Late, wild comeback sends Falls back to state
GERMANTOWN - The question was short and simple: “Did he catch it?”
The answer — and its implications — were not so straightforward.
Dayne Fuiten laced the go-ahead double in the bottom of the sixth inning, right-hander Alex Heitman dominated in relief and Menomonee Falls punched its ticket to the summer baseball state tournament with a 5-3 sectional final win over Germantown on Monday night at Germantown High High School.
Falls (26-7), which won state titles in both 2015 and ’16 will face topranked Pius XI in a state semifinal at 11:35 a.m. Friday at Kapco Park in Mequon.
Fuiten’s game-winner, however, came with plenty of controversy.
With one out in the sixth and Falls pinch-runner Brett Tamblingson on second after Brennen Beck hit a gametying double, Fuiten sent a fly ball deep to left-center field. Warhawks centerfielder Ben Brandenberg ranged to his right and tried to make a diving catch at the warning track.
As Brandenberg landed, the ball popped out of his glove and back into the air.
Moments later, the Germantown senior, lying on his back, stuck his glove up with the ball inside to indicate that he had caught the ball on the rebound. However, an umpire immediately ruled no catch, allowing Tamblingson to come around and score to give the Indians a 4-3 lead.
So, did he catch it?
“I truly don’t know if he caught it on the rebound or not,” Falls head coach Pat Hansen said. “What I do know, though, is the next thing I saw is the umpire give the safe sign, so I run my guy from second. I’d have been curious that if they did call him out, how do I run the bases then?”
Germantown head coach Jeff Wolf went out to argue the play as a pair of fans donning Homestead and Nicolet gear out past the outfield fence, feet away from the play, continued to signal that Brandenberg caught the ball.
“Apparently the umpires didn’t see it,” Wolf said. “When you have three umpires, you hope that’s why you have them, so they can see it. I know it was out there a ways, but obviously that’s a huge part of the game.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Falls. They came back, tied the game and took advantage of their chances.”
Fuiten came around to score on a wild pitch and throwing error by Warhawks catcher Colin Sackett for what would be the game’s final run.
“I wasn’t worried about our team scoring runs, so I just had to come in, throw strikes and get out of there with the least amount of runs possible,” Heitman said. “We said it from Day 1, ‘We’re going to state, we’re going to state.’ We never doubted it and now we’re going to state.”
Germantown finsihed 21-11.