The Luxemburg Casco Spartans softball season has come to an end, despite a pair of late inning rally attempts, falling to Foxes Valley Lutheran 3-2 as heard on 104.1 WRLU. 

The Spartans struck first, as Alayna Deprez drove in Claire Schleis in the top of the 1st inning, grabbing an early 1-0 lead.  The Foxes answered back in the bottom of the frame, after Claire Pfrang hit a lead off triple and came in to score on a Madi Babcock sacrifice fly.  FVL grabbed the lead in the second as Paige Leavitt and Brianna Dahlke each drove in a run, while reaching on an error, putting the Foxes up 3-1. The Spartans were held in check in the third but knocked on the door in the 4th. Stella Schleis was thrown out at the plate, trying to score on a safety squeeze.  LC stranded two in its best scoring chance since the 1st.  

The Spartans defense tightened up, and kept Fox Valley Lutheran off the board despite traffic through most of the game.  Luxemburg Casco struck back in the 6th, when Claire Schleis collected her second infield single of the contest and came around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Riley Westlund.  Luxemburg Casco did strand a runner in the frame but retired the Foxes in order in the bottom of the inning giving the team a shot to see if it had one last rally in them.  

After a leadoff strikeout in the top of the 7th, Abigail Buckmaster came up with another huge moment, ripping a double into deep right field. Coach Schoen elected to replace Buckmaster with a courtesy runner, who was thrown out at third on Alayna Heurkens hit a comebacker to the pitcher.  Down to its final out, Rylan Kaminski ripped a single to left field to put the go ahead runner on first. Unfortunately, the Spartans season came to an end on a Claire Schleis strikeout.  

Fox Valley Lutheran will meet up with Denmark on Thursday with a chance to go to State.  Luxemburg Casco graduates 7 seniors, Kirstin Wendricks, Vivienne Ducat, Brianna Bray, Alayna Deprez, Baylee Wypiszenski, Rylan Kaminski, and Riley Westlund. 

The battle of the LC's will extend to the baseball diamond Tuesday afternoon when Luxemburg-Casco travels to Little Chute to take on the Mustangs.

The Spartans clinched their spot with a 5-1 win over Shawano at home last week. Seven different Spartans registered the hits in the victory with Eli Derenne, Jacob Coisman, Gavin Lax, and Tatum Klaubauf recording the RBI. Lax earned the win on the mound for the Spartans allowing one run (0 ER) on five hits while striking out five across 6.2 innings of work.

The Mustangs tuned up for their regional semifinal against D1 Green Bay Preble, losing the game 6-2. Prior to that, they had won five in a row including a sweep against Denmark and a split against Waupaca. The two teams split their games earlier this year with the Spartans winning their game at home 3-1 and the Mustangs capturing their home date 4-3.

First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.

Coming off last week's incredible comeback win against Seymour to clinch the regional title, the Luxemburg Casco Spartans are set to start sectionals on Tuesday, when it travels to Fox Valley Lutheran, which will be heard on 104.1 WRLU. 

The Spartans pushed past the Thunder with a 5 run 6th inning highlighted by a 3 RBI double off the bat of Abigail Buckmaster that put LC in front for the first time that afternoon, and was enough to lift Luxemburg Casco past the Thunder 6-4. 

Across the chalk lines will be Fox Valley Lutheran, having gone 22-3 this year, with one of its losses coming to Seymour earlier in the season. The Foxes are headlined by Madison Babcock, a prolific pitcher who is committed to the University of Minnesota, and outfielder Natalie Bromm who was named the state's Outfielder of the Year in a poll run by High School on Sports Illustrated Wisconsin.  

The Foxes won its regional matchups in dominant fashion, downing Oconto Falls 28-0 early last week, then ousting Notre Dame 11-0 on Thursday. 

Eric Fischer will have the call from Fox Valley Lutheran High School, with the pregame show starting at 4:15 and first pitch at 4:30.