NEW RICHMOND — The River Falls Fighting Fish have been the favorites in the St. Croix Valley Baseball League (SCVBL) in recent memory, and they showed why, allowing a single run over three games of action during a league tournament championship run.

River Falls cruised to an 8-1 win in the title game over the second-seed Hudson River Rats. After finishing 24-7 in the regular season with a league record of 17-1 (the lone loss coming against Hudson on June 22), winning has become expected for the Fish. This is nothing new, as River Falls won the Wisconsin Baseball Association’s state title in 2022 and 2020.

For some, you may see a massive celebration that features a dogpile or the classic Gatorade bucket pour, but for the Fish, they just enjoyed the moment and mentally moved on to the next game.

“It was good. Played good all around,” Ty Denzer said. “A little tuneup for next weekend. Playoffs are next weekend, so that’s when it really counts, so just have fun.”

As for the game itself, Charley Griffin dominated on the mound for six innings with one unearned run allowed. When asked what he was feeling on the mound, Griffin said “the heat.”

“I just thought I’d pound the fastball and throw a curveball every once in a while down in the dirt,” Griffin said. “That’s basically what I try to do every game.”

The pitching display lasted all weekend long, with River Falls pitchers allowing just the one unearned run over 21 innings pitched.

“That’s elite,” Denzer said. “If we can do that, we’ve got a good chance.”

Pitching can make or break postseason play, given the format causing multiple games over a short span. The Fish are comfortable with their pitching, and they are going to need to bank on it in the playoffs.

Offensively, it was Weston Lombard getting the Fish on the board first with a sacrifice fly in the second inning to bring home Carter Elliott, who had reached third on a three-base throwing error on a ground ball to the pitcher. Next, it was Denzer who would send a two-run shot over the wall in the third inning. Lombard hit a double in the third to bring in another run. Three more runs were picked up in the fourth, and it was smooth sailing from there.

WBA Playoffs

The Wisconsin Baseball Association playoffs see some significant changes this year, and will now have an “A” Division and a “B” Division. Each division will feature four host sites of six teams, split in half to make two pools of three at each site.
Each pool of three teams will compete in a round robin format from Aug. 9-11, with the top eight teams from each division competing in their respective state finals from Aug. 16-18. The “A” Division finals will be hosted in River Falls, and the “B” Division finals will be in Whittlesey, Wis.

Representing the “A” Division, River Falls is the No. 1 seed, and will be one of the host sites. In their pool are the No. 16 Everest Merchants and the No. 14 Eau Claire Cavaliers. No. 12 seed Spring Valley’s pool will also play in River Falls, which includes No. 4 seed and defending WBA state champions the Tilden Tigers and the No. 18 Rhinelander River Monsters.

The No. 23 seed Prescott Pirates head to Haugen to play in a pool featuring the No. 3 Osseo Merchants and the No. 15 Spooner Cardinals.

In the “B” Division, Ellsworth will be a host site and play in a pool with the Abbotsford Merchants and the Tony Hayshakers. Elmwood will also head to Ellsworth to play the Bangor Redbirds and the Tomahawk Titans.

The Bay City Bombers play in Glidden against the Whittlesey Reds and Iron City Miners.

The Plum City Blues take to Rib Lake for matchups against the Interwald Woodticks and Ashland Merchants.

More information on the playoff format and dates, times and locations for the games is available at https://wbabaseball.org/.