Baseball regionals get underway Thursday

The postseason has finally arrived in high school baseball. The opening round of sectionals play for divisions two, three and four began Thursday with several area teams advancing.

One such team is Regis. The Ramblers, the No. 8 seed in Sectional 1B of Division 3, hosted No. 9 Cadott at Carson Park. The Ramblers got off to a fast start when Alex Ciulla smacked a line drive off of Hornets starter Warren Bowe to left center field.

The ball landed in left-center field, scoring Jami Kostka while Ciulla raced his way to third. Catcher Matt Palecek scored the left fielder with a groundout just a couple of pitches later and that made it 2-0 Regis in the bottom of the first.

Regis’ bats stayed hot all day and the Ramblers won 11-1 in six innings. The Ramblers will take on No. 1 Elk Mound, who finished the regular season 19-1, Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Division 3, Fall Creek kept is magical ride of a season going with an 11-1 win over Augusta. Ethan Westrate went 2-for-4 with a double. The Crickets will play Whitehall, who beat Durand-Arkansaw 7-2, Tuesday.

Osseo-Fairchild toppled Stanley-Boyd 6-2 and will play No. 2 Mondovi who had a bye. McDonell toppled Boyceville in a 13-4 seed upset by a score of 12-8. The Macks face Neillsville/Granton, who beat Colfax 3-0, next.

In Division 4, No. 5 Eleva-Strum won 4-0 over Assumption and will play Columbus Catholic after it beat Elmwood/Plum City 6-5. No. 3 Blair-Taylor crushed Greenwood 13-0 and will plat Port Edwards next.

Full brackets can be found at wiaawi.org.