For the Antigo Times

Defense and pitching kept the Antigo All-Stars in the game until their offense could come alive in a 20-5 win over Rhinelander to open the Little League tournament.

Hayden Thill led the way on the mound striking out 9 over four plus innings of work. Adding to Thill’s effort was some great defense. With Antigo trailing 1-0 in the second inning, catcher Scotty Hagerty picked off a Rhinelander runner attempting to steal second. In the third inning, outfielders Liam Burt and Gauge Guenthner both made nice catches to keep hold of an Antigo 3-1 lead. Caleb Vandenlangenberg recorded 3 strikeouts over the final two innings, while Collin Berger made a nice grab for the first out of the fifth inning.

The offense, silent for the first two innings, put up runnings every inning after. Scoring three runs in the third led by Thill’s two-run in the park home run.

Base running was the story of the fourth inning as Antigo scored five times on stolen bases by Marcus Washatko, Burt, Breleigh Akright, Diego Flores-Martinez and Thill.

The team added three more in the fifth. AJ Kohler doubled and scored, Carson Rhode stole home and Guenthner drove a single to left for an RBI single.

Antigo lit up the scoreboard with a 9-run sixth inning.  Nate Malone led off the scoring, coming in on a Washatko RBI single. Flores-Martinez plated 2 with a double. Vandenlangenberg had an RBI triple, and RBI singles by Burt and Thill added to the score.

Next up is a game in Wausau on Monday, July 16 against a yet to be determined opponent.