Spooner 0 River Falls 17

            Spooner dropped their opening round game to the River Falls Fighting Fish, in what many expected to be a close battle, but ended up being a very lopsided victory for the #1 ranked Fish. River Falls scored in each inning besides the sixth (the game ended after the top of the 7^th due to the 10-run rule). The Fish hit three home runs throughout the game and left no doubt they are the best team in the WBA in the 2025 season. The Fighting Fish advanced to the state finals hosted by Hayward August 15-17 with a 15-1 win over Lacrosse on Sunday. Spooner only mustered four hits on the game against the Fish #1 pitcher (0.42 ERA, with zero walks given up in 49+ innings pitched). Haiken Meier had two hits, Brandon Rangel and Nick Webster each had one.

Spooner 9 Lacrosse 7

            Given the lopsided nature of the loss to River Falls, Spooner was realistically out of contention in the event that Lacrosse pulled off an upset on Sunday against River Falls (which they lost 15-1). The Cardinals were playing for themselves to end the season on a winning note. Spooner’s pitcher, Trevor Brimblecom, tossed his fifth complete game of the season despite facing a very pesky lineup of Lacrosse. Lacrosse actually outhit Spooner 16 hits to 11 hits but they hit into multiple inning ending double plays and scattered a several bloop singles in throughout the game.

            The Cardinals went out with a bang as they clubbed two home runs by Brandon Shutt (first inning) and Sam Holden (fifth inning). Spooner scored four runs in the first inning, highlighted by Shutt’s monster drive to left field as a two-run home run. Lacrosse broke through with two runs in the third inning with a towering home run to right field that barely exited the park and Lacrosse added a run in the fourth to make the score 4-3. The Cardinals answered back with two runs to extend the lead 6-3 after a bases loaded RBI hit by Carsen Stenberg, but a base running gaffe by the runner attempting to score from second led to an inning ending 8-4-2-6 double play and killed the Cardinals chance at burying the 35ers. Lacrosse would not be done as they brought the game to 6-5 with another pair of runs in the fifth. The bottom of the fifth would be enough for the Cardinals when Nick Webster led off with a double and then Sam Holden smashed his second home run of the season to left field to take a 8-5 lead. The Cardinals added a run in the seventh when Zach Rombach led off with a single and stole second base. Shutt singled to drive Rombach in and extend the lead 9-7. Lacrosse would not be done and scored two runs in the ninth inning and left the bases loaded to end the game.

            The Cardinals finish the season 9-10 overall (7-5 Indy 2^nd place) while playing one of the overall tougher schedules in the WBA when combining league and non-league contests. Spooner’s offense had a decrease offensively from years past finishing with a .260 team average. Zach Rombach (.356), Haiken Meier (.340) and Brandon Shutt (.333)  were the top three (qualifying) hitters for the 2025 season. Sam Holden led the team with two home runs and Shutt led with 11 RBI. The pitching staff was anchored by Trevor Brimblecom: 58 innings, 3.41 ERA and five complete games. Jeremy Bloomquist 28 innings, Evan Potaczek 23 innings and Jesse Morales 22 innings ate other major chunks of innings throughout the summer.

The Cardinals would like to thank their families and fans for their support during the 2025 season. While the finish was the first year since 2020 to not advance to the WBA Finals, the Cardinals still finished in second place in the difficult Independent League. This will also be the first year since (possibly) 2016 the WBA Finals will have zero teams from the Independent League. Hayward, Haugen and Brill each won their opening games but lost their second games to go to state.

The Finals will be hosted in Hayward August 15-17, with the following teams advancing (WBA overall seed): River Falls (1), Cadott (3), EC Bears (5), WI Rapids (6), Everest (7), Spring Valley (8), Osseo (13), Tilden (14). The official schedule will be released Monday evening.