It really only took one inning to decide Waukesha North's game at Kettle Moraine on Monday, thanks to a nine-run first inning for North that led to a 15-2 win in five innings, one of the final contests in the 2015 regular season.
The big inning started with three walks, followed by Austin Weyer's bases-clearing double against KM starter Eli Foth, who recorded just one out. Kendall Gould later added an RBI single and Nick Dorshorst cleared the bases again with a double during the carnage.
'We played a pretty complete game today,' said North coach Dan D'Amico. 'Bats were doing what they're supposed to be doing. We put together good at bats, hit the ball hard, put some pressure on the defense to have to make plays. James (Winters) threw another great outing today; he's starting to get in a grove now. I think that's about three or four in a row that he's really thrown well. So, we're feeling really good about where he's at toward the end of the season here.'
Kettle Moraine didn't get on the board until the bottom of the fourth inning when junior Gunner Amelunk hit an RBI infield hit to the shortstop. Following Amelunk, Kyle Abatto drove in a run on a fielder's choice.
'When you allow nine in the first, obviously you're in for a rough evening,' said Kettle Moraine coach Jim Wilkinson.
The Northstars added two runs in the top of the second with a pair of RBIs, one off the bat of junior Dylan Corrao with a sacrifice fly to left, and the other from senior Zach Reiter, an RBI single.
'You know, from one to nine, we all played great,' Reiter said. 'We all hit the ball, we all put the ball in play, drew walks. Putting pressure on is the main thing. When we put pressure on, we seem to score runs that way.'
Later in the third inning, the Northstars added four runs when Corrao and sophomore Colin Schumacher both hit two-run doubles in that inning.
Other conference play featured Waukesha South's victory over Waukesha West, 4-3, an encouraging sign for South against the top seed in one of the four summer baseball sectionals.
North and South were slated to square off Tuesday, July 14, at Frame Park in the tourney opener. The winner was slated to meet second-seeded Sussex Hamilton on July 17.
South run-ruled by Grafton
Waukesha South fell to Grafton in a nonconference tilt Thursday, July 9, 10-0, also in five innings.
'We played errorless baseball, and as a coach, you can never ask for more than that,' said Grafton coach Brian Durst. 'So we made all the plays we had to make, and from a pitcher's standpoint, that's a good feeling.'
West handles Rockets
Waukesha West took to the diamond at South Milwaukee on Saturday and pulled away for a 12-4 win. Ben Rieckhoff hit his first home run of the season in the top of the sixth.
'It all just happened in a blur; you don't have that much time to think when up there,' Rieckhoff said. 'It just came and I got a good swing on it.'
West coach Chad Montez added: 'We had a lot of big hits today. Like Ben ... he came in as a pinch hit situation, which is never easy, but then he just hits a rocket and crushes one, and that was cool to see, because he works really hard and does a really good job.'
After a scoreless first two innings, Mike Balistreri ignited a Waukesha West rally with an RBI double to left in the third, followed by senior Alex Kermandy's sacrifice fly to left to put the Wolverines up, 3-0. After South Milwaukee answered with two runs in the fourth, West added one more run when sophomore Luke Kundinger hit an RBI double to right to make the score 4-2 in the fourth.
The Wolverines pulled away with three runs in the seventh inning, capped by sacrifice flies from Kermandy and Dain Hudson.
'We're 30 games into our season and I know mistakes happen,' said South Milwaukee Coach John Galewski. 'But we had a number of mistakes. That was maybe a little bit of a lack of focus.'
West awaits the winner of Brookfield East and Mukwonago in the playoffs and will play at 8 p.m. Friday at Waukesha West.