Sports

Brent Jorgensen will head to his postseason seeding meeting Sunday afternoon.

And Middleton’s baseball manager could be armed with a lot of ammunition.

The Cardinals posted three impressive wins last week and improved their record to a stellar 15-4 this season. Middleton also improved to 10-3 in the Big Eight Conference, just one game behind second place Sun Prairie East (11-2).

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ week:

• Middleton 5, Waunakee 1 — Jacob Guerrero was sensational on the mound for the visiting Cardinals, allowing just one hit and one earned run in seven innings on May 10.

Guerrero struck out six, walked two and threw strikes on 52 of 84 pitches (61.9%).

Trailing, 1-0, in the fifth, the Cardinals erupted for five runs.

Alden Cleary had a two-run triple, Jason Morgan had a run-scoring double, and both Morgan and Biagio Gargano scored on errors.

The postseason is officially here for Middleton’s boys golfers.

And the next few weeks should be packed with excitement, intrigue and drama.

The Cardinals will be at the Big Eight Conference meet Thursday at Evansville Golf Club beginning at 9 a.m.

Middleton then travels to the Madison Memorial Regional Monday beginning at 9 a.m. The top four teams at regionals head to the Waunakee Sectional on May 30 starting at 9 a.m.

The state tournament is June 5-6 at Blackwolf Run in Kohler.

Middleton wrapped up its regular season with a jam-packed week. Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ week:

• Middleton Triangular: The Cardinals competed in one of their more exciting triangulars in years on May 9.

Both Middleton and Janesville Craig shot sizzling 297-team scores at Bishop’s Bay. Janesville Parker was a distant third at 365.

Craig’s Wyatt Marshall captured medalist honors with a 68.

This is what Mary Duffy had been waiting for.

Duffy, Middleton’s girls soccer coach, knew her team was capable of playing together and executing at an extremely high level. Last week, that’s exactly what happened as the Cardinals won three straight games.

First, Middleton throttled Janesville Parker, 13-0, on May 4. The Cardinals followed that with a 4-1 win over Fond du Lac at the Brookfield East Al Gusho tournament last Friday.

Middleton then returned to the Gusho tournament and edged Hartland Arrowhead, 1-0, last Saturday.

Middleton is now 7-2-1 on the year and 3-2 in the Big Eight Conference.

“We know what having the whole team on the same page feels like, looks like, sounds like,” Duffy said. “We will need every single person on the team on the same page with the same goals in mind.”

That’s exactly what happened last week.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ impressive performances.

Are you ready for some summer league amateur baseball?

Home Talent League president Pat Reilly said despite a later start to the season for the second year in a row, the league — which began in 1929 and will field 44 teams this season — is raring and ready to go.

“We’re in good shape,” said Reilly, who also manages the Dodgeville franchise and high school team and has been involved with the league since 1964. “We’ve got more teams. We’ve got more excitement.”

While the season would already be underway in past years, a number of factors pushed the opening weekend from the beginning of May to the week preceding Memorial Day weekend a year ago and that has carried over to the 2023 season.

“I would say it’s somewhat back to normal except the schedule,” Reilly said of the HTL following the lost 2020 season due to the CO-VID pandemic. “We didn’t go back to a full schedule yet. Part of that is due to the lack of umpires.

Amazingly, the baseball playoffs are less than three weeks away.

And Middleton has picked the perfect time to start playing its best ball of the season.

The Cardinals won all four of their games last week and improved to 13-4 overall and 10-3 in the Big Eight Conference.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ week:

• Middleton 8, Janesville Parker 4 — The host Cardinals raced to a 7-0 lead after three innings and held off the Vikings on May 2.

“We had a great start both offensively and defensively,” Middleton manager Brent Jorgensen said. “We strung together quite a few hits and quality at bats to start the game and it showed up in the run column.”

Alden Cleary led the Cardinals with three hits, a double and two RBI, while Jackson Rademacher had two hits and two RBI. Easton Harris added two RBI, while Jason Morgan scored two runs.

Three up, three down.

And then when Middleton came to the plate against one of the top prep softball pitchers in the state, Sun Prairie East’s Taylor Baker, freshman Hailey Stroede singled back up the middle to lead off the bottom of the first inning.

“That was a big confidence boost for us getting a leadoff single off her,” said Middleton’s Mckenzie Pertzborn.

But?

“But they didn’t fear it,” Pertzborn added. “And that’s on us knowing that we’ve got to move runners early to jump out early in games like this so we don’t fall behind and we can stay confident and play our game.”

Indeed, Middleton failed to manufacture anything out of Stroede’s leadoff single and Sun Prairie took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, ultimately jumpstarting the visiting Cardinals to a 10-2, Big Eight Conference victory last Friday evening at Firefighters Memorial Park in Middleton.

Middleton’s girls track and field team won the Sun Prairie East Quad on May 2.

Middleton finished with 93 points, while Sun Prairie East (79.5), Verona (50.5) and Sun Prairie West (44) rounded out the team scoring.

Sun Prairie East won the boys meet with 95.5 points, followed by Middleton (92), Verona (48.5) and Sun Prairie West (34).

Here’s a list of the Cardinals that notched top-five performances:

GIRLS

• Madilyn Vander Sanden won the discus and the shot put.

• Samara Bradtke won the 200-meter dash, while Abby Arnold was fourth and Sam Pomroy was fifth.

• Elizabeth Schwartz won the 1,600-meter run, while Claire Wallsch-Drury was fourth and Meredith Pansegrau was fifth.

• Kydd Amelia won the 3,200-meter run, while Daniela Abell-Guzman was second and Juliette Mandlebrot was third.

• Elle Seager won the high jump, while Noel Neuser was fourth.

The tournament is called the Nicolet Sweet 16.

It could very easily be labeled the state tournament preview.

Nicolet hosted 16 of the state’s top boys tennis teams last weekend and Middleton showed it will be tough to upend when the state tournament arrives next month.

The Cardinals had top-three finishes in all seven flights and won the ultra-competitive tournament.

“Winning this tournament reminds our guys that a state title is well within reach if we continue to grow,” Middleton coach Henry Johnsin said. “I think there is confidence to be gained from that.”

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ performances:

SINGLES

• No. 1 — Middleton’s Ethan Bo reached the finals, where he lost to Brookfield East standout Oscar Corwin, 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.

The auditions are about over.

‘The Show’ is just around the corner, and Tom Cabalka has some tough decisions to make.

Cabalka, Middleton’s boys golf coach, has one of the state’s deepest and most gifted outfits. The only problem is he has several golfers scoring in the same range — and he can only play five.

Cabalka didn't get much clarity last week.

First, the Cardinals finished third at the 23-team Legend Clubs Invite held at Bristlecone Pines in Hartland on May 2. Middleton was then 10^th among 28 teams at The MACC Fund Invite held at Erin Hills last Saturday.

Middleton now has a busy week, and the postseason begins with the Big Eight Conference meet on May 18. By then, Cabalka wants to have settled on a playoff lineup.

“We’ll get 10 scores from our guys and those scores should pretty much determine who our top five and six golfers are going forward,” he said.

Middleton’s baseball team won three of four games last week.

The Cardinals defeated Madison West, 12-10, on April 24. Middleton whipped Madison La Follette twice — 12-1 on April 25 and 16-1 on April 27. And the Cardinals were blanked by Union Grove, 7-0, last Friday.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ week:

• Middleton 12, Madison West 10 — The Cardinals pounded out 13 hits and rallied past the Regents.

Middleton built a 7-0 lead after two innings, only to see visiting West take an 8-7 lead after 4 ½ innings. But the Cardinals rallied with five runs in the bottom of the fifth and held on.

“Both teams hit the ball really well and we came out on top of a slugfest,” Middleton manager Brent Jorgensen said. “Every one of our starters had a hit in the game and we did just enough to come out with a win.”