July 22, 2021 at 8:58 a.m.
Snowhawks edge Dazzle's Demons for second week in a row
Snowhawks edge Dazzle's Demons for second week in a row
By By Brett LaBore-
"The (Minocqua) Wood Ducks couldn't field a team," coach Jeff Smith said. "So yeah, it was a good game and turned into a big one."
It was the same result as before. The Snowhawks defeated the Demons 14-12.
"I think we're coming together a little bit. We put some runs on the board," Smith said. "They came through and I'm proud of the guys. They stuck with it."
Yet again, the Demons got off to a fast start with two runs in the first. Keith White hit a ball to right field that was dropped, causing a run to score. Jesse Robinson made it 2-0 with a double to shallow left center. A double play on a pop up ended the inning.
The Snowhawks had an even stronger start. Cole Punches smoked a double to center that scored two runs. Paul Miller added to the total with an RBI double to deep right center. Ryan Schowalter and Todd Niemuth added in RBIs as well.
The maximum five runs were scored as the Snowhawks led 5-2.
"That was really a right start for the night. You get hits or make good plays on defense," Smith said.
Three straight singles by the Demons loaded the bases for Tommy Ziemba. He hit an RBI single right on the left field line. Next, Jesse Robinson hit a two-run single to left to tie the game at 5. Nick Spencer gave them the lead back with an RBI single to shallow left.
In the bottom of the second, Nick Merckz tied the game up with an infield hit to second, scoring Gunner Dunbar. Dave Nance got the Snowhawk lead back for good with a bloop RBI single. Don Moore doubled to center to make it 8-6 Snowhawks.
"(The hot start) puts everyone in a positive hit mood, makes you looser, it certainly does set the tone," Smith said.
The Snowhawks had their hitting shoes on as they continued to rack up hits in the third inning, although this time they were helped by the Demons. Brent Cella reached second on an error. Two batters later, Derek Young reached on an error yet again by third baseman Spencer.
Both Cella and Young ended up scoring in the inning to make it 10-6 Snowhawk's lead.
Moving to the fourth, the Demons came up with a clutch play to keep them in the game. Punches came to bat with the bases loaded. He ended up flying out to put a zero on the board for the first time.
A rare event happened in the fifth inning. Both teams went down one-two-three and the game moved to the sixth.
"We ran into trouble in the middle of the innings without getting runs across," Smith said. "They ran into the same problem we did. They popped a few up that kind of gave us a chance to take the lead."
In the sixth, Niemuth doubled down the left field line to score Ryan Schowalter. The Demons then turned a nifty double play from third to first to catcher to prevent additional runs from scoring.
The Demons were finding it hard to score - they hadn't scored since the second inning. Finally in the seventh, Spencer hit a single up the middle to score Tommy Ziemba to make it 11-7.
Punches flew out with the bases loaded earlier in the game. That was not the case as he scored two with an infield hit to third.
Down 13-7, the Demons had to rally with just two innings to go. An error by shortstop Derek Young caused a run to score off the bat of Eric Eby. Nick Pitterle brought one home on a sacrifice fly and Tommy Ziemba singled to shallow left to score another.
It was now 13-10, still in favor of the Hawks.
"Shoutout to the fans and the sixth man," Smith said. "The fans were awesome."
A big insurance run came across for the Snowhawks in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on second and third, Niemuth grounded out to score Young from third.
In the top of the ninth and down four runs, Dazzle's Demons had one more chance.
A ball off the bat of Blake Below scored one run. Then, Jeff Ziemba flew out to left field for a sacrifice fly. It was 14-12 with just one out.
Brady Bruhl reached first on a bobbled ball at third. The Snowhawk defense was crashing in the inning they needed it most. With two runners on base, the go-ahead run stood at the plate. Eby ended up grounding into a double play to end the game.
"If you don't have a powerful offense you have to count on defense to come through and we had just enough and they were starting come back and we made some nice plays and it took defense in the last inning for the win," Smith said.
The Snowhawks host Smiley's Pub this coming Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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