Brady twirls bittersweet no-hitter in playoff opener

It’s rare that a playoff no-hitter can be tinged with a bittersweet taste, but Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau’s senior ace Caiden Brady faced precisely that feeling in the Red Hawks’ playoff opener against Black River Falls.

Brady was denied a chance at a perfect game on a controversial hit by pitch with two outs in the seventh but still managed to complete the no-hitter as fifth-seeded G-E-T (14-8) rolled past the 12th-seeded Tigers (3-17) 5-0 last Thursday in Galesville.

After sweeping BRF by a combined margin of 26-4 during the regular season, the runs didn’t come quite so easily for the Red Hawks in the playoff rematch. Granted, they didn’t need much run support with Brady dealing on the mound.

After the Red Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, an error allowed two runs to score. A Nathan Holthaus sacrifice fly plated another run in the third to extend the G-E-T advantage to 3-0.

The Red Hawks again loaded the bases in the fifth and scored two more runs on another error. With a five-run lead, the only real drama left was whether Brady would be able to complete the perfect game.

With Brady’s pursuit of perfection still alive in the top of the seventh, BRF’s Parker McCormick tried to reach on a bunt with his team down five, but Brady calmly fielded the ball and got the putout at first. After getting Gavin Bolger to ground out to second, only Cole Gearing stood between Brady and a perfect game.

The dream was dashed when a 1-1 pitch from Brady made contact with Bolger’s left arm and he was awarded first base. Brady and G-E-T head coach Scott Hovell both made unsuccessful appeals that Gearing threw his elbow out to get hit — something Hovell said was supported by a postgame review of the video of the pitch.

“We’ve already looked at the video of it and the pitch is certainly a strike and he just kind of drops his elbow right down into the pitch. Disappointed that the umps didn’t recognize what was happening there and just overall disappointed at the way the game ended,” Hovell said. “You’d think you’d just want to go hit and try to go win a baseball game rather than being focused on wrecking a kid’s perfect game.”

After seeing his chance at a perfect game ripped away in a manner he deemed “bush league” after the game, Brady regrouped to get Will Rahmlow to ground out to finish off a no-hitter that brought some mixed feelings.

“They’re focused on trying to ruin a perfect game instead of just winning the ballgame. It’s 5-0, they’re bunting, they’re throwing whatever out,” Brady said. “But the main thing is we won. That’s all that matters.”

Brady struck out 11 and needed only 72 pitches in his no-hitter, 56 of which were strikes.

“When he attacks the zone, he’s just really, really good,” Hovell said. “He struggles when he has a hard time locating secondary pitches and when he kind of overthrows a little bit and that just wasn’t the case tonight. He was really locked in, really good.”

The Red Hawks had four hits on the evening (all singles) courtesy of Brady, Holthaus, Lachlan Daffinson and Adain Busch.

The winner of Tuesday’s regional semifinal between G-E-T and No. 4 seed La Crosse Logan faces either No. 1 seed Wisconsin Dells or No. 8 seed Merrill in a Wednesday regional final, with that winner advancing to next Tuesday’s sectionals.

G-E-T 9 Whitehall 2

In the final regular season tuneup before the start of the playoffs, the Red Hawks romped to a non-conference win over the Norse (10-10) last Tuesday in Galesville.

G-E-T put together a game-deciding six-run rally in the bottom of the second, which featured a Daffinson RBI triple and a Brady RBI single. Whitehall’s only runs came courtesy of Jacob Sartor’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth.

Brady finished the game 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run, Daxson Scow and Holthaus each collected two hits and Daffinson tripled in the win. For the Norse, Riley Herman doubled while Kade Foss and Sartor each had a single.