Frank Roth 11s, 12U & Juniors keep seasons alive
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
If you asked the average person in Wisconsin about Burlington, they’d probably first mention the coat factory followed by Tony Romo and Chocolatefest.
Well, the Burlington Little League is becoming a staple just like the chocolate you may smell from time to time oozing out of Nestle.
For the last decade, the Burlington Little League has been on a major roll, with all-star teams advancing to state and even nationals on regular basis.
On Tuesday and last week, that strong tradition continued, as both 12U and 11U squads advanced to their respective state tournaments.
The 12U team won district in dominant fashion, defeating Franklin 23-0, Kenosha Nationals 16-1, and Kenosha American 12-3 and 12-1 in the championship game. The first game at the Wisconsin State Tournament will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Kenosha Little League Sports Complex, 4200 39th Ave, Kenosha, WI.
During district, Burlington hit a team batting average of .562, and seven players hit a total of 15 home runs; Chase Ketterhagen, Cody Carlson, Marcus Thomsen, Dylan Minnich, Zach Wallace, Mason McIntyre and Ethan Safar.
Burlington’s pitchers and defense shut down opponents handily. Thomsen pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing three runs. Also, Safar pitched 6 1/3 innings and gave up one run.
Other pitchers included Carlson, Kale Dietz, and Kyle Hackbarth.
In the last 35 years, Burlington has won district seven times now, and five of those have come in the last six years.
Burlington players on the All-Star team represent nine different City League teams and local surrounding grade schools.
Grand slam sparks Frank Roth
For the first time in the history of the Burlington 11U Frank Roth All-Stars, the local boys knocked off Kenosha Monday night.
On Tuesday, Burlington beat the defending district champs again in order to punch its ticket to state.
Burlington broke a 5-5 tie with three runs to make it 8-5, but Kenosha answered with three of its own sparked by a two-run home run in the fifth inning.
But Frank Roth showed it still had a lot of fight in the decisive bottom of the fifth.
Hits by Isaac Dow and Zayne Koehnke put runners on second and third with nobody out.
After a groundout to the pitcher, left-handed batter Mason Gill did his best to extend the inning against the Kenosha fire-baller.
Gill ran the count full, then faked a bunt as a distraction to help draw a walk and load the bases.
That’s when Connor O’Reilly, Burlington’s power-hitting catcher, decided to end the game with one big swing.
After taking the first pitch, O’Reilly waited back perfectly on a knuckle changeup and blasted the looping pitch high onto a large hill beyond the fence in right-center field.
The majestic shot had the players and fans roaring in celebration.
For good measure, the next batter, Drew Stutzman, smoked a low line drive to right-center that cleared the fence in a hurry for a solo homer.
Kenosha was able to score two runs in the sixth, but Dow, the second baseman, retired the final batter on a ground ball.
As the first baseman caught it for the final out, Dow sprinted to his team’s dugout with his arms raised high.
Burlington endured a rain cancellation last Thursday and beat its biggest nemesis in back-to-back nights to advance to state.
Stay tuned to future editions of the Burlington Standard Press, myracinecounty.com and Mike Ramczyk’s Twitter page, @mikeramczyk17, for state updates from the Little League squads.
Also, visit and like Standard Press Sports on Facebook for more Little League photos and stats.
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