Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Chaseburg defeats La Crosse for MVL tournament title
SPARTA, Wis. — Josh Schultz was known more for his arm than his bat during his playing days for La Crosse Loggers.
For those who watched him play at De Soto High School, then Winona State, this guy can swing a pretty decent bat, too.
The La Crosse Athletics, a first-year amateur baseball team, would likely agree.
Schultz belted a two-out, three-run double in the top of the seventh inning to put Chaseburg-Coon Valley ahead of La Crosse, 3-2.
“We had some guys get on (base),” Schultz said. “I got a pitch to hit and I put it in play.”
And that was the final scoring play of the game, which was called after eight innings because of rain. Chaseburg-Coon Valley, which tied
La Crosse for the regular-season title in the MVL’s 33rd season, is the MVL tournament champion.
“It feels good to get this win,” Schultz said. “La Crosse had our number three of four times this year.”
La Crosse threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth when it put runners on second and third, but former UW-La Crosse and Loggers star Andy Podmolik grounded out to end the threat, and as it turned out, the game.
In the decisive seventh inning, Ryan Manske reached on an error and Aaron Martin singled to get things going for Chaseburg-Coon Valley. La Crosse erased Manske on Kevin Wagner’s fielder’s choice for one out, then got Adam Wershofen on a fly ball for the second out of the inning.
Andy Tolvstad, however, drew a two-out walk to load the bases, setting the table for Schultz’s swat.
La Crosse, a first-year amateur team which is led by player/coach Dax Connely, pushed one run across in the bottom of the first, then added another in the fifth. Matt Zieba singled, then scored on a Josh MacKinnon single to make it 1-0.
La Crosse threatened to score again in the first, but Chaseburg-Coon Valley threw out another former Loggers player, Travis Check, at the plate.
In the fifth inning, La Crosse again loaded the bases, and Eric Check’s walk forced in Podmolik to make it 2-0.
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