Waverly 51 edges Pizza King in extra innings to win Appleton Little League city baseball championship

APPLETON – A baseball game is not always won by a towering home run that gets lost in the lights.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of running as fast as you can.

Take Brody Struensee of the Waverly 51 Little League baseball team.

Struensee took advantage of three wild pitches to hustle his way around the bases and lift Waverly 51 to a 9-8, nine-inning win over Pizza King to lift his team to the Appleton Little League Major City Championship on Wednesday night at Scheels USA Youth Sports Complex.

“It was amazing,” Struensee said about scoring the winning run.

The opportunity to do that nearly didn’t happen.

After Struensee reached on a single to right field, the next two batters – Cody Rempala and Brendan Wille – popped out and struck out, respectively.

That’s when things got interesting.

Ethan Arft, who had come on in relief to start the inning, threw a wild pitch with Jackson Cleaver at the plate moving Struensee to second. Cleaver was able to work a walk with ball four getting away to send Struensee scurrying to third.

Charles Johnston was next up at the plate when another wild pitch brought Struensee home.

What was Struensee thinking when he was on first?

“It was kind of nerve-wracking because there were two outs,” he said. “And we’re toward the bottom of the order.”

And then staring down at home plate while perched at third when the wild pitch was thrown?

“It’s like I’m going to get the winning run,” Struensee said.

Said Waverly 51 manager Tom Campbell: “Small ball and hustle and base running is what did it for them.”

After Waverly 51 took a 5-2 lead in the first inning and then found itself down 8-6 in its half of the sixth inning, it may have looked bleak for a championship.

“These boys have battled all year,” Campbell said. “They have battled all year. They are never out of a game. They have a lot of heart.

“None of them gave up in the dugout. They came out and they did it.”

A tip of the cap goes to Rempala for a strong job out of the bullpen for Waverly 51.

Rempala came on with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, allowing a run-scoring fielder’s choice before getting the final two outs of the inning.

He then pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning, allowed a leadoff double to Arft before getting the next three outs in the seventh, and then 1-2-3 eighth and ninth innings.

“Rempala has been solid all year,” Campbell said. “He’s been consistent and throws strikes.”

Rempala was thinking team first.

“I was thinking throw strikes and win the game for my team,” he said. “That was super fun and playing in a Major championship game was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Finishing second was not what the Pizza King team was thinking, leading 8-6 with only three outs to get in the sixth inning, but sometimes things can just slip through one’s fingers.

“You tell them how proud you’ve been of them,” Pizza King manager Kevin Gross said. “Two years ago this team was no-hit and now we’re in the championship game. They had each other’s backs from Day 1. When someone would make a mistake, they’d pick each other up and say, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ ”

Pizza King scored two runs in the first inning on a single to center by Ian Leyden, only to see Waverly 51 come back with five in its half of the first.

Roger McPherson drove home two runs with a single to center, Struensee singled to drive home the third run, with a groundout scoring the fourth run and Wille’s pop single scoring the fifth run.

Pizza King got the game back to even with three runs in the third on a two-run double by Leyden and a single by Max Verhagen.

Waverly 51 regained the lead in the fourth inning on an error that scored McPherson.

Three runs came across for Pizza King in the fifth inning on a wild pitch that scored Arft, who had tripled. Jacob Gross followed with a triple and scored on an infield single by Owen Rein, who eventually came around to score on a fielder’s choice.

Waverly 51 tied the game in the sixth inning on a single by Jamison Wheelock, a walk to Bentley Campbell, a run-scoring error and an intentional walk. Following a lineout and a strikeout, a bases-loaded, run-scoring walk to Rempala scored Campbell.

Pizza King  203  030  000  -  8

Waverly  500 102  001  -  9

WP: Cody Rempala. LP: Ethan Arft. Leading hitters: Jacob Gross PK 2B, 3B; Ethan Arft PK 2B, 3B; Ian Leyden PK 2B.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Waverly 51 tops Pizza King to win Appleton Little League championship