Barron, Cumberland (WQOW) -- Ellsworth, Prescott, and Greenwood will represent western Wisconsin at next week's WIAA State Baseball Tournament.
Ellsworth will make the trip for the first time in school history. The Panthers punched their ticket Tuesday by winning the Division 2 Barron Sectional, beating West Salem and Somerset in the process.
Ellsworth head coach Steve Block used to coach at Prescott, where he took five teams to the state tourney. Block says this Panthers team has been fun to coach.
"They're a very loose bunch," says Block, "this has been an interesting group for me, I'm old school so I have to bend with the new students a little bit so I'm not as harsh as I was at one time."
Ellsworth will play Racine St. Catherine's in a Division 2 state semifinal next Wednesday at around 8:00 P.M.
Ellsworth finished second in the Middle Border Conference to Prescott, which also won a sectional title Tuesday, in Division 3. The Cardinals edged Fall Creek 1-0, before doubling up defending D-3 sectional champ Grantsburg, 4-2. Prescott enters the state tourney ranked number one in the state Division 3 coaches poll.
"We've done very well all year," says Prescott head coach Jeff Ryan, "we have had a great regular season and one of the things we wanted to do was we didn't want to plateau as a baseball team. You talk about trying to get better every single time out, and for the most part we did that."
Prescott plays Oshkosh Lourdes/Valley Christian next Wednesday at around 3:00 P.M.
Greenwood has advanced in Division 4, the Indians will face Johnson Creek Wednesday at around 10:00 A.M.
