Celebrated season comes to an end in Evansville

“The slipper almost fit, huh?” said Evansville Home Talent centerfielder/general manager Jon Frey after his team’s first ever playoff appearance on Sunday.

Evansville may have had a storybook season, but it just didn’t have a storybook ending. Their reign as Cinderella ended with their loss to the Fort Atkinson Generals in the first round of the Southeastern section playoffs.

In only their fourth year in Home Talent, the Evansville Jays have come a long way. In their first three seasons their best Sunday League record included only four wins, which they managed twice. They more than doubled that output this year when their 10-4 record was good enough for first place in the West division of the Southeastern section.

The season was highlighted by their sole possession of first place in the West at midseason, but a few late losses resulted in a tie for first with Utica. Evansville lost the tiebreaker and had to head to Fort Atkinson in the playoffs as a result.

But it’s not as if Evansville didn’t give Fort a run for their money. After being down by four runs early in the game, the Jays came back to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth behind the strength of a Nick Manion two run homer.The game went to extra innings, but Fort Atkinson ousted the Jays when a Scott Kammer RBI single scored Brandon Krigbaum in the bottom of the tenth to cap off an exciting finish.

When asked about the outcome after the game, Generals manager Jim Roethel replied, “Well, as soon as my heart gets back to normal.”

Evansville could have rolled over when down by a score of 5-1, but fought back in a valiant effort.

“We made a nice comeback,” said Jays manager Bob Kurtz. “I'm proud of our guys, the way they battled back in this game. I'm proud of every one of them because they stuck their nose in there and got it done, but we came up on the short end.”

At the very least, Evansville served notice to the rest of the league that they’re for real. While some sections take eight teams to the playoffs, the Southeast only takes four. Simply qualifying for the playoffs was an accomplishment in itself.

For the young team, it will be a learning experience. Evansville won a lot of close games earlier in the year. And now that they were on the losing end of a close game, they have no choice but to look back, reflect and learn from their season ending loss.

“We won a lot of games in the last inning and extra innings,” said Kurtz. “I think we won three extra inning ball games, and that put us where we were in the standings. We just came out on the short end of it today.”

After the game, the Jays had a discussion in the visitors’ dugout, and suddenly things didn’t seem so bad even though their season had just ended.

Frey relayed the essence of it: “Bob said it at the end of the game, maybe we put Evansville on the Home Talent map.”

Next weekend’s Home Talent League road trip: Sun Prairie at DeForest on Sunday August 17 at 1:00 for the right to go to the Final Four.

Photo credit: Brian Carriveau

Krigbaum has All-Star day

MADISON – Fort Atkinson shortstop Brandon Krigbaum is a busy guy.

On Monday he’s working, like usual, at his job at Cygnus Business Media in Fort Atkinson as a computer programmer. On Tuesday he’s traveling to New York to give some presentations and training for Cygnus. By Wednesday night, he’ll be back in Wisconsin just in time for a Thursday night baseball game against Sun Prairie.

But it was this past Sunday when he was really, really busy.

In the afternoon Krigbaum led his team into hostile territory in Jefferson for the rivalry-laden “Trifecta” game against the Blue Devils.

The “Trifecta” is Jefferson’s biggest game of the year with the Home Talent League team leading things off followed by a junior Legion game followed a Legion game, all against Fort Atkinson.

“What's really awesome about the rivalry,” said Krigbaum, “at least from what I've seen in the two years I've been here, is that we're ultra-competitive and really want to beat them on the day of the game. But once the game's over with …it's all laughs and we forget about it. That's pretty awesome.”

Adding to the pageantry was the fact that Jefferson held a one game lead over Fort Atkinson in the Southeastern section standings.

Krigbaum hit a leadoff single between third and short to start the game and would go onto score the first run of the game on a Tim Brokl double. Fort Atkinson led 1-0 and never looked back.
The Generals went on to shut out Jefferson 8-0 on the road in what would be revenge for the 14-0 drubbing they received from the Blue Devils at home their first meeting of the year. Even more important was the first place tie Fort Atkinson had pulled into as a result of the win.

“It couldn't have come at a better time,” said Krigbaum. “We needed to win today really bad to have a really good shot at getting back to the playoffs.”

Immediately after the game Krigbaum and his sister April loaded into his black GMC Sierra to head to Madison for the Home Talent League All-Star game against the U.S. Military All-Stars as part of the Northwoods League All-Star festivities hosted by the Madison Mallards.

Krigbaum was part of the team selected to take on the military team comprised of active duty servicemen from the various branches of service. They were on their Red, White, and Blue Tour of America barnstorming the country at their own expense. Dressed in unique camouflage uniforms, the players are subject to deployment at anytime. The game against the HTL All-Stars was just one of literally dozens they’d play this year.

The Krigbaum siblings took Highway 26 north to Johnson Creek to meet up with their father who would follow them to the game. After then taking Highway 94 west into Madison, they would meet up with extended family including their grandfather, himself a 16 time Home Talent League All-Star for Poynette.

Baseball talent runs in the Krigbaum family. After leading the entire Southeastern section in hitting last season with a .533 batting average, Krigbaum is one of the league leaders again this season.

For his prowess, he was rewarded with a spot in the starting lineup, second in the batting order for the HTL All-Star team. Not unlike the game against Jefferson, Krigbaum hit a single in his first at bat, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. On an RBI single by Middleton centerfielder Josh Hinson, Krigbaum scored the first run of the game, a lead they wouldn’t give up on their way to a 5-2 victory.

With a team composed of 46 players plus coaches, there were a lot of congratulations for Krigbaum to receive.

“I think it took me longer to make it through the high five line than it did to go around the bases,” said Krigbaum.

Next weekend’s Home Talent League road trip: Utica at Albion on Sunday July 20th at 2:00 for the Tobacco Days festival.

Brian Carriveau is writing a book about the Home Talent League this summer. He can be contacted at carriveau@uwalumni.com

Photo credit: Brian Carriveau

The tourney is tops in Fort Atkinson

This past Thursday and Friday marked the beginning of the annual Fort Atkinson tournament that spans three weeks and culminates with the championship game being played during the city’s yearly Baseball Festival.

If only the coaches would have known that Sunday’s Home Talent League slate of games would have been wiped out by rain.

Had they had the foresight to predict the stormy weather the weekend had in store, they could have gotten their staff aces some pitching work during the opening round of games.

The Fort Atkinson tournament is considered one of the best amateur tournaments in the area, and most teams have to alter their schedule just to fit it in.

According to Stoughton manager Jim Winter, “I consider the Fort tournament just like a Sunday game where every team that comes here usually plays their Sunday starters except for maybe their pitcher. They’ll use their No. 2 or 3.”

Stoughton was able to get by Jefferson in the first round in extra innings, so Blue Devils manager Jeff Laesch knows just how competitive this tournament can be not only against Stoughton, but against the host team as well.

When asked if thinks this tournament is taken more seriously than the usual Thursday Night games, Laesch replied, “I think so, obviously with the five mile distance between Jefferson and Fort. And we’ve always had good success down here. So I think we probably do. It’s usually your starters that are playing in this tournament because it’s a big thing. It’s big crowds, and everybody likes to play on that Friday night of Fort Fest.”

Even though Jefferson lost during the opening round, they’re still alive and still have a chance to compete during the desired Friday night slot of the Baseball Festival on June 20 through the consolation bracket.

As an added bonus, there’s even a stipend that goes along with becoming the first or second place finishers in the eight team tournament as well as the only team that makes it through the consolation bracket undefeated.

The coaches insist it’s not about the money, though. They’re just glad to be getting good competition in a competitive environment.

Laesch was representative of the rest of the coaches when he said, “Mainly it’s kind of a bragging rights type thing. And it’s always good to win this tournament. Everybody’s always played in it for years. So I don’t think the money has anything to do with it. To be honest, we’d come over to the concession stand and spend it.”

That’s part of what the Home Talent League is all about. There’s sort of a gentlemen’s agreement among visiting teams to help support the hosts. On any given day, you’ll see the visitors supporting the home team and socializing with their opponents after nearly every game.

And it’s hard to pass up the chance to play at Jones Park in Fort Atkinson as well. Known as one of the best ballparks in the Home Talent League, the opportunity to play up to three games on a well-manicured diamond is too much to pass up.

“We just love playing here,” said Winter. “It’s obviously the best field in our section. They take really good care of it, it’s a great environment … and they always get good crowds.”

Next weekend’s Home Talent League road trip: Cross Plains at Ashton on Sunday June 15 for the annual Ashton Picnic on Father's Day.

Brian Carriveau is writing a book about the Home Talent League this summer. He can be contacted at carriveau@uwalumni.com

Has hell frozen over?

Word on the street is that Jefferson's Justin Thiede has been traded to Fort Atkinson for a fungo bat and a player to be named later.

Jefferson gains momentum

I'll admit, my knowledge of Home Talent baseball is limited as of yet. I'm learning a lot all the time, but I still have a long ways to go.

But if you would have asked me who would have won last weekend's Fort Atkinson exhibition tournament, the last team I would have said is Jefferson.

Just look at the teams the tournament boasted.

Monona was last year's Home Talent League grand champions.

Fort Atkinson was undefeated in regular season play a year ago.

And Middleton won the East Division of the Northern Section with a 15-1 record.

Those are no slouches. And Jefferson got by them all to win the tournament. Congratulations to the Blue Devils as they enter the regular season on a high note.

The bus stops here

This upcoming weekend will see a few more Home Talent League teams start their exhibition schedules.

The first stop on the baseball tour will be in Jefferson on Saturday where the Blue Devils take on Dodgeville in both teams' pre-season opener.

The following day will see Fort Atkinson travel to Rio to challenge the Railmen in another exhibition. The game will act as a prelude to Fort Atkinson's tournament the following weekend where several area teams will test their mettle before league play begins in about a month.

Of course, the weather doesn't exactly seems like it's going to cooperate. And even if it does, there may not be enough time for the playing fields to dry out before Saturday rolls around due to previously soggy weather.

So I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope I'm not left twiddling my thumbs over the weekend.