Seasons continue

The Washburn Castle Guards baseball team, and Ashland Oredockers girls soccer team both advanced into sectionals with big wins last week. On May 29 the ‘Guards downed their longstanding NLC rival the Hurley Northstars in a gripping 3-2 WIAA D4 regional finals home win. Seeded No. 2 in the Bruce Sectional, Washburn squares off in the sectional semifinals against No. 1 Solon Springs at 10 a.m. on June 4 at Village Park in Bruce and, should the Castle Guards prevail, a 4 p.m. sectional final game will decide which team from the sectional claims a berth at state.

For the No. 1 seeded Oredockers, advancing into sectionals has become familiar ground. The HON Conference champions dispatched with Waupaca on June 1 at Ponzio in the regional finals, and now face No. 2 on June 6, again at Ponzio, with a shot a sectional finals which is to be held on June 8 in Rice Lake. The senior laden ‘Dockers will have their eyes on the prize of a second consecutive state berth, and feature a number of long, fast, and skilled players, some of whom have already committed to playing soccer in college while others possess all-state and collegiate-level talent but remain undecided about pursuing sports in college. Look for upcoming features on both teams in the Ashland Daily Press.