By Bobby Narang- Photos by Renee Kaspar
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FRANKLIN, Wis. – Illinois Wolves 13U pitcher Brady Madden rarely showed any emotion on Sunday afternoon.
Poised and in control on the mound throughout a tense game at The Rock Complex, the unflappable right-hander was dealing throughout despite handling a tough situation.
First off, the Wolves were playing the same opponent – Whitefish Bay – for the second time in two days. The Wolves started the two-day tourney in grand fashion, defeating two highly ranked teams from Wisconsin in Prospects and downing Whitefish Bay in a late game on Saturday night.
By knocking off two teams on Saturday, the Wolves had express entry into the semifinals, which allowed them to rest until Sunday’s 4:15 p.m. game. They were rewarded with a rematch against a motivated Whitefish Bay squad.
It’s never easy to be the same opponent twice in a season, let alone twice in less than 20 hours.
But Madden, after watching teammates Matthew Wiskowksi and Christian Slazak both toss complete game efforts on Saturday, was up to the task on Sunday.
Madden, who had a strong effort at the plate in Saturday’s two games, showed off his right arm on Sunday. He pitched a complete-game three-hitter, striking out seven batters and walking four to lead the Wolves to an 9-3 win over Whitefish Bay. The victory kept the Wolves unbeaten for the season, and propelled them into the championship game, which started 15 minutes after the semifinal victory on the same field.
“I just came out there and was throwing strikes,” Madden said. “I was really motivated after seeing the two guys throw a whole game, so I knew I could. My fastball was working, but my curveball was good and bad. I thought the other team would smack the ball a bit, but I got my pitches working and threw strikes.”
Before Sunday’s two games, Illinois Wolves coach Brandin Muniz talked extensively about the overall depth and talent on his pitching staff. Madden’s strong effort was another example of the Wolves’ deep rotation of quality arms.
“(Brady) did a great job,” Muniz said. “He came through. At first, in the bullpen, he was trying to find his breaking pitch, but he found it in the first inning. It really helped him out and toward the end of the game, his adrenaline came up and he started pumping his fastball more on every pitch, which is what we needed. It kind of sparked the team.
“I’m proud of the boys. We battled and got really good pitching. We didn’t burn a lot of our pitchers, so I feel good about that. I’m proud of our pitchers.”
Madden showed off some toughness in the final three innings. He mowed down Whitefish Bay’s lineup through the first three innings, not allowing a run and just one hit. He got into some trouble during the top of the fourth, yielding a run. He gave up two runs in the fifth but buckled down to lead the Wolves into the championship game.
Throughout the semifinal win, the Wolves were aggressive. They send an early message with their approach on the basepaths.
“We’ve got a lot of speed on the team, but we also knew based on how the other pitcher was pitching that we could move on the basepaths pretty good and give an opportunity for our batters to collect more runs,” Muniz said.
Michael Petrbok led the way with two hits, a walk, two stolen bases and an RBI. Graham Johnson added two hits and a stolen base.
“We hit pretty well and had good pitching,” Petrbok said.
Jackson Martin finished with a single, a stolen base, an RBI and a walk. Slazak struck out his first two times at the plate but capped a strong offensive effort by the Wolves with a two-run double off the rightfield wall in the bottom of the sixth.
“I had two strikeouts earlier in the game, so it felt good to get that triple,” Slazak said. “Our hitting was very good in the first game.”
The Wolves belted 11 hits to overpower the Wisconsin team in the rematch. After not scoring a run in the first inning, the Wolves’ offense was jolted alive by Madden. Just like Wiskowski and Slazak on Saturday, Madden helped his own cause with an RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Wolves picked up three hits from the bottom three hitters in the lineup to cap a strong day at the plate.
In the third, Fred Sackley continued his hot hitting after getting moved into the leadoff spot for both of Sunday’s games. Sporting a colorful bat and batting gloves – both splashed with several light colors, including pink – Sackley powered a pitch over the centerfielder’s head for a two-run double for a 3-0 lead. On the first pitch for his at-bat, Petrbok hit a chopper up the middle for an RBI single for a 4-0 edge. Martin added an RBI groundout for a 5-0 lead to end the four-run frame.
“We had a break early in the day because we were the number one seed, but we came out ready to play and got that game done,” Sackley said. “Coach told me I had been hitting well, so he wanted to keep doing that and put me at the top of the order. The (RBI double) felt good. They were targeting the outside of the plate against me, so I was expecting that and he threw the first pitch outside the plate, l and I swung and smashed it.”
In the fifth, Johnson smacked a ball into the right-center gap for an RBI triple. Johnson displayed his power on the strong hit, then showcased his blazing speed to easily make it to third for a 6-1 lead.
Julien Duque, a catcher, got on base twice in the game, drilling a single and getting on via an error.
“I feel we were smacking the ball in the first couple of games and had amazing pitching,” Duque said. “Once Brady turned on that curveball in the third game, I felt it all went our way. It felt really nice to win that third game.”
