Dairyland League

By NEW Media Staff Dairyland League baseball playoffs are underway, and Hofa Park started the games with a bang in its ninth-inning win over Cecil. Hofa Park 6, Cecil 5 Rob Schuettpelz hit an infield single with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and Brinton Anderson walked to put two runners on base. With runners on second and third and two out, Trevor Cornell hit a full-count single to plate the tying and winning game runs as the Hofa Park Panthers defeated the Cecil Mudhens in the first round of the Dairyland League playoffs 6-5. Hofa Park advances to the second round and will travel to Waupaca on Aug. 18 for a 1:30 p.m. start. Cecil scored two runs in the top of the first, but the Panthers tied it in the bottom of the inning with Anderson and Cornell both knocking in a run. Cecil went ahead 3-2 in the top of the second and the score stayed there until the bottom of the seventh when Hofa Park scored on an error and a single by Anderson to take the lead 4-3. Cecil took the lead back in the top of the eighth 5-4 to set up the heroics in the bottom of the ninth. Kyle Olson earned the win on the mound, throwing four innings of relief, allowing two hits and no earned runs while striking out four. Hortonville 12, Nichols 2 The Hortonville Stars defeated the Nichols Nitros 12-2. It was an all-around solid team effort, with seven Stars contributing hits and an unstoppable pitching tandem on the mound in Chris Atwood and Colan Treml. Brett Kramer and Dan Wunderlich barreled up two balls, going 2x4 and 2x3 on the day with 3 RBIs to pace the team. David Sell contributed 3 RBIs as well. Atwood and Treml combined for 10 strikeouts on the day. Wunderlich ended the day hitting 2-for-3 with three RBIs, a double and three runs. Kramer was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a double. Will Salaman hit 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run and a walk. Connor Roesler hit 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run. Kyle Stuewer was 1-for-4 with an RBI, two runs and walk, while David Sell hit 1-for-4 with 3 RBIs and a sacrifice bunt. With this win, the Stars advance to the Aug. 18 semifinals against Navarino. Navarino 9, Shawano 3 Solid defense behind the arms of Spencer Dauphinee and James Mutchie advance Navarino into the semifinals. The 9-3 win over Shawano was scoreless until the fifth when Brett Krull and Dawson Schmidt drew leadoff walks. After a fielder’s choice, Matt Krause doubled down the line to score the first run of the game. Bailey Dingeldein’s RBI groundout gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead. The Lobos answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Schmidt led off the seventh with a walk followed by Ryan Boettcher getting hit by a pitch. Krause sacrificed the runners over, setting up another Bailey Dingeldein RBI groundout. In the eighth, Mutchie led off with a walk as Krull singled. Schmidt’s hard hit ground ball forced an error as Boettcher walked to make it 4-2. A throwing error by the Lobos made it 5-2 as Nathan Gramms singled in the sixth run for Navarino. The lead was extended in the ninth after walks to Beilfuss and Mason Dingeldein. Schmidt hit a single. Boettcher and Krause each singled in a run. Shawano scored one in the ninth. Boettcher ended up hitting 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Krause hit 3-for-5 with two RBIS, and Mutchie hit 2-for-4. The Rangers will travel to Hortonville to take on the Stars at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 18. Bonduel at Waupaca No score or game details were made available.