July 17, 2015 at 3:28 p.m.
First time in 60 years
Babe Ruth 15-year-olds win state; head to Ohio Valley Regional
First time in 60 years
The team's head coach, Jay DeMeyer, said he was impressed with his team's play over the course of the tournament and cited the team's all-around performance as the key to its success.
"Batting, good at-bats. Hitting the ball. We were aggressive on the bases and our defensive pitching was absolutely amazing. All around, I mean they didn't have any faults this weekend," DeMeyer said.
The Northwoods All-Star team is a compilation of the best players from the league. The team has six players from Rhinelander - Jacob DeMeyer, Alec Modrow, Brad Quade, Bradley Comer, Tait Spencer and Easton Senoraske. In addition to the players from Rhinelander the team also has four players from Eagle River (Zach Ciran, Jason Brewer, Brad Sowinski and Josh Meier) and two from Tomahawk (William Russell and Eli Wrul).
The three towns have been rivals all season long, playing each other over the course of the Northwoods Babe Ruth Senior League season. But DeMeyer said if there was any animosity, it vanished well before the team arrived in Dodgeville.
"After watching them this weekend you would never know they were rivals," he said. "They came together as a ball team. They looked like they have been playing together for a long time. There is a lot of talent on the team, what we were hoping for and expecting to do and they have done that."
The All-Stars started the tournament Saturday with a landslide win over Dodgeville, beating the team 22-2.
DeMeyer said the team let off the gas after the second inning to ensure they did not add insult to injury.
"That was in five innings. If I am correct I believe after the second inning it was like 15-2," he said. "We quit running on them and held guys up and we didn't...it was bad enough as it was. We didn't want to rub nothing in."
The All-Stars defeated Stevens Point on Sunday 11-1 and clinched a spot in the championship game of the double-elimination on Monday by downing Green Bay 5-0.
The team faced Green Bay again on Tuesday, although they had already clinched the championship title, and won 10-5.
The team will now move onto the Ohio Valley Regional to be played in Eau Claire July 22-26.
DeMeyer said for the boys on the team playing in the state tournament and now heading to the OVR is an opportunity of a lifetime.
"I think it's very exciting for them," he said. "Some of these boys, this is the first time they have ever played at this level of baseball, at state to begin with and now to go to the next level of Ohio Valley."
DeMeyer's son Jacob is on the team and has been in this position last year when the team made it to the OVR. At the time Jacob was only 14 but played up on the 15-year-old team. The team narrowly missed making it to the world series.
"JD (Jacob DeMeyer) had been there last year," DeMeyer said. "He did the state with the 15-year-olds and they had taken second and moved onto Ohio Valley last year. Northwoods placed second last year (at OVR). We were one game away from going to the World Series last year. Hopefully we'll do as well as that. They're a little nervous but they know how to play baseball so they're doing well on that part."
The All-Stars will face teams from all over the Ohio Valley.
"There will be teams from Indiana, Kentucky, I am not positive on West Virginia, Illinois is on there and I think maybe Minnesota or Ohio, I'm not positive on that," he said. "I know Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois are definitely in that."
The competition will no doubt be tougher at the OVR than the teams the All-Stars faced in the state tournament but DeMeyer has high hopes.
"Hopefully our pitching stays as strong as it was. We have five boys that actually threw. (It was) some of the best pitching that I have seen all year through Babe Ruth and down this weekend they threw awesome. Stay aggressive on the bases and hopefully the bats keep hitting the way we have been."
A few of the players will continue playing with their regular season teams in the days leading up to the OVR, because the season has moved into a postseason playoff. DeMeyer said earlier in the week this overlap could make things a bit challenging in the pitching department.
"That's going to be interesting," he said. "The boys are going to be allowed to pitch this week but come Monday, Tuesday no more pitching for anybody that is going to the Ohio Valley. We hope we can do what we can do."
The All-Stars will have a practice Sunday to make sure their team chemistry continues to click.
"Sunday we are going to have a practice down at Hodag Park," DeMeyer said. "Just to go through practice and keep the kids interacting between each other and the parents and keeping them gelling the way they did (this past weekend)."
Should the All-Star's win at the OVR, they would advance to the Babe Ruth 13-15 World Series, which will being Aug. 13 in Lawrenceberg, Tennessee, according to Babe Ruth Baseball's website.
"A very pricey vacation for everybody," DeMeyer joked.
Lindsey Nylund may be reached at [email protected].
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