Sixth-inning surge lifts De Pere past Appleton North in WIAA Division 1 baseball sectional semifinal

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

SUAMICO – Teams always strive to be playing their best baseball come playoff time, and that is precisely what the Appleton North Lightning had been doing.

Fresh off a no-hitter and a regional championship, the Lightning had another tall task as they took on the defending state champion and No. 1 seed De Pere Redbirds in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal Tuesday at Bay Port High Schol.

Knowing they would need to play its best game yet, North was more than up for the challenge as it battled with the Redbirds from start to finish and had things tied 2-2 in the sixth. However, it was the bottom of the sixth that did the Lightning in as the Redbirds responded with four runs to take the lead for good before closing things out 6-2.

“As a staff we were very pleased with our guys today,” Appleton North coach Gus Maves said. “They battled and gave their best effort. We put ourselves in position to take the lead late in the game, it just didn’t go our way.”

De Pere (20-5) lost later in the day to Hortonville (22-6) 3-1 in the sectional final as the Polar Bears move on to next week’s WIAA State Baseball Tournament in Appleton.

It was a painful way for Cash Christianson and the Lightning to go out as the right-hander was dialed in through five innings, allowing two runs and striking out three before things went south in the sixth.

He was matched up against Lucas Koskey through five innings despite struggling with his command throughout.

It didn’t take the Redbirds long to grab the lead as they jumped on Christianson right from the start to take a 1-0 lead two batters in.

Ryan Wettstein led things off for De Pere with a single before a Will Nikolay double put De Pere in front 1-0. Christianson did a great job bouncing back, striking two of the next three hitters to minimize the damage. After wasting a scoring opportunity in the second inning, Levi Watts got things going for the Lightning offense in the third as his one-out single put another runner on base.

Watts stole second before a two-out walk to Jack Kangas put a pair of runners on. That set the stage for Colin Reddy, who used his arm to get North into this game last week and then used his bat to tie things up 1-1 with an RBI single. Just as quickly as the Lightning tied things up, it was the Redbirds responding as a one-out single from Nikolay set the Redbirds’ offense up once again.

Nikolay stole second a few pitches later, which proved extremely costly as Trenton Kriewaldt came through with a clutch single to put De Pere in front 2-1. It was at this point that Christianson began to take over on the mound as he escaped the third without further damage and wound up retiring the next seven hitters he faced to give the North offense a chance.

“Cash Christianson was awesome today,” Maves said. “He did a great job throwing strikes early in counts and competing. DePere had a great approach and put stress on us getting their leadoff batter on most innings. That was a high pressure start for Cash and he delivered.”

In what looked like a carbon copy of the second inning when the Lightning failed to push a run across, it was a Jackson Skorr double to begin the sixth that had the Lightning threatening to tie things up. Skorr advanced to third on a perfectly placed bunt single from Thomas Carew before another single from Nathan Ramus brought things back to even 2-2. The Lightning would eventually load the bases in the top half of the sixth, but they let the Redbirds off the hook as they were unable to come through with the big hit they needed.

That was ultimately the deciding factor as the Redbirds not only led the bottom of the sixth off with a walk, but got the big hit they needed as Isaac Poehlman’s double pushed home the go-ahead run and put the Redbirds in front 3-2. De Pere was just getting started as the flood gates began to open, resulting in a bases loaded hit by pitch to push in a run, followed by a walk that sent home another.

De Pere closed out the massive sixth inning with a Nikolay sacrifice fly, as they took a 6-2 lead before closing things out. Appleton North finishes the season with a 17-8 record.

“I’ll remember the character of this team,” Maves said. “We continued to grow as the season went on. We were a much better team at the end then when we started. In our program we focus on taking care of business off the field to take care of business on the field. There is accountability and this group at the end was holding each other accountable.

“They bought into the process of taking care of business and it paid off. They had personality and played the game the right way. It was a true team, and for that I’m forever grateful for each and every one of them.”

Redbirds 6, Lightning 2
Appleton North   001   001   0   –   2   7   1
De Pere   101   004   x   –   6   7   0
WP: Cullen Pennings. LP: Cash Christianson.
SO: Christianson (5 inn.) 3, Teegan Karpinske (1 inn.) 0; Lucas Koskey (5 inn.) 3, Pennings (2 inn.) 0. BB: Chrsistianson 1, Karpinske 2; Koskey 3, Pennings 1.
Top hitters: AN, Levi Watts 2×3, run; Nathan Ramus 2×3, RBI; Jackson Skorr 2B, run. DP, Will Nikolay 2×3, 2B, 2 RBI; Isaac Poehlman 2×3, 2B, RBI.
Records: Appleton North 17-8; De Pere 20-4.