WSL Saturday Roundup: A’s Swept in NEWBL Championship Series

Miscues and missed opportunities may have cost the Sheboygan A’s their season Saturday night. The team lost game two of their
championship series against Menasha 4-3, complete with an array of
errors and near misses.

Sheboygan outhit Menasha 15-5, but couldn’t plate enough runs to take advantage.

A
throwing error by Taylor Grimm in the top of the ninth inning broke a
3-3 tie and pushed the Macs over the top. Despite threatening in the
bottom half of the frame, Sheboygan couldn’t manage to even things up
and dropped the game.

“I thought we had a chance to throw him out
at first base,” he said. “It was a poor throw, but if you lead him a
little bit more, he’s out by ten feet. It’s an unfortunate throw on my
part. I haven’t played there a lot this year, but I have to make the
throw.”

A highlight for the A’s was the performance of starting
pitcher Taylor Schwarz, who pitched seven strong innings. He said he
felt like he had full command on the mound but a few slip ups meant a
few runs.

“I felt good and relaxed,” he said. “My fastball felt
better. I just got back from vacation and I think that helped to get a
little rest. All my stuff was working and I was throwing strikes.
Unfortunately they strung a couple of hits together and that was the
killer for me.”

Menasha took an early 1-0 lead, but Wyatt Olson
led off the bottom of the fifth with a towering solo homerun down the
leftfield line that evened the score.

Grimm doubled and Henry
Steldt tried to score from second but was gunned down at the plate.
Blake Fleischman grounded out, to advance Grimm to third base with two
outs, but Carter Amundsen flew out to end the threat, steadying the
score at 1-1.

The Macs came right back in the top of the sixth inning when Mitch Buss doubled to left and scored Adam Grambow.

Menasha
continued to build their lead in the seventh inning when Nathan Jack
tripled to right field to lead off the top of the inning. An out later,
Kyle Bellin singled to centerfield to score Jack, boosting the Menasha
lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, the A’s struck back. A
Hayden Fenner single loaded the bases with only one out, and Dylan
Detert singled to cut the lead to one. Dan Barwick laid a spectacular
bunt down the first base line and reached, tying the game at 3-3, but
the A’s weren’t able to further their offensive attack.

“We had a
great year and a lot guys stepped up over the course of the year,” Grimm
said. “Taylor Schwarz threw a (great) game but we just couldn’t get the
runs across tonight. We out-hit them, but we just couldn’t do it. It
was a tough loss but a great year.”