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Top 10 Stories of 2022: Late Game Heroics Lead To Second Straight State Title for Denmark

December 27, 2022
By: Maddox Durst
PBR Wisconsin Staff

At the end of the year, our staff reflects back on some of the best moments that came from the past 365 days. As the final month comes to a close, we wanted to highlight the 10 most interesting headlines from around the state, finishing with our number one storyline that will be released on New Year’s Day.

The Div. 2 slot of games ran into trouble in Appleton at this year’s state tournament, as thunderstorms brushed off the night session of day two at the state tournament, forcing the semifinals and championship game to take place on day three. 

The semifinal games had to be moved to a separate location, at Nienhaus Field, home of Appleton West, due to the scheduled championship games at Fox Cities Stadium that were scheduled for that day. 

Mosinee and Jefferson faced off in the first semifinal, which featured an improbable comeback. Jefferson, after being down 5-0, scored six unanswered runs and shut down Mosinee’s offense, advancing them to the championship game for the second year in a row. 

A similar occurrence happened in the second semifinal with Pewaukee and Denmark. Denmark, the reigning Div. 2 champions, faced a 6-2 deficit entering the last inning before they erupted for seven runs. Pewaukee tried to answer with two runs of their own, but eventually came up short as the tying run was thrown out at home plate, giving Denmark the 9-8 victory. 

Déjà vu struck at the state tournament, as the Div. 2 championship game featured the same two teams as it did in 2021, Denmark and Jefferson. The Eagles entered the game trying to rewrite the script that Denmark created in 2021, while the Vikings looked to defend their title. 

RHP Owen DeGrand (2022; Lake County CC) got the start for Denmark, and Jefferson countered with RHP Drew Peterson (2024).

C Rheis Johnson (2023; Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota commit) got the scoring started early in the first inning, as he drove a base hit to left-field to plate a run to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. 

1B/RHP Tyler Butina (2023; Central Michigan commit) flexed his muscles in the third inning, as he launched a home run to one of the deepest parts of Fox Cities Stadium to tie the game at 2. 

The back-and-forth affair continued as Denmark regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning, when OF Hayden Konkol (2022; St. Cloud State University) tripled and scored on a Johnson groundout. 

Small ball, plus a base hit from OF Evan Neitzel (2022), allowed Jefferson to manufacture two runs in the fourth inning, giving the Eagles a slight 4-3 lead. 

After Denmark knocked out Peterson, they jumped on Butina right away, putting up two runs of their own in his first inning of work. Konkol gave Denmark a 5-4 lead after an RBI groundout to third.

Jefferson once again had an answer to Denmark’s scoring though, as OF Aiden Devine (2022) had an RBI double to tie the game up in the late innings. A clutch relay from the Vikings’ defense allowed the game to remain tied at five. 

Both offenses went quiet for what felt like the first time all day, until the bottom of the seventh inning. Singles from SS Abe Kapinos (2022) and OF/RHP Ethan Ovsak (2023) set up Konkol in a game-winning scenario. Konkol did not disappoint, as he drove a walk-off RBI double to deep right field, winning the game and the Div. 2 state championship for the second straight year. 

Denmark’s 6-5 victory finished off the 2022 WIAA season, and the game could not have encapsulated the high school season in a better fashion, creating an excitement and buzz as we begin to enter the 2023 season. 

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