BRODHEAD — Brodhead-Juda had the heart of its order up in the bottom of the seventh, but the Cardinals were unable to cash in, falling to Edgerton 5-3 in a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal May 23.
“We’ve put ourselves in great positions most of the year to be able to allow guys to go win it. Sometimes you fly too close to the sun and eventually get burned,” Brodhead-Juda head coach Aaron Guilbault said. “I always tell the guys they’re responsible for the wins, and I’ll take the losses. I thought our young men did enough to win, and I didn’t get them in a spot to capitalize, and that stings.”
Brodhead-Juda ended its season 13-11, claiming its first conference title since 1989. The team won four games via walkoff, earning the nickname ‘Cardiac Cardinals.’
“It’s an extremely special group, and to be able to do what we did this year — bringing a conference championship back to our halls — will not be forgotten any time soon,” Guilbault said. “This shouldn’t minimize anything these guys did this year, and can’t say enough times how proud I am of them, this coaching staff, and the school district for their support.”
The postgame feelings were ones that the Cardinals were, unfortunately, familiar with. Edgerton has eliminated Brodhead-Juda from the WIAA tournament in the last three seasons. In 2022, 1-seed Edgerton beat 5-seed Brodhead-Juda 6-2 in a WIAA regional semifinal, and last season, the 9-seed Crimson Tide defeated the 8-seed Cardinals on their home turf in a WIAA regional quarterfinal. But Brodhead-Juda came into Thursday’s game confident after sweeping Edgerton in the regular season 15-14 on a walkoff, and 8-5.
“We were confident, prepared, and excited to continue the work we’ve put in this year,” Guilbault said. “I let them know before the game what a special group they were and just how proud I was of them regardless of what playoffs had in store for us.”
Brodhead-Juda stood strong in the first after a leadoff walk. Olin Zellmer moved the runner into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but Cardinal starting pitcher Sam Searls escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
Edgerton’s Ethan Stengel struggled with control early on, as he fell behind to Evan Senobe 2-0. Senobe grounded out, but Stengel fell behind again to Gabe Bockhop, who drew a walk. David Masloke struck out looking, and the Cardinals ran themselves out of the inning as Bockhop was caught stealing.
Sam Searls put the bats back in his teammates’ hands, facing the minimum in the second. He induced a groundout, battled back from 3-0 to force a pop up, and Ryan Searls went to his knees to make a play in the 5-6 hole for the final out.
With the defensive web gem and heart of its order still up, Brodhead-Juda struck. Stengel hit leadoff batter Clayton Elliott. After falling behind to Ryan Searls 2-0, Stengel’s defense bailed him out by turning a double play.
Control issues remained, as Stengel gave back-to-back free passes to Sam Searls and Max Pinnow. Kohen Sawle then put Brodhead-Juda on the board with a 3-2 single over the shortstop’s head.
“We were just resilient. We never felt like we were out of it,” Guilbault said. “It was the next man up approach like it’s been all season. Stengel had trouble throwing his off speed stuff for a strike early in the game, so we eliminated that and sat primarily on his fastball. Just quality at bats once again.”
Walks were contagious, though, as Edgerton generated some offense with good eyes at the plate. Noah Towns led off the bottom of the third with a five-pitch walk, and Chris Burns moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Eli Kittleson then lined an RBI single to right, tying the game.
Sam Searls walked the next four batters, throwing just three strikes to 16 balls. Now trailing 3-1 with the bases loaded and just one out, Guilbauilt brought in Elliott for relief. It took Elliott a couple batters to settle in, as one run scored on a wild pitch and another on a groundout to the right side. Bryce Appel walked — the sixth of the inning — but Elliott left two runners stranded, inducing a flyout to left.
After a 1-2-3 inning in the third, Brodhead-Juda responded in the bottom of the fourth. Elliott led off with a single to right and advanced to second on a groundout from Ryan Searls. Sam Searls lined out to first for the second out, but Pinnow kept the inning alive with an RBI single to center. Sawle walked to put two runners on, but Stengel struck out Tyrin Foster to end the inning.
Elliott kept the Crimson Tide at bay, as the Cardinals tacked on another run in the sixth. Ryan Searls roped a double to right but was thrown out third, looking to extend the hit to a triple. Relief pitcher Donovan Hatch hit Sam Searls and walked Pinnow to put runners on first and second. Hatch got Sawle to strike out swinging and was one out away from a clean inning before Foster lined a 3-1 RBI single to right. With the top of Brodhead-Juda’s order coming up, Edgerton head coach Mike Gregory made another pitching change. Kittleson walked leadoff batter Senobe but got Bockhop to fly out.
Elliott faced just one batter over the minimum in the seventh, setting his team up for its potential fifth walkoff win of the season. No. 3 batter David Masloke led off the inning with a full-count walk. Elliott was then hit by a pitch — his second of the game. That brought the winning run to the plate in Ryan Searls. He fouled back a bunt and swung and missed twice to strike out. Sam Searls flew out to the infield and pinch hitter Breylon Strehlow grounded out, ending the game.
Brodhead-Juda out-hit Edgerton 5-3 but couldn’t bring the runners around to score. Pinnow reached base in all three plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with an RBI and two walks. Sawle was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk, and Masloske reached twice via walk. Sam Searls suffered the loss, giving up five runs on one hit. He struck out two but walked six.
