WATERTOWN – The Watertown Red Devils came into the postseason feeling pretty good about themselves. Watertown won five-straight games to close out the regular season and finished as the No. 3 seed from the Crow River Valley League.
After missing a bye into the Region 7C Tournament by just one spot, the Red Devils knew they would be taking on the team in the CRVL with the worst record. That team was the Plato Bluejays who went 1-12 in the CRVL this season.
As the Red Devils found out in their playoff series, the Bluejays were just any one-win team. They made Watertown earn it in both of their games.
In Game 1, Plato had a 2-1 lead over the Red Devils heading to the bottom of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Watertown rallied for two runs to take a 3-2 lead, but they weren’t out of danger yet.
With two on and two out in the top of the 8th, Holt Hunziker got a huge strikeout for the Red Devils, getting Watertown out of the inning with their one-run lead still intact.
Watertown was forced to tightrope out of danger once again in the top of the ninth. Hunziker walked the first two batters of the inning, putting the tying run and go-ahead run on base for Plato with nobody out. Hunziker responded with back-to-back strikeouts but walked the next guy to load the bases with two outs.
Plato would leave the bases loaded in the top of the 9th as Hunziker got a pop out in foul territory to end the game as the Red Devils survived a major scare in Game 1 with a 3-2 victory.
In Game 2, Plato would not go away either. Despite losing Game 1, the Bluejays once again had an early edge against Pat Tschida and the Red Devils.
Plato had a 3-1 lead over Watertown heading to the top of the fifth, but once again Watertown responded. The Red Devils scored once in the sixth and once in the seventh to tie the game, and then took the lead in the eighth thanks to Tschida. An RBI single from Tschida put Watertown up 4-3, but the lead didn’t last long for Watertown.
With two outs in the top of the eighth, Aleks Troska kept the Bluejays alive with an RBI double, tying to game at four.
Despite knocking the cover off the ball in the top of the ninth, Watertown failed to score a run in their half of the inning sending the game to extra innings. Ryan Hangartner nearly gave the Red Devils a run immediately, but a nice catch by Troska at the wall in right field kept the game tied.
After Plato failed to score in the bottom half of the 9th, Watertown drew up some magic in extra innings. After reaching base, Jonah Lewis got the crowd on its feet with a hustle play. He scored for Watertown all the way from second on a groundball to the second baseman, putting Watertown up 5-4.
Tschida then delivered the final blow for Watertown, a two-run home run to seal the win and advance the Red Devils to the Region 7C Tournament once again with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings and a sweep of the CRVL playoff series.
A look ahead
The Red Devils come into the Region 7C Tournament as the No. 3 seed. After posting a 10-3 overall record in the CRVL and a sweep of the Plato Bluejays, Watertown comes into the tournament on a hot streak of winning seven-straight games.
Getting to the Region 7C Tournament hasn’t been a problem for the Red Devils recently. The problem has been winning games. In their past 7 games at the Region 7C Tournament, Watertown is just 1-6 and has lost five consecutive games in the tournament.
Watertown opens the Region 7C Tournament hosting the sixth-seeded Green Isle Irish Saturday, Aug. 8 at 11 a.m. at Highland Park.