Great Lakes/Central Plains Division II Regional Preview

Almost all Wisconsin Legion baseball teams have wrapped up their seasons, but a select few will represent our state at national tournaments. The Class AAA state champion Madison Impact and runner-up Beloit will participate in the Great Lakes Regional this week with a trip to the American Legion World Series on the line, while Menasha, Viroqua, and Waupun will play in the Central Plains Division 2 Regional. Here’s everything you need to know about what these tournaments will have in store for our state’s teams.

Great Lakes Regional

The Great Lakes Regional is an eight team, double elimination tournament. This summer, it is being played in Edwardsville, Illinois. Other states that will send teams are Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Wisconsin is the only state to have two teams participate in the tournament. The Madison Impact (33-3) will play the opening game of the tournament on Wednesday at 10 a.m. against Michigan champion Bay City (38-1). Beloit (29-7) will play the second game against Kentucky champion Shelbyville (23-7). Madison will either face Indiana champion Rockport (27-1) or Illinois champion Danville (34-4) in their second game, depending on the result. Beloit will draw Ohio champion Pickerington (41-11) or host team Edwardsville (17-6).

No Wisconsin team has won the Great Lakes Regional since Janesville Post 205 did it back in 1989. However, mathematically speaking, Wisconsin has the greatest chance of winning it along with Illinois since there are two teams from the Badger State. Wisconsin receives two bids due to there being a larger number of Legion teams in the state than in others.

Last year, Madison finished in third place in the regional after falling to Alton, Illinois on championship Sunday.

Central Plains Division 2 Tournament

The Central Plains Division 2 Tournament will pit the top lower division teams in the region against each other. Like the Great Lakes Regional, it has a double elimination format. Since Waupun (24-6) is the host, they earned an automatic bid to the tournament. They are also the Class A state champion. As the Class AA state champion and Class A runner-up respectively, Menasha (27-4) and Viroqua (31-18) also earned berths to the tournament.

Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Nevada will have representatives at the tournament. Kansas Class AA state champion Larned (18-11) will play Viroqua in the first game of the tournament on Thursday at 11 a.m. Viroqua will face either Minnesota Division II runner-up Glenwood-Lowry or Nevada Silver Division champion Henderson in their second game of the tournament. Menasha squares off with Minnesota Division II champion Giantvalley (16-7) in the tournament’s third game. Waupun will face North Dakota Class A champion Valley City (20-25) in their tournament opener. They will either face Menasha or Giant Valley in their second game.