GRAND CHUTE — Johnson Creek’s first appearance in six years at the WIAA State Baseball Tournament was a short one.
Solon Springs/Northwood senior pitcher Abraham Ahlberg threw 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball, scattering four hits with nine strikeouts and two walks as the third-seeded Eagles blanked second-seeded Johnson Creek 7-0 in a Division 4 semifinal at Neuroscience Group Field on Tuesday morning.
The Eagles (20-1) scored two runs in the first inning and led wire-to-wire to advance to the championship game on Thursday against top-seeded Eleva-Strum, which defeated Stevens Point Pacelli 3-2 in the other semifinal.
Sophomore catcher Isaiah Ahlberg led off with a base hit off Johnson Creek junior Dugg Hartwig and advanced to second on senior shortstop Taylor Joseph’s throwing error.
Aaron Ahlberg provided the only run support he would wind up needing from his own bat with an RBI double down the left field line.
He advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored when shortstop Jared Schultz struck out but reached on a passed ball. The rally continued when Alex Slivensky drew a walk and both runners advanced on a balk.
Johnson Creek (24-5) escaped further damage. Hartwig struck out Dylan Taggert and Schultz got caught in a rundown after Tarver Sellwood failed to get a squeeze bunt down, with senior catcher Ian Heald throwing to senior third baseman Dylan Bredlow for the second out.
Hartwig struck out Sellwood to retire the side, but the Bluejays would struggle to generate offense off of Ahlberg.
Sophomore left fielder Zach Holland hit a two-out double in the first inning, but Ahlberg struck out Bredlow swinging.
Sophomore center fielder Luke Hartwig led off the second with a ground ball single to right and senior right fielder Silas Hartz bunted him over. Ahlberg responded by striking out sophomore first baseman Aiden Smith and Heald swinging.
The Eagles padded their lead in the third.
Aaron Ahlberg singled with one out for his second hit of the game and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Schultz followed with an infield hit to put runners on the corners and Slivensky made it a 3-0 game with a sacrifice fly to center.
Schultz scored on Taggart’s RBI single to give the Eagles a four-run lead.
Solon Springs/Northwood broke the game open in the fifth, scoring three runs on two hits and two errors.
Isaiah Ahlberg drew a leadoff walk. Abraham Ahlberg singled to center for his third hit of the game to chase Hartwig.
Bredlow came on in relief, and the Ahlbergs moved up on a passed ball. Schultz hit an RBI single to make it 5-0, then stole second and drew a wild throw from Heald, allowing Aaron Ahlberg to score. Schultz capped the scoring on a wild pitch.
The Bluejays would get a runner aboard in the third through sixth innings, but none of them scored.
Junior second baseman Tanner Herman drew a two-out walk in the third inning and advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt by Ahlberg, but Holland flew out to left.
Bredlow led off the fourth with an infield hit, but was thrown out attempting to steal second. Hartwig hit a two-out double to left center, but Smith grounded out to the third baseman.
Holland drew a one-out walk in the sixth. Bredlow reached on a fielder’s choice and Luke Hartz grounded out to the first baseman.
Aaron Ahlberg got Silas Hartz to ground out and struck out Smith to start the seventh, then left to a standing ovation after reaching the pitch count limit. Schultz came on in relief and struck out Heald to end it.
“What more can you say about that kid?,” Johnson Creek baseball coach Marc Blakeley said of Ahlberg. “He’s a bulldog. We knew that coming in. We were prepped. We had college kids from UW-Milwaukee come in to throw to us.
“We had some chances. I thought maybe ... baseball’s weird. Sometimes, if you can get a two-out hit, it sparks something. Give credit to them. They made every single play.
“We didn’t make some of the plays that we usually make. Honestly, we had to score, anyway. It probably should have been 3-0 or 4-0, but that kid is really, really good. He’s going to Colorado Mesa University for a reason. They are a D2 powerhouse. That kid is really good.
“It was a good challenge for us. They got the best of us this time.”
Bredlow appreciated the chance to play in a minor league stadium for the second time this season.
“I tell you what, it’s quick, that’s for sure, but it’s a nice field, definitely,” Bredlow said. “I would compare it to ABC stadium in Beloit. It was nice.”
So was the opposing pitcher.
“He was pretty quick,” Bredlow said. “He was a good guy. He didn’t get rattled. He was good.
“I thought we were ready this morning. We went to hit at 5:30 a.m. at a local high school. We ate breakfast, we went to hit ... it just didn’t translate. We just had college pitchers (throw to us) back at school and we were hitting off them perfectly fine.
“We were on a good streak (this season). We had little ups and downs, like versus Lake Mills, games we should have won, but (we had a great season).”
Blakeley saluted his five seniors — Bredlow, Joseph, Heald, Silas Hartz and Cole Schwartz — afterwards.
“I am so proud of them,” Blakeley said. “The five of them are great athletes and they are three sport athletes, and that’s what I love about our community. The parents, the community, the coaches, the administration, we all say the same thing. We need to be multi-sport athletes.
“This class is special. Not only do they excel in every sport they do, from wrestling to basketball, obviously football, and now you have the accolades in baseball. I just hope that people learn from this class, because they changed our school. They changed our culture.
“I hope the younger kids take after them. The best thing about it is, yes, they are great athletes and they are all-state caliber athletes in their individual sports, but they are also great kids and really good students. Every one of them is on the high honor roll or they have a 4.0. That’s the type of kids you want to have and I hope the younger kids take after them.”
Blakeley then looked ahead to the future, knowing half his team is returning and reinforcements are coming up the underclassmen ranks.
“We’ve got five starters back,” Blakeley said. “We will miss all five of those kids. Unfortunately, Cole Schwartz had an injury toward the end of the season. We’ll miss him and Ian and Silas and Taylor and Dylan. They are all great in their own way, whether it’s on the mound or in the outfield or hitting.
“But those five kids coming back are pretty special. We had a JV group this year and I talked to other coaches, we had three or four kids on JV who could start for most varsity teams. Those kids need to get bigger and stronger. They need to put the work in, and they will continue to climb and get better.
“It starts all over tomorrow. At 6:30 a.m., I guarantee you every single one of them will be in that weight room with (strength and conditioning coach) Logan Peot, running and lifting, because that’s the culture that these kids have created.”
SOLON SPRINGS/NORTHWOOD 7, JOHNSON CREEK 0
Solon Springs 202 030 0 — 7 7 1
Johnson Creek 000 000 0 — 0 4 3
Leading hitters - SSN (A. Ahlberg 3x4, 2B, Schultz 2x4), JC (Holland 2B, Hartwig 2B)
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - SSN (A. Ahlberg W 6.2-4-0-0-2-9, Schultz 0.1-0-0-0-0-1), JC (Hartwig L 4-6-6-5-2-5, Bredlow 3-1-1-0-0-4)
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