By Reagan Hoverman

Both the Ellsworth Hubbers and the Spring Valley Hawks were knocked out in the first round of the St. Croix Valley Base ball League tournament on Saturday, Aug. 6, at the First National Bank of River Falls Field in River Falls.

While River Falls and Prescott threw players near the top of their rotations during the annual league tournament, Ellsworth and Spring Valley didn’t quite follow the same thought process. The Hubbers and Hawks both gave their top-tier pitching time ou to rest before the playous begin on Friday, Aug. 12, and Saturday, Aug. 13.

The first contest on Saturday in River Falls was Ellsworth against the new Richmond Millers at 1 p.m. New Richmond drew first blood in the top of the second inning when Ryan Stephens slapped a two-RBI single to center field to take a 2-0 lead over Ellsworth.

After a fruitless bottom of the second inning for Ellsworth, New Richmond piled on the runs in the top of the third inning. After a single and an RBI triple to make it 3-0 Millers, Ellsworth starting pitcher Andrew Ader- mann took a line drive ou of his ankle and had to be pulled from the game.

The Millers scored three more runs in the top of the third to make it a 6-0 ballgame and essentially end Ellsworth’s hopes of making a run in the St. Croix Valley Baseball League Tournament.

After seven innings of ball, New Richmond had defeated Ellsworth 10-2 to advance to the second round of the two-day tournament. Ellsworth player/manager Jeremiah Paulson spoke about the loss and saving starters.

“Someone in the dugout said it best – we came to play, they came to win today,” Paul- son said. "We were flat to start. The plan was to get guys work and that’s what we did.

We've been leaning on (James Georgakas) so hard this summer, we were going to play without him in this tournament to give him a break. He's throwing Friday night (in the WBA playous)." Paulson and the Hubbers placed more val- ue on resting top-tier pitchers such as Georga kas and Urban Broadway instead of winning a first-round league tournament game against New Richmond. The Hubbers have bigger fish to fry and are feeling good heading into Friday night’s postseason appearance, Ells- worth's first in seven years.

“We feel good, we’re healthy and we’ve got pretty much everybody available,” Paulson said. “Now, it’s a matter of changing the mindset from the tournament, here to play, to getting after it next week. We’re giving the guys a taste of the playous on Friday. We ha ven’t had the survive and advance mentality in seven years – it’s fun to see how the young guys will handle that and grow.”

Ellsworth plays Friday, Aug. 12, at home against the Minocqua Wood Ducks at 8 p.m. Ellsworth will then play on either Saturday, Aug. 13, or Sunday, Aug. 14, depending on the results of other games in the playou pool play format. Live updates can be found on the Pierce County Journal Twitter: @PCJournalSports Spring Valley falls to Hudson 13-1

Spring Valley suuered the same fate that the Ellsworth Hubbers did – a first-round playou loss in blowout fashion. The Hawks had a similar mentality to that of Ellsworth, which was to get young players experience and rest the top-tier talent for the upcoming WBA playou run.

Spring Valley's first-round matchup was with the #3 seeded Hudson River Rats in the 4 p.m. game in River Falls. The Hawks struck first in the top of the first inning with two run ners on base. That’s when Ryan Casey roped a single to the outfield which scored Charlie Thibodeau from third base to take a 1-0 lead.

Hudson scored one in the bottom of the first inning to make it a 1-1 ballgame and then exploded ouensively in the bottom of the third inning. A double and two walks for Hudson loaded the bases with only one out.

Spring Valley struggled to find the strike zone and walked the next three batters to make it a 6-1 game in favor of the River Rats. Hudson hits and Spring Valley errors made for more River Rats runs. By the time the third inning ended, Hudson’s lead had ballooned into a 10-1 advantage.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Hudson tacked on three runs to make it a 13-1 ballgame and essentially punch a ticket to the second round of the annual league tournament on Sunday afternoon.

After the fine-inning contest, Spring Val ley manager Erik Thompson spoke about the loss and the upcoming playou run which be gins Saturday in Merrill.

“Our plan entirely for this weekend was to just toss a bunch of guys,” Thompson said. “We weren’t looking at this weekend as a – when it doesn’t mean anything, I think it takes the edge ou of guys and I think if you try to force it onto them, I don’t think it works. When young guys know it doesn’t mean anything, it's a diuerent mentality." In addition to knowing that a playou spot is already secured and that a loss to Hudson wouldn’t change that, the weather was also an issue for Spring Valley. The game was originally supposed to be played in Prescott at 1 p.m. instead of River Falls at 4 p.m., which was changed due to inclement weather.

“We had a couple of guys that couldn’t make it because of that schedule change,” Thompson said. “They had already made plans for tonight and we were supposed to be done well ahead of 4 p.m. That pushed a cou ple of guys out.”

Spring Valley did manage six hits in the game against Hudson, but only scored one run. Thompson stated that Hudson’s starting pitcher, Owen Anderson, is one of the better arms in the league, and playing against him will help when the playous begin.

"(Owen Anderson) is probably one of the better arms in our league, he’s really good,” Thompson said. “For our guys to see that be- fore playing next weekend (WBA playous), to see that pitching is beneficial for us." Spring Valley is slated to begin the WBA playous on Saturday, Aug. 12, at noon in a game against the Everest Merchants.

Spring Valley infielder Scott Sayles hits a line-drive to center field for a single during the Hawks’ game against Hudson in the first round of the St. Croix Valley Baseball League Tournament.

Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Ellsworth shortstop Drake Flom gets into position for a groundball during the Hubbers’ firstround St. Croix Valley Baseball League Tournament game against the New Richmond Millers.

Photo by Reagan Hoverman