Utica clinches home playoff spot; Reedsburg and Sauk Prairie move on

Home Talent League

Western Section

Ridgeway upest the No. 3 seeded Wiota Indians 3-2 yesterday and will travel to Verona. The Argyle/Platteville game is postponed to Thursday at 7, and the winner will go to Monroe.

Verona knows they will get the 8-8 Ridgeway team, but Monroe has to wait to see if Platteville or Argyle are coming to town. Regardless, Monroe and Verona will be the favorites.

Verona is still the team to beat, but Monroe handed them their only loss of the season in Verona. Can Monroe do it twice?

Southeast Section

Kyle Bates struck out 11 batters for Utica in a 3-1 win over Stoughton, clinching the top spot in the Eastern Division and a home game next week in the Southeast Section semifinals.

Fort Atkinson is the team to beat, and they will be home for the entire playoffs with the best record after 10-run ruling Deerfield 13-3. They are the favorites, but Utica has shown signs of a good team at times. It won’t be easy.

Northern Section

The West Division was able to get their games in, but the East did not. In the West Reedsburg and Sauk Prairie battled all season, and it only seems fitting that they must play one more time for a chance to make it into the Northern Section championship.

Sauk Prairie won 3-2 in their last meeting, and the semifinal should be as close. Cross Plains and Ashton will square off Tuesday at 7 p.m. Middleton will play Black Earth on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Eastern Section

DeForest will be in the semifinals, but the team they will face is still up in the air. Monona and Sun Prairie can both tie Cottage Grove with wins. Sun Prairie’s game is unavailable, but Monona will play a makeup game tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Cottage Grove defeated Monona and Sun Prairie earlier in the year, so they have the upper hand at the moment.

Verona still the team to beat

Home Talent League

Western Section

Verona won 7-1 at Wiota on Sunday to clinch home field advantage and a first round buy in the playoffs. Essentially, they force Wiota or Monroe, the two teams with a chance to score the big upset, to come to Verona.

Ben Wallace looked fantastic on the road yesterday. He was locating well, and the off-speed pitches kept Wiota off balance. Verona has now defeated the Indians twice by a combined score of 19-2.

Southeast Section

Fort Atkinson and Dan Dean had another great showing with an 11-1 win, and they are the best team in the section at the moment. Utica lost another game, and Stoughton fell to McFarland. Suddenly, the teams in the West Division are struggling to close the season.

With Utica and Stoughton playing Fort Atkinson next weekend, McFarland may have the easiest schedule to claim the division. They are 1½ games back in second place.

Northern Section

Middleton clinched first place in the East Division on the Northern section. The other three spots are still up for grabs. In the West, Reedsburg held on for a big 10-9 win, and Sauk Prairie continued to roll forward.

With Reedsburg and Sauk Prairie facing off in the final season game on Aug. 1, the game is very important. However, they are in the playoffs at the moment. The other two spots are between Plain, Cazenovia and Mazomanie with neither team close to finishing at .500.

Eastern Section

It is still a free-for-all at the top of the section. Sun Prairie won and moved into second place behind DeForest who came closer to showing they deserve the top with a 6-0 win over Waterloo. Cottage Grove was upset, however, and they fell down to a tie for third with Monona.

Cottage Grove still has a great chance to win with three games against the three teams tied or ahead of them in their final four. Sun Prairie will have a big game against Lodi next week to try and continue their climb.

Verona shows off offense in Western Section; East a free-for-all

Home Talent League

Western Section

Verona is dominating with two impressive victories, both by 10 runs, over Dodgeville and Wiota. The Cavaliers are hitting and pitching well, and they have shown they can beat everyone.

The only team that beat them, Monroe, lost to Wiota 3-0 on Sunday. At the moment, Wiota is still in second, but Verona is catching stride at the right time.

Southeast Section

Utica and Fort Atkinson are the teams to beat in this section, and they both had some nice wins on the weekend. Utica defeated McFarland for the second time, and they are 9-1 ahead of Stoughton.

Kyle Bates and Matt Ellingson both had wins, and they are on a tough staff for any team. Fort Atkinson edged Whitewater with good pitching by Dan Dean. It’s too bad the game between Utica and Fort Atkisnon was rained out last week, because it would have been the two best teams to see who gets bragging rights.

Northern Section

The three-way tie for first in the East Division came to an end with a big win by Middleton over Cross Plains. Ashton also won, and the East is anyone’s still.

The West Division saw the two top teams continue their dominance. Sauk Prairie and Reedsburg remain No. 1 and No. 2, and they will face each other on the last game of the season. If they continue on this path, they should be battling for first place.

Eastern Section

The section has many teams in the mix, but the big winners of the weekend were Lodi and Deforest who both had big wins over their rivals. Lodi is in first place, but the other teams can easily finish first.

The section will come down to the final few weeks, but Lodi is the team to beat at the moment. The one run win over Sun Prairie was huge with them on their heels.

Home Talent Update: Many games washed out

A handful of Home Talent League baseball games were rained out in the South Central portion of the state. Among those was matchup between Division leaders Fort Atkinson and Utica.

Fort Atkinson, who leads the East Division of the Southeast Section, was scheduled to travel to Utica, the Southeast Section West Division leaders. However, wet weather Saturday night left Utica Park’s field unplayable. A make-up date has yet to be scheduled.

Jefferson was scheduled to travel to Stoughton, but that too was called off. Jefferson was the Consolation champion during the 30^th Annual Fort Atkinson Generals’ Tournament and the Merchants took first place. Their game will be made up at a later time.

McFarland and Whitewater as well as Orfordville and Lake Mills were also rained out in the Southeast Section.

Albion blanked Deerfield, 10-0, to get back to .500 in the standings while Evansville held off Cambridge, 2-1.

In the Eastern Section, only one game was able to be played.

With an opportunity to stay in first place, Cottage Grove lost a high scoring affair to Rio. The Firemen topped Cottage Grove, 12-7, bumping CG down to 7-2 – half a game back of DeForest and Sun Prairie.

As the weather dries up, many of these make up games will have strong affects on the final standings.

Standings June 28

Southeast

East Division

Fort Atkinson 8-1

Lake Mills 4-5

Cambridge 3-6

Jefferson 3-6

Whitewater 3-6

Deerfield 2-7

West Division

Utica 7-1

McFarland 6-3

Stoughton 6-3

Albion 5-5

Evansville 4-5

Orfordville 3-6

Eastern

DeForest 8-2

Sun Prairie 8-2

Cottage Grove 7-2

Monona 7-2

Lodi 7-4

Rio 5-5

Marshall 3-7

Waterloo 3-8

Poynette 2-8

Columbus 0-10

Western

Verona 9-1

Wiota 7-1

Monroe 8-2

Argyle 5-3

Platteville 5-4

Ridgeway 4-6

Dodgeville 4-6

Hollandale 3-8

New Glarus 1-7

Blanchardville 0-8

Northern

East Division

Middleton 8-2

Cross Plaines 7-2

Ashton 6-3

Black Earth 6-3

Waunakee 4-6

Pine Bluff 1-8

West Division

Sauk Prairie 8-2

Reedsburg 7-2

Plain 4-6

Cazenovia 2-7

Mazomanie 2-7

Richland Center 2-8