The Rice Lake 12U Little League team won a pair of games, reached the semifinals and placed fourth at the Wisconsin Little League State Tournament held last week in Kenosha.
The Warriors won their opening game July 20 over Lakeland Little League of Salem. After losses to the top teams at state, Rice Lake headed into its final round-robin game needing a win to reach the semifinals.
A four-run second inning boosted Rice Lake to the 7-4 win over Merrill to move into the top four in the standings.
"With the tough losses to Whitefish Bay, Kenosha and Madison, most teams would have difficulties bouncing back," manager Russ LaPoint said. "I was proud of how the boys took each game with the mental approach of playing the games one pitch at a time."
In its win over Merrill, Rice Lake opened the scoring in the first inning when Max Skidmore doubled driving in the first run.
Merrill scored a run of its own in the bottom of the first but the Warriors broke up the tie in the second. Nolan Willger drew a walk and was moved over to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt by Chase LaPoint. Scott Saffert then drew a walk of his own followed up by a sacrifice fly by Austin Keller bringing Willger home.
Hunter Rose and Mason Jako each drew walks to load the bases. Skidmore continued to log RBIs with a triple to bring in all three Warrior runners for the 5-1 advantage.
Merrill notched its second run in the bottom of the third inning coming off a double by Cameron Tyman. After a scoreless fourth inning, the Warriors came back with two more runs when Owen Willers singled to center field to bring in Skidmore and Lucas Haynes.
Merrill scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Hunter Waterhouse closed out the game on the mound for the Warriors. It was the sure handed defense that put the game to rest after Mason Jako, Carter LaPoint and Hunter Rose would catch Merrill’s Parker Simpson in a rundown between second and third bases.
Willger threw 4.1 innings with four strikeouts before reaching his 85-pitch limit. He allowed four hits, one earned run and four walks.
Rice Lake advanced to the state semifinals where the Warriors again faced Whitefish, which took the 16-0 victory ending Rice Lake's run. Whitefish Bay then lost a close game to repeat state champion Kenosha.
"The Warriors stood up to the task of playing with the best teams in the state earning their way into the state semifinals, a task that had only been done one other time for Rice Lake Little League," LaPoint said.
"For these boys to see the high level of pitching and hitters from across the state is a big help in the development of Rice Lake Youth Baseball.
"The current 12-year-olds will be moving up to Babe Ruth and transition to the large high school size diamond. I am excited for the 11-year-olds that will be returning to Little League next year having been battle tested and even more prepared to carry the Rice Lake Warriors even deeper in the playoffs."
The Warriors had reached the state Little League semifinals one other time in 2017, when Tyson LaPoint, who assisted with coaching this year's squad, played for the team.
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