Beaver Dam opted to avoid Chase Henning after he pounded out his third hit Friday— but forgot about Tasa Grignon.
The hot-hitting Grignon went 5 for 5, collected three doubles and a home run, and drove in six runs to help Shawano defeat Beaver Dam 15-9 in an elimination game in the American Legion Class AA state baseball tournament in Kaukauna.
Shawano coach Will Gillis was pleased with his team’s hitting after the Patriots fanned 10 times in a loss to Menasha on Thursday.
“We had a lot better approach at the plate and put the ball in play, and put pressure on their defense,” Gillis said.
Henning was 3 for 3 with four runs scored, but Grignon was even better.
“I have been seeing the ball great,” said Grignon, who is 11 for 13 in three tournament games. “It was about moving up the order and getting more opportunities for RBIs.”
Beaver Dam coach Dylan Ziegler believed his team had a chance to bounce Shawano from the tourney.
“I know they score a lot of runs and have a lot of big bats in the lineup, but I still felt good with our pitching,” Ziegler said.
Shawano started to pull away from a 8-8 tie with three runs in the sixth inning and broke the game open with four in the seventh.
In the sixth, Zack Sousek hit a leadoff double and scored after Beaver Dam catcher Ryan Kaul airmailed a ball to centerfield trying to catch Henning stealing second. Henning scored on a bases-loaded walk to Nate Laude, and Jack Lacy brought in Grant Wainio with a sacrifice fly.
After Beaver Dam responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth, Shawano again loaded the bases. Sousek scored when Wainio was beaned in the head, and Grignon then delivered a bases-clearing double, scoring Ky Schmidt, Wainio and Henning, who was walked intentionally for the second time in two innings and third time in the tourney.
Frustrated, Henning swung at an intentional ball.
“It frustrates him every time that he gets intentionally walked,” Gillis said. “He just wants to hit and help the team win. Sometimes the best thing to do is take it and hope the next guy steps up. Although Grignon was not hitting directly behind him, he stepped up in a big way.”
Ziegler said Henning’s first three hits made the decision to walk him easy.
“We saw him get really good swings and we knew he was hitting the ball hard today,” Ziegler said.
Henning’s double helped spark Shawano’s three-run first inning. Schmidt singled in Sousek with the game’s first run, and Grignon doubled in Schmidt and Henning.
With Shawano trailing 4-3, Henning singled in the third inning, stole second base and scored on another Grignon double.
Beaver Dam scored three times in the third inning to retake the lead, 7-4, before Shawano tied the game in the top of the fourth on Sousek’s two-run double, plating Lacy and Kasey Kristof, and Henning’s shot off the centerfield wall, scoring Sousek.
Grignon’s opposite field home run in the fifth put the Patriots ahead 8-7, but Beaver Dam again rallied for the tying run its half of the inning.
Laude notched his second tournament win in relief, tossing four innings. He struck out one, allowed two runs on five hits and issued one walk. Lacy pitched three innings. He allowed seven runs and nine hits, struck out three and walked one.
Nick Klavekoske took the loss. He worked three innings, allowed five hits, walked five and struck out one. He also hit one batter.
Lucas Yagodinski, Kaul, Jacob Anderson and Michael Heiling were all 2 for 4 for Beaver Dam.
The teams combined for nine fielding errors, with Shawano committing five.
Shawano (17-11) takes on River Falls (22-6), the only undefeated team in the double-elimination tournament, at 3 p.m Saturday. River Falls defeated Menasha 13-3 Friday.
