Ahlberg Brings Big League Mindset to Small School Team
Northwood/Solon Springs to play in WIAA Division 4 State Tournament
MINONG, Wis.- The Northwood/Solon Springs baseball team has reached the state tournament for the first time in program history. The milestone has also extended the high school baseball career of Lakeland East All-Conference member Abe Ahlberg.
On the day before Northwood/Solon’s Section Tournament, Ahlberg and his teammates treated practice like any other Monday on the diamond.
“We’re pretty relaxed right now,” said Ahlberg. “I mean, we’re blaring music right now. We’re having fun talking, so I think we’ve got a good a good feeling about tomorrow and how tomorrow is not going to be the end of our road. (It’s) Not going to be my last high school game tomorrow.”
Their confidence paid off as the Green Eagles defeated both Washburn and Rib Lake to capture their first section title. For Ahlberg, reaching the State Tournament has been a long time coming.
“Baseball has been my first love…I mean, playing in the living room with my dad…. It’s been a treat to be able to (play) for 16 years now.”
Abe’s father, Nate, might know his son’s game better than anyone else since he’s also Northwood/Solon Springs’s head coach.
“He’s just been able to be a guy that we can rely on and be solid for us,” says Coach Ahlberg. “He started for us as a freshman, and he came in, and he was just ready to go. He’s played a lot of baseball in his life, and he’s always very steady. He’s not going to get super high; he’s not going to get super low, he’s just going to kind of remain really steady. And, and with that steadiness, he performs really well at the same time.”
“It’s a lot of fun,” Abe says in regard to being coached by his father. “I mean, I might get the rap of (being a) coach’s kid but I don’t feel that at all. I mean, he treats each of us the same, in my opinion.”
Though Abe has already secured his place among the best ball players in his school’s history, he hopes to be remembered as more than just a skilled pitcher and shortstop.
“I’d say (as) a leader, a man of integrity,” he says. “A person who is going to come back and do something for the community and always look out for the people who he’s close with.”
“Baseball will be done at some point for him,” says his father, “but you know, the character that I see out of him, that’s the thing that I like to see the most.”
Northwood/Solon Springs will play in the state semifinals at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute on Tuesday, June 11 at 9 a.m.
