Appleton North’s Reddy tosses no-hitter as Lightning shuts out Green Bay Preble in WIAA Division 1 baseball regional final

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – Fresh off their regional semifinal win against Fox Valley Association rival Appleton West on Tuesday, the Appleton North Lightning were back on the diamond Thursday with a berth at sectionals on the line.

Standing in the way was the No. 5-seeded Green Bay Preble Hornets, who took care of business against Denmark earlier in the week.

As is the case with every baseball season, pitching wins championships, and the Lightning received a terrific pitching performance from Colin Reddy, who not only went the distance but did so in dominating fashion to lead the Lightning to a 2-0 victory in a WIAA Division 1 sectional final at Appleton North High School.

Reddy walked two and struck out nine across seven innings, but more importantly, he didn’t allow a single hit as he delivered the no-hitter in the victory.

“We are playing our best baseball at the right time,” Appleton North head coach Gus Maves said. “We have won nine of our last 11 games and the boys have bought into the team aspect that comes with the game of baseball. This has been a fun group and they continue to play for each other.”

While Reddy is going to get most of the attention, and rightfully so, Preble pitcher Jayden Sonnenberg deserves plenty of love in his own right as he was able to match Reddy pitch for pitch through five innings before being lifted.

As good as Reddy was, it did take him a little while to settle in as he hit a pair of batters in the top of the first before escaping without any damage. That was the biggest scoring threat the Hornets (18-8) had in the entire game, as they had no answers for him on the mound.

After failing to get anything going in the first, the Lightning started to get some good swings against Sonnerberg in the second as a pair of singles from Logan Hudson and Jackson Skorr set the Lightning offense up, only to have a double play put an end to the rally.

One inning later, the Lightning were at it again only this time it was their patient approach that set things up with a pair of walks to Thomas Carew and Griffin Stan starting things off in the third.

Levi Watts followed those walks with a single, and just like that, the Lightning had the bases loaded with no outs. Despite the Lightning not picking up another hit the rest of the inning, North made the most of that scoring chance as a Brennan Otto fielder’s choice pushed home the go-ahead run with Jack Kangas added a sacrifice fly to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.

Even with Reddy taking care of business on the mound, the Hornets found ways to put runners on base, continuing to keep things interesting in the fourth. With a one-out hit by pitch putting another runner on base, Reddy walked his second batter of the game as the Hornets were one hit away from drawing closer. That hit never came as Reddy retired the final two hitters in that inning and allowed only two base runners the rest of the way.

“What can you say about his performance on the mound,” Maves said. “To throw a no-hitter in a must win or go home game in the WIAA playoffs just shows his compete level. To be honest, we didn’t think he had his ‘A’ game with him tonight as he had better command of his pitches in his previous starts. He stepped up in the biggest game of his high school career and we couldn’t be happier for him.”

With the Lightning still clinging to a 2-0 lead in the sixth, North had an opportunity to add on as Kangas and Logan Hudson began the inning with a pair of walks. Neither one of those runners was able to advance as a pair of strikeouts was followed by a flyout to end another Lightning rally.

Down to their final three outs, the time was now or never for the Hornets to break through as their season was on the line. Despite Preble benefiting from an error during that inning, it was Reddy who got the job done as he capped off his no-hit bid and a regional title for Appleton North. Next up for the No. 4 seed Lightning (17-7) is a matchup with top-seeded De Pere (19-4) on Tuesday in a sectional semifinal at Bay Port High School at 10 a.m. No. 2 Kimberly (18-6) and No. 3 Hortonville (20-7) will play in the second semifinal at 1 p.m., with the winners matching up for the sectional championship game at 4 p.m. with a berth in the WIAA state tournament in Appleton on the line.

“When you get this far in a loaded sectional every year, there is always going to be a tough opponent looming,” Maves said. “De Pere is a top-ranked team in our area and we have a ton of respect for Coach Van Rens and the quality of program he has built. They are the defending state champs and they have been here before with plenty of success.”

Lightning 2, Hornets 0
Green Bay Preble   000   000   0   –   0   0   1
Appleton North   002   000   x   –   2   3   1
WP: Colin Reddy. LP: Jayden Sonneberg.
SO: Sonneberg (5 inn.) 1, Branson Kent (1 inn.) 2; Reddy 9. BB: Sonneberg 3, Kent 1; Reddy 2.
Top hitters: AN, Levi Watts 1×3; Logan Hudson 1×2; Jackson Skorr 1×3; Jack Kangas RBI; Brennan Otto RBI.
Records: Green Bay Preble 18-8; Appleton North 17-7.