A pair of Waupaca County teams will meet to decide this year’s Badger Amateur Baseball Association Grand Championship.
Meanwhile, another Waupaca County team won the Dairyland League’s Grand Championship.
Little Falls and Clintonville won their BABA semifinal games Aug. 24 over Eland and Scandinavia, respectively. Little Falls picked up a 4-1 win over the Engineers, and Clintonville scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in an 9-8 win over the Vikings.
Little Falls will host the BABA Grand Championship game at 2 p.m. Aug. 31 at R.A. & Joyce Radies Memorial Field.
While the Loggers and A’s were playing for a spot in the BABA title game, Waupaca defeated Hortonville 2-1 in 11 innings to win its fifth Dairyland title in six seasons.
BABA
Little Falls 4, Eland 1
Drew Radies gave the Loggers an early 2-0 lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning.
Little Falls added two more runs later in the game while holding the Engineers to a single run.
Cam Gruenwald and Jenner Gullixon led the Loggers with two hits each and Chris Dunn pitched 8 1/3 innings to get the win on the mound.
Dunn, Kal Fischer and Carter Kurki added hits for Little Falls.
Charlie Woida led Eland with two hits, while Tyler Nelson, Shane Larson and Jeremy Jensen added one each. Nelson also took the loss despite striking out eight batters over six innings.
Clintonville 9, Scandinavia 8
Clintonville trailed Scandinavia led 8-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning at Don Jirschele Field before coming up with five runs.
Winning pitcher Brock Smejkal had four hits to lead Clintonville, while Austin Hoffman and Hunter Vollmer added two each, and Turner Doornink had one.
RJ Rosenthal led the Vikings at the plate with three hits. Ben Lee added two hits, included a two-run home run, and drove in three runs. Logan Moe also had two hits, and Caleb Bembenek added one.
Cyle Zblewski took the loss on the mound.
Little Falls and Clintonville have combined to win 22 BABA Grand Championships since the league formed in 1946.
Little Falls’ eight titles came in 1992, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2018 and last year. Clintonville won its 14 championships in 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1975, 1986, 1991, 1999, 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2015.
Dairyland
Waupaca 2, Hortonville 1 (11 inn.)
The Lakemen and Stars met in the Dairyland Grand Championship for the third year in a row.
Waupaca came up with a run in the bottom of the first inning before the Stars tied the game and the teams headed into the extra innings tied at 1-1.
The Lakemen broke the tie with a run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
The championship is Waupaca’s fifth since the Lakemen left the BABA and joined the Dairyland in 2020.
Besides this year, the Lakemen won Dairyland titles in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
