MONROE - A lovely assistant doesn't need to be sawed in half for a magic show to wrap up in gutwrenching fashion.
Monroe coach Steve Christensen ran out of tricks and Monroe (3-7) came a seeing-eye single short of having a shot to upset Division 2's top dog in Madison Edgewood (9-0) during a 4-3 baseball loss at Monroe High School Tuesday night.
Crusaders starter Chris Ritter drove in Jeff Lindholm by chopping a Mike Rear pitch slowly back through the box - perfectly-placed between shorstop Mitch Tordoff and second baseman Brett Stangel.
"They didn't hit the ball hard off Rear, but the leadoff walk usually comes back to bite you in high school baseball and it did," Christensen said.
Cleanup hitter Robert Parman hit a carbon-copy RBI-single to plate Ritter from second after he snuck into second as Alex Dammen air-mailed the cutoff man.
On the advise of his coaches, Rear threw to third and the umpires ruled Ritter missed the base when rounding third.
A break for the Cheese on the surface, the appeal simply fired Ritter up as he went 1-2-3 in the bottom half to complete his game.
"That was all the motivation I needed," Ritter said. "I wasn't happy but I knew I could use it."
The hard-throwing junior Rear relieved starter Mike Demianiuk in the seventh and issued Monroe's first walk to the No. 9 hitter Lindholm who, coincidentally, got the win over Monroe in the first game, a 13-1 win in Madison.
Demianiuk stepped off the rubber for the fourth and fifth innings as middle reliever Nick Rieder worked two near-clean frames, only allowing a runner on an error.
"Pitching is such an important part of high school baseball; they throw their number one guy and we actually had to make three moves with pitchers," Christensen said. "I wasn't sure how many more tricks I had up my sleeve."
The Cheesemakers rallied to tie the score at 3-3 with two runs off Ritter in the fifth inning. Tordoff set the table by hitting a too-hot-to-handle shorthop liner to second base. With two outs and after Tordoff scampered to second on a wild pitch, Stangel brought his hoops backcourt mate around with a humpback single into right center.
Catcher Kyle Klopfenstein drew a walk before left fielder Nate Barta stroked a clean single to right to plate Stangel and knot things up. Stangel joined Barta in putting together a two-hit night; both teams had six hits.
Barta had an infield single in the fourth and also made two slick, sliding catches in left field as the wind whipped toward the plate from right field. Right fielder Shawn Hart and center fielder Josh Popanz also made sparkling, web-gem-worthy catches in wind gusts that made fly balls virtually stand still.
Ritter announced his presence with authority by striking out the side in the first. He racked up nine total Ks and had two hits.
The Crusaders scord a run in each of the first three innings and Dammen had a night to forget, as he dropped a routine fly in center, resulting in an unearned run in the second. To add insult to injury, the base of his car's windshield was shattered by a foul ball.
"We did not play a perfect game and still played them as tough as anyone has this year," Christensen said.
"We are playing good teams tough, the next move is to beat those teams. I hope we can make that next move from nice try to nice win."
Another challenge arises in the form of Division 1 Verona at home Thursday.
Monroe coach Steve Christensen ran out of tricks and Monroe (3-7) came a seeing-eye single short of having a shot to upset Division 2's top dog in Madison Edgewood (9-0) during a 4-3 baseball loss at Monroe High School Tuesday night.
Crusaders starter Chris Ritter drove in Jeff Lindholm by chopping a Mike Rear pitch slowly back through the box - perfectly-placed between shorstop Mitch Tordoff and second baseman Brett Stangel.
"They didn't hit the ball hard off Rear, but the leadoff walk usually comes back to bite you in high school baseball and it did," Christensen said.
Cleanup hitter Robert Parman hit a carbon-copy RBI-single to plate Ritter from second after he snuck into second as Alex Dammen air-mailed the cutoff man.
On the advise of his coaches, Rear threw to third and the umpires ruled Ritter missed the base when rounding third.
A break for the Cheese on the surface, the appeal simply fired Ritter up as he went 1-2-3 in the bottom half to complete his game.
"That was all the motivation I needed," Ritter said. "I wasn't happy but I knew I could use it."
The hard-throwing junior Rear relieved starter Mike Demianiuk in the seventh and issued Monroe's first walk to the No. 9 hitter Lindholm who, coincidentally, got the win over Monroe in the first game, a 13-1 win in Madison.
Demianiuk stepped off the rubber for the fourth and fifth innings as middle reliever Nick Rieder worked two near-clean frames, only allowing a runner on an error.
"Pitching is such an important part of high school baseball; they throw their number one guy and we actually had to make three moves with pitchers," Christensen said. "I wasn't sure how many more tricks I had up my sleeve."
The Cheesemakers rallied to tie the score at 3-3 with two runs off Ritter in the fifth inning. Tordoff set the table by hitting a too-hot-to-handle shorthop liner to second base. With two outs and after Tordoff scampered to second on a wild pitch, Stangel brought his hoops backcourt mate around with a humpback single into right center.
Catcher Kyle Klopfenstein drew a walk before left fielder Nate Barta stroked a clean single to right to plate Stangel and knot things up. Stangel joined Barta in putting together a two-hit night; both teams had six hits.
Barta had an infield single in the fourth and also made two slick, sliding catches in left field as the wind whipped toward the plate from right field. Right fielder Shawn Hart and center fielder Josh Popanz also made sparkling, web-gem-worthy catches in wind gusts that made fly balls virtually stand still.
Ritter announced his presence with authority by striking out the side in the first. He racked up nine total Ks and had two hits.
The Crusaders scord a run in each of the first three innings and Dammen had a night to forget, as he dropped a routine fly in center, resulting in an unearned run in the second. To add insult to injury, the base of his car's windshield was shattered by a foul ball.
"We did not play a perfect game and still played them as tough as anyone has this year," Christensen said.
"We are playing good teams tough, the next move is to beat those teams. I hope we can make that next move from nice try to nice win."
Another challenge arises in the form of Division 1 Verona at home Thursday.
