08/04/2026
MONONA 2️⃣7️⃣ vs COTTAGE GROVE 0️⃣
The Monona Braves finished off their 2026 Home Talent League Regular Season with a beatdown of the Cottage Grove Firemen. With a final score of 27-0, the game was only close for the first half inning of play. The game was ugly, uncompetitive and a poor representation of what the Home Talent League is all about. In a league that prides itself on local amateur baseball talent competing at a high level, it was clear that only one team arrived at the ballpark to compete in this game. To save some ink and keep this as brief as possible, I will summarize with just a few stats.
The first 12 Monona batters of the game reached base safely. The first 7 were either walked or hit by pitch. The score was 13-0 after the first inning with Monona only providing 4 hits. Highlighted by a Mac Vesperman home run.
Monona scored 6 more runs in the bottom half of the second inning. Monona gained base 7 times via a hit and twice via walks in this inning. Sam Lund, Monona’s starting pitcher was relieved of his duties after this inning finishing his outing with 2ip, 1h, 1bb, 5k, 0r.
Monona batters failed to score in the third and fourth innings of play. Corey Schmidt pitched those innings for Monona with a stat line of 2ip, 1h, 2bb, 0k, 0r.
In the fifth inning, Monona scored 6 more runs. The Braves collected 7 hits and 1 walk to score.
Monona’s sixth inning tallied the last 2 runs for the Braves of the day. The Braves got 3 hits and 1 walk in the sixth. Monona pitcher Robby Proehl exited the game after the sixth inning with 2ip, 0h, 1bb, 3k, 0r.
To finish the game off, Monona’s Zac Najacht pitched the final inning. Zac worked a three up three down scoreless frame with two strikeouts.
To summarize the offense, Monona batters reached base safely 43 times out of the 57 plate appearances. Monona tallied 22 hits for a team batting average of .550 on the day. Monona batters were walked 11 times and hit by a pitch 5 times.
Monona finished the regular season with a record of 12-2 and earned the #2 seed for the Eastern Section playoffs. The other Eastern Section playoff teams are #1 Sun Prairie, #3 Columbus and #4 Montello. Monona will host a home game for the first round of the playoffs this Sunday on Murphy-Anthony Field at Ahuska Park against the Columbus Crawdads. First pitch is at 1pm.
