A’s Walk It Off in 14-Inning Thriller to Take Game 1 of NEWBL Championship

The Sheboygan A’s took Game 1 of the NEWBL Championship Series in dramatic fashion Tuesday night, walking off the Menasha Macs in the 14th inning for a 3–2 win at Wildwood Park.

Fans got an early indication of how the game was going to go in the top of the first inning. With runners on first and second base and two outs, the Macs hit a line drive up the middle — but second baseman Chase Hanselman made a spectacular diving catch to prevent any damage. That catch would set the tone for the rest of the night.

After six scoreless innings to start the game, Menasha broke through with two runs in the top of the seventh on a double, a pair of singles, and a hit batter — all off starter Jared Reklaitis, who was brilliant all night.

On the flip side, the A’s offense was kept relatively in check until their comeback started in the eighth. In the bottom half, Nick Tenny drew a leadoff walk, followed by a Carter Kallies double that just eluded the outstretched dive of the Macs’ center fielder, moving Tenny to third. With one out and two runners in scoring position, three-hole hitter Harry Steldt stepped to the plate and crushed a 3-1 pitch to deep right field, scoring both Tenny and Kallies to tie the game.

Like a 10-round boxing match, both teams kept trading punches, but just when one team was threatening, the other would come up with a spectacular defensive stop to hold them down. Menasha would go on to strand 16 runners on base, and the A’s 11.

The A’s threatened to close things out in the 10th when Kallies walked with one out. Bradyn Horn stepped up to the plate and doubled on a fly ball to center, but Kallies was tagged out at the plate. The A’s again put two runners on base in the 11th after consecutive walks to Hanselman and Jimmy Juergensen, but once again the Macs were able to get out of a jam.

In the 12th, the Macs started to make a push when the leadoff hitter singled. After the next batter struck out, catcher Connor Lasch threw out the runner trying to steal second in what ended up being a huge play — the next batter doubled, but reliever Shaun Gavin struck out the following hitter to end the inning and keep things knotted at two.

Things again got interesting defensively for the A’s in the top of the 13th when the Macs loaded the bases with two outs, but Gavin was able to induce a groundball to first baseman John Hadley, who tagged first to stop the threat. In the A’s half of the 13th, Hanselman and Juergensen both reached base with one out, but another strong defensive play from Menasha turned a double play and halted the scoring chance.

In the 14th, Menasha pushed the go-ahead run to third base after the leadoff batter was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Michelangelo Granela, on in relief of Gavin to start the inning, kept his poise and struck out two of the next three batters — sandwiched around a groundout to Riley Palmquist — to send the game to the bottom half still tied at two.

In eerily similar fashion to the bottom of the eighth, Tenny singled to lead off the inning. Alex Ames came on to pinch run for Tenny, who earlier in the at-bat had fouled a ball off his foot but stayed in the game to deliver the base hit. Kallies followed up with a perfect bunt to reach base and push Ames to second. Horn then laid down another perfect bunt to load the bases with nobody out, bringing Steldt to the plate. On the second pitch he saw, Steldt sent a deep fly ball to left field where Ames tagged up and scored to secure the 3–2 victory.

The A’s finished the night with 12 hits, getting two apiece from Hadley, Juergensen, and Tenny, while Steldt had all three runs batted in. The A’s pitching staff of Reklaitis, Gavin, and Granela struck out 24 Menasha batters, with Reklaitis leading the way with 15 over his nine innings of work.

The A’s now lead the best-of-three series 1–0 as the series shifts to Menasha Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. Should a Game 3 be necessary, it would return to Sheboygan Thursday night.