Toppers say goodbye to six seniors
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Heading into last Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 regional final, history was on the Catholic Central baseball team’s side.
The Toppers had beaten unbeaten and top-seeded Lake Country Lutheran in all four previous meetings.
But this wasn’t the same lightning team the Toppers had their way with in the past.
Lutheran came in 26-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state in Division 4.
It only took a couple innings, and the Lightning quickly made up for years of struggles against the Toppers.
Lake Country scored three runs in both the first and second innings and cruised to victory over the fourth-seeded Toppers, 11-3.
The Lightning pounded out 11 hits against three Toppers pitchers, led by B.J. Sabol’s 4-for-4 day.
Catholic Central finished the season 7-17.
Lake Country Lutheran advanced to Tuesday’s sectional final.
“We usually play them in sectionals,” Toppers coach Tom O’Connell said. “We just didn’t take advantage of opportunities early. We couldn’t overcome our injuries this season.”
“The Lightning remind me of a couple good teams we had about 10 years ago. These guys can rack. Everybody up and down the lineup can hit the ball. They stayed within themselves and didn’t try to do too much. They’re a good ball club.”
Catholic Central played the entire season without ace pitcher Kross Krueger. Also, No. 2 pitcher Tegan Miles was limited this season. O’Connell said the addition of Krueger would’ve added about seven wins.
The Toppers did their best to climb out of a 6-1 hole. In the top of the fourth, Alec Wegge’s single drove in Ben Heiligenthal to cut the lead to 6-2.
But Lutheran added a run in its half of the fourth to make it 7-2, and Central starting pitcher Cal Sanfelippo gave up three more runs in the fifth to extend the lead to 10-2.
“Cal pitched well,” O’Connell said. “He’s come a long way since the start of the season. They weren’t hitting him hard. He wasn’t pitching badly.”
Miles came in to get the Toppers out of the fifth inning, and Brandon Vandehei tossed the final inning.
In the top of the seventh, Dylan Piccolo reached on an error, which drove in Catholic Central’s final run.
O’Connell said the final record was one of the worst during his time at Catholic Central, but losing your two best pitchers can be insurmountable in high school baseball.
“Brandon is going to be an outstanding pitcher, and so is Austin Hayes,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully Kross is back next year. He’s an all-conference pitcher.”
Despite the loss, O’Connell said Vandehei pitched well against Lutheran.
Catholic Central only mustered four hits on the afternoon, led by Wegge’s two. O’Connell said Wegge became a good third baseman throughout the season.
For the season, senior Jake Surges led the Toppers in batting. Also, Nolan Girard was one of the team’s leading hitters.
Surges, Miles, Wegge, Piccolo, Aaron Sobbe and Bailey Wright played their last games as Toppers.
“Miles went from 5-11 as a freshman to 6-7 now,” O’Connell said. “Surges came a long way. He had concussions in football and missed all of last year. But he came back from all that. Guys like Dylan and Bailey came out just to be a part of the team, and it added a nice, loose feeling.”
“Sobbe did everything we asked for. We often DH’d for him, and he never complained.”
Personally for O’Connell, it was a year of ups and downs as well. He coached against Lake Country Lutheran with a cane due to a left leg injury.
O’Connell ruptured his left quadriceps tendon in January, and he overcompensated by only using his right leg. Now, he must have right hip replacement surgery this week.
Through it all, O’Connell has been in the dugout guiding his troops all season. Earlier in the season, he reached the prestigious 500-career-win milestone.
“Wins and losses never bothered me,” he said. “I had fun with these guys. I looked at things differently because I had to sit in the dugout the whole time. I’m a hands-on coach, and I couldn’t be on the base line because I couldn’t get out of the way.”
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