Prep Baseball Report

D1 Semifinals: Karrels' walk-off homer launches Arrowhead past Craig


By Andy Sroka
Staff Writer

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – The Warhawks are headed to the Division-1 State championship game on the back of Zak Karrels’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, to snap what had been a 1-1 tie with Janesville Craig since the bottom of the third. The win grants Arrowhead a shot to make up for their sole appearance in the D-1 title game, one in which they lost back in 2016. For Craig, the loss will mark the end of the prep careers for senior stalwarts Jacob Campbell and Noah Berghammer.

And Berghammer was also the one responsible for the Cougars’ sole run. Way back in the top of the first, lead-off hitter Dan Blomgren reached first on an error by Arrowhead’s starter Davis Zeutzius. But Zeutzius looked as if he was going to escape unscathed when he retired Campbell and Luke Malmanger until Berghammer slugged a double way into the left-center gap that scored Blomgren with ease.

However, I think it would have come as a shock to learn that Berghammer’s double wound up being one of just two hits Craig produced in this game.

They scratched, clawed, and made Zeutzius work hard nonetheless. The Warhawks starter had thrown over 90 pitches at the end of the fourth, but they couldn't break through.

Arrowhead tied the game off Craig starter Mitchell Woelfle in the third, after he had pitched around a couple doubles in the first and second innings. With one out, Luke Dubnicka singled to right field and, with two outs, came all the way around to score from first on a high fly ball to shallow left off the bat of Jeff Holtz that fell in between Ross March and J.J. Brennan on an apparent miscommunication.

Both teams’ offenses fell silent after that third frame. Malmanger’s single up the middle in that inning ended up representing the Cougars’ last hit of the game. Woelfle became more and more comfortable as the game went on and he retired nine of the next 10 he faced headed into the seventh inning.

By this time, Craig had been stepping into the batter’s box opposing reliever Derek Polczynski, who had just pitched the last two innings of the Warhawks’ win earlier in the afternoon over Burlington. Polczynski had retired six straight with relative ease but was slated to face Blomgren and Campbell in the seventh for the first time – and he got past them, too, 1-2-3. He coaxed Blomgren to chase a 3-2 fastball out of the zone and Campbell grounded out the the right side of the infield to end the frame with Arrowhead a run away from ending the game.

They got that run in a near instant.

Woelfle had been very efficient to this point in the evening and there was no doubt he’d be returning to the mound, especially facing the bottom third of Arrowhead’s order. However, he’d only throw two pitches in the bottom of the inning. Karrels took ball one and then proceeded to launch a fly ball that felt like it had the jump off the barrel to clear the 20-foot high fence – and it did, by plenty. The solo home run also happened to be Karrels’ first homer of the spring.

Arrowhead’s last three wins have come against Power 25 opponents, and they’ve downed Sun Prairie and Craig now along that path, two teams that have been seated on or near the top three the entirety of this season. The Warhawks will attempt to capture their program’s first-ever D-1 State championship on Thursday, when they’ll play Waunakee.

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