Buss' long-ball sends No. 4 Lakeside past McFarland

Tyler Buss stared down the opposing McFarland pitcher in the bottom of the seventh inning in a WIAA Division 2 Regional baseball game, tied 3-3.

With his Lakeside Lutheran High School teammate Connor Vredeveld representing the winning run on first base, Buss ripped a towering shot down the left field line that brought the home crowd to its feet. The ball drifted foul.

Buss, a first baseman for the No. 4 seeded Warriors, settled in for the next pitch and promptly crushed it over the center field fence to top No. 5 McFarland, 5-3,and send Lakeside into the next round of the playoffs.

I was just trying to put the ball in play – not trying to do anything special,” Buss said after the game. “I wasn’t thinking about hitting a home run.”

The Warrior said he was disappointed when the first shot did not stay fair, but he used a simple approach – “get back in there.”

“He has just come up with big hit after big hit all season long,” Lakeside coach Dan Kuehl said.

“It looked good early,” the coach said of the first long shot. “I thought it was out of here right away.”

Buss had a whale of a game, batting 4x4 with a run scored and two RBIs. But Buss, who was still out of breath from being mobbed by his teammates at home plate, said the game-winner was a thrill

“It feels awesome. I’ve wanted this for a long time,” he said. “Definitely, the biggest (hit) of my life.”

Lakeside advanced on to play No. 1 Jefferson for the chance to play in the Regional final. The two teams have not faced each other this season.

Girl's basketball: While the Northern Capitol is still up for grabs, Belleville needs a win to clinch a share of the title in the South

Northern Capitol

For standings go to:

http://prepstats.madison.com/?view=league&view_id=94&sport_id=2

Key games before WIAA playoffs:

Lake Mills at Columbus Feb. 16.

Lakeside Lutheran at Columbus Feb. 25.

The big game that may decide who wins the conference comes on Tuesday, February 16. Lake Mills travels to Columbus in a battle for the outright lead. Both teams come into the game with one loss, and the winner will control their destiny in the final conference games of the season. One team to look out for is Lakeside Lutheran. They are only one game behind the top two teams in the loss column, and they face Columbus on February 25. With a split against Lake Mills, a win at Columbus may put them in a three-way tie for first.

The first key game is when Lake Mills travels to Columbus. The first time these two teams met, the L-Cats shot 20 for 22 from the free throw-line and won 43-38. Denay Hering and Sarah Eck combined for 22 of their 43 points, and Columbus only had one double-digit scorer, Sam Seltzner. For Columbus, the key becomes free throw shooting. They have had more attempts and made more free throws against their last three conference opponents since the loss to Lake Mills. Yesterday, they were 13 of 16 from the line in the fourth quarter versus Lodi, which was the difference in a game that was tied after three.

The other huge game comes when Lakeside Lutheran travels to Columbus. The Spartans were one of the teams Columbus outshot at the line the last three conference games. A key for Lakeside will be to try and keep Columbus off the free throw-line. The Cardinals held a 15-point advantage at the line and won 64-56 on the road. If the Spartans want to win, they need to be more disciplined on defense.

Southern Capitol

For standings go to:

http://prepstats.madison.com/?view=league&view_id=95&sport_id=2

Key games before WIAA playoffs:

Cambridge at Belleville Feb. 16.

Belleville is undefeated and will face Cambridge on February 16 with a chance to clinch a share of the conference title, with only three games left in the Southern Capitol after the contest. The last time these two teams met, Belleville won by 11 points on the road. For a box score check out: http://prepstats.madison.com/?sport_id=2&view=boxscore&view_id=39318

Quinn Rear, who has averaged 18.1 points per game in conference play, dominated Cambridge in the last meeting. The Blue Jays will need to try and limit the damage Rear does. If she gets hot, she can drop 20-25 points and help build an insurmountable lead. Cambridge needs to stay close and hope for some big shots near the end of the game if they want to keep the hope of winning at least a share of the conference title for the third year in a row. Belleville will be trying to clinch a share for the first time since the 2007-08 season.