Madison wins Region 4A, 10-2 over Groton
Posted on Friday, July 23, 2010
By ARIY-EL BOYNTON, Sports Editor
Seeing the dejected faces of his teammates after their first loss of the season, VFW Madison Maroon first baseman Jordan Unterbrunner said, "Let's get 'em tomorrow. That's why we won our first two games."
And that's what they did.
Madison's 14-year-old team, who started the week with a 12-0 win over Volga on Monday, had hopes for a rare, undefeated baseball season. But that, along with going perfect in the region tournament, went out the window on Thursday when they suffered a 7-6 loss to Groton in the 13&14-year-old Region 4A tourney. Groton handed Madison its first loss in 23 games.
But in the end, the local team came out on top.
The Maroon won the championship on Friday in Volga 10-2 over Groton. Sean Nielsen pitched the complete-game win.
It was the third consecutive time the two teams played each other.
The Maroon gave up four errors in Thursday's game.
"It was just a lot of little things that cost us tonight," said Madison coach Todd Williams.
On Thursday, Madison started with a 4-0 lead but saw Groton come back. With the game tied 4-4, Tyler Currey stole second and third bases and later give the Maroon the go-ahead run, a 6-5 advantage, in the sixth inning.
Maroon third baseman Tyler Heeren made a two-run error in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowing Groton to score the game-tying run.
With two outs, Groton knocked in the winning run -- a deep fly to left field -- and was able to celebrate after their second win on Thursday.
At the plate, Unterbrunner and Bradyn Steffen smashed doubles for Madison.
On the mound, Jacob Giles, who stole home for the Maroon's second run, went five innings and gave up four runs on seven hits.
Tayler Anderson pitched for the second night in a row and was tagged with the loss. He gave up two runs on three hits.
Madison and Groton both have advanced to the state tournament, which will be held at Madison's Flynn Field starting on July 30.
©Madison Daily Leader 2010