the tournament, as both Division 4 matchups featured close battles that ended with one-run victories, highlighted by a walk-off in the first Semifinal. Below are the summaries of the action throughout Day Two of the tournament.

ITHACA VS EDGAR

In the first matchup of the weather dampened slate, the Ithaca Bulldogs took on the Wildcats of Edgar. This game came down to the wire, and featured some late game heroics on the side of Ithaca.

In the second inning, it was the Wildcats who got on the board first courtesy of INF Brady Stencil (2023) RBI groundout. Following that, C Justin Davis (2023) drilled a ball to the wall thaT brought home the second run of the inning for Edgar. Then, eventually another run was put up the board for the Wildcats when OF Keghan Hartway (2023) singled up the middle, to give Edgar a 3-0 cushion.

In the bottom half of the second the Bulldog offense started to heat up. Getting the scoring started for them was C Hewsten Garcia-Boland (2026) who drove in two runs on a double to right field. After moving over to third on a wild pitch, Garcia-Boland was eventually brought home on a RBI groundout from INF/RHP Lincoln Manning (2026).

This is where the scoring would halt for both teams as the pitchers on both sides settled in. On the side of Edgar was RHP Jase Apfelbeck (2025) who held the Bulldog offense scoreless throughout the remainder of his six inning start. For Ithaca, RHP Sammy Clary (2025) came in on relief in the third inning, and he shut out the Edgar offense across his seven innings of work, while also striking out eight. 

Clary also came up huge at the plate in this extra inning affair. In the ninth inning, the Bulldogs loaded up the bases after a pair of walks and a single from the aforementioned Manning. Clary came up and delivered a deep fly ball to left field that brought home the winning run for Ithaca in walk-off fashion. 

With the win, Ithaca moves on to the D4 State Championship, and will face Pecatonica on Wednesday at 9 A.M.

PECATONICA VS MCDONELL CENTRAL CATHOLIC

The final game of Tuesday evening took place under the lights at Fox Cities Stadium, as Pecatonica, who entered the State Tournament with just one loss, survived their Semifinal matchup against McDonell Central Catholic in an intense back-and-forth affair. 

The Macks got the scoring started right away, as INF Carter Stelter (2023), who finished 2-for-3 on the day, smacked a single to the opposite field to drive in a run. The next batter, INF Keagan Galvez (2023), got on the barrel and sent a double to the left-center gap to extend McDonell Central Catholic’s lead to 2-0 after the first inning.  

The Vikings would not go down that easy though, as their offense picked up steam in the third inning. INF Max Steele (2024) and 1B Charles Anderson (2025) each accumulated RBIs in their at bats in the five-run inning, driving in a combined three runners for Pecatonica. Anderson had a big double with two outs to plate two runs, giving the Vikings a 5-2 lead. 

In the bottom half of the frame, the Macks answered with one run of their own, as Stelter got his second hit and RBI of the game. After a quiet fourth inning between both offenses, INF Drew Hendrickson (2025) singled to center field in the fifth frame to add onto the Vikings’ lead and make it a 6-3 ballgame 

McDonell Central Catholic then had a response in the fifth inning, using four errors from Pecatonica to eventually tie the game. It was Galvez again who was able to get the job done for the Macks, as the senior took advantage of a throwing error and plated the game-tying run. 

An inning later, the Vikings utilized the Macks’ third error of the game to score their seventh run, which proved to be the difference in this one. 

From there, the Vikings handed the ball to RHP Tyler McKeon (2024), after a five-inning start from RHP Jameson Johnson (2024), who only gave up two earned runs on the day while striking out five batters. McKeon closed the final two innings with a low-80s FB, topping out at 84 mph on the bump. He allowed zero hits, punched out three batters, and earned the save, shutting down a scrappy McDonell Central Catholic offense with a narrow lead.

McKeon and Johnson combined for five of the team’s eight hits in the victory, each barreling up multiple hits throughout the game. Each right-hander proved to be sparks at the top of the order for a group that improved their overall record to 24-1, one of the best records in the state. 

With the win, Pecatonica advances to the Division 4 Championship Game to battle against Ithaca on Thursday, June 15th. The game will begin at 9:00 AM to start the day of four championship matchups. 

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