March 2, 2018 – Washington Co., WI – Today the Board of Control unanimously voted to end WIAA Summer Baseball. The final season and State Tournament will be this summer (2018).
Summer baseball history courtesy WIAA
The WIAA began offering a summer baseball tournament program in 1965. The first State Tournament was held in West Bend. New Holstein defeated Brown Deer, 2-1, in the first State finals. The tournament featured eight teams participating in the State quarterfinals, semifinals and final up until 2011. In 2012, the field was reduced to four teams consisting of the semifinals and the championship game.
West Bend was the site of the first 24 State Tournaments conducted in the summer. The tournament was moved to Bukolt Park in Stevens Point where it was held for the next 22 years. In 2012, the tournament was moved to Kapco Field on the campus of Concordia University in Mequon where it remains today.
Brookfield Central and Oak Creek lead in the number of State baseball titles won in the summer season with four. Brown Deer, Greendale, Homestead, West Bend East and West Bend West are next on the list of State championships with three. Arrowhead, Franklin, Marquette, Menomonee Falls and Nicolet have won twice.
New Holstein has appeared in the most State Tournaments with 19. Ashland and West Bend West are second on the list of appearances with 13. Platteville and Plymouth have played in 12 State Tournaments, and Arcadia, Franklin, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau and West Bend East have qualified 10 times. Homestead, Nicolet, Oak Creek and Tomahawk have made nine appearances. The State championship has been won by 30 different schools. One of them, Auburndale (1970), is the only school which has also won the State spring title (1960).
In 2004, Oak Creek became the first school in the history of the summer baseball program to win back-to-back titles. In 2005, the Knights extended their record number of consecutive titles with their third straight championship. Franklin captured consecutive championships in 2010 and 2011, and Menomonee Falls has won two straight titles in 2015 and 2016.
Marquette played in back-to-back title games (2008-09), but finished runner-up after winning the title the previous year. Several schools have played in the title game in consecutive seasons only to finish runner-up on both occasions, including West Bend (1966-67), Hamilton (1970-71), Ashland (1994-95), Cedarburg (1997-98) and West Bend West (2010-11).
Photo courtesy WIAA
This is a story in progress. Updates will be posted when more information becomes available.