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The Pirate guys flirted with disaster all game and it finally wound up catching up to them in the seventh inning.

The Pirates fell 5-1 to the Elk Mound Mounders in the sectional semi-final game, giving up four runs in the top of the seventh to end Grantsburg’s remarkable season.

The game was close until then. Both teams scored one run in the sixth inning, then that fateful seventh inning for the Pirates. The leadoff hitter was hit, there were two or three walks and a couple hits in there that combined for four runs in the final frame.

The Mounders (what kind of mascot is that, anyway? Is it some sort of politically correct compromise? If I were a mound I’d be pretty offended) pitched extremely well giving up only four hits and striking out five. Their pitcher was in control most of the game.

The Pirates had won eleven in a row and they had a chance to win the game. They dodged early bullets by throwing two runners out at home… in the first inning! The first was Nolan Hanson to Ben Larson with Larson tagging out the advancing runner. The second came with the bases loaded and the batter bounced it to pitcher Thane Larson who threw it home for the force then Larson gunned it to first baseman Jake Ryan for a rare 1-2-3 double play.

Though the season didn’t end the way the Pirates and their fans would’ve liked to have seen, the team represented their home town well and they deserve our congratulations. They played ball like it should be and they were rewarded with a great season and a trip to Sectionals. Only sixteen teams get to do that every year.

Congrats, Pirates!

Really cool photo courtesy of Marianne Shira

The Grantsburg baseball team is headed to sectionals tomorrow. Their first game is at 11am versus Elk Mound and when they win they will play again at 5pm.

Thanks to Deb Allaman-Johnson for the map and directions. You can see the ball field in the lower left-hand part of the map. (I would’ve just linked to the baseball site, but the Grantsburg school’s website is too cool for me to figure out the links.)

Turn off I-94 @ Osseo. Take hwy 10 West. Follow to west side of town. Ballpark on the north side of hwy 10…take county road K. See aerial map above.

If you can’t make it to the game be sure to tune into 105.7 WXCX for the play-by-play.

Go Pirates!

Congratulations to the Grantsburg Pirates. They won tonight 9-2 against the second seed Clayton/Turtle Lake team.

The Pirates advance to the Sectionals which will be held in Osseo-Fairchild next Tuesday. Their first game starts at 11am and should they win that one they will play at 5pm that evening. Their first game is against the Elk Mound Mounders (17-4 first place in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference). Bracket

The Grantsburg pitching was outstanding tonight as Jimmy Nelson and Nolan Hanson combined for eight strike outs in seven innings. The third inning was the only inning the Clayton/Turtle Lake squad got anything going and it was on the strength of a bloop hit to left and a high chopper in front of home plate. Both of those players came around to score that inning and that was it for them for the game.

I really appreciate the fans at the ballpark. They are very passionate about their home team and are per capita the loudest fans I think Grantsburg has.

Grantsburg is on a roll right now winning their eleventh game in a row (looks like I had a bad source in the previous post).

Congratulations and good luck!

Photo Courtesy of Deb Allaman-Johnson

The Grantsburg Pirate baseball team has won eight in a row after beating the Unity Eagles last night, 4-3.

Grantsburg’s Thane Larson had a perfect game going through three innings and a no hitter into the fifth. In that fifth inning Unity scored twice and cut the lead in half, 4-2.

Then the wild top of the seventh came. The Unity runners on second and third first and second were running with the pitch, two outs. The batter gets a solid knock into right center field. One run scores, and the runner from first is on his way. A relay throw from the outfield to second baseman, Austin Eskola first baseman, Jake Ryan to catcher Ben Larson is in time and secures the third out of the inning and a chance at a regional championship against second seed Turtle Lake/Clayton. The game will be at five o’clock tonight (Wednesday, June 3). Tune in to 105.7 WXCX for the action.

The Pirates have now won nine out of their last ten games. Let’s hope they can continue that tonight against a good Turtle Lake/ Clayton team. Grantsburg lost to them the second game of the season, final score 6-2.

It was a good night for the baseball and softball teams.

The Pirate girls won their opening playoff game against the Cumberland Beavers 5-4. The score was 5-1 heading into the top of the seventh, and final, inning.

A couple errors and good hitting by Cumberland led to some major excitement, but in the end, with a runner stranded at third base, Michelle Lund struck out the final batter of the night to preserve a regional championship opportunity.

The Pirates play again on Thursday evening and will take on either St. Croix Central or Glenwood City (surprisingly, their score wasn’t available at the time of this writing 9:45 p.m.). You can hear the game on 105.7 WXCX. Softball playoff bracket.

Congratulations to the Frederic Vikings, they knocked of #2 seeded Shell Lake tonight 4-1 which advances the Vikings to the regional championship game versus Birchwood, who ended Luck’s season. The final score there was 11-1.

The Grantsburg baseball team beat the conference champions tonight on a walk-off two run homerun by Trent Bonneville. Grantsburg won the game 6-4. It was Bonneville’s second dinger of the game. A lot of people were still around the softball field when the crowd erupted over at the baseball field and we could see a couple Pirates rounding the bases and a lot of St. Croix Falls Saints dejectedly walking back to their dugout. Kind of a neat perspective. Baseball playoff bracket.

Despite losing their final game of the regular season the Grantsburg fastpitch team retained their number one status in division 3′s coaches’ poll. They are ahead of Deerfield, Lancaster, and Amherst.

The Grantsburg baseball team (11-8, 7-2) received a number one seed in their region and that also gives them a first round bye. The baseball playoffs start next Friday but Grantsburg won’t see playoff action until Tuesday, June 2nd when they face the winner of the #5 Glenwood City (5-9, 4-1 Dunn/St. Croix Small – not all game scores were available) vs. #4 Unity game (11-9, 6-4).

A quick spring storm only delayed the inevitable for the Siren/Webster team tonight. They were facing the number 2 team in Division 3 tonight and it ended up pretty ugly. Grantsburg won 18-0.

I have to give Siren/Webster credit because they really held Grantsburg in check (relative to my expectations) until the fifth inning when the Pirates erupted for ten runs. Siiri Larsen pitched pretty well, but in the end the S/W team had some mental breakdowns, some throwing errors and some pitching mistakes that led to the very lopsided score.

Michelle Lund struck out 8 (out of a possible 12 outs) and only allowed one hit. Sarah Wald had a good night at the plate going 3 for 3 with an RBI and a couple runs scored. Ingrid Ames hit a bases loaded triple that one hopped the fence in that fifth inning.

Grantsburg came out swinging the bat and it paid off for them once again. Grantsburg is now 15-0, 6-0 in the West Lakeland. Then next closest in the conference only had two wins coming into tonight’s games.

My next broadcast is May 12 and its a baseball game with Grantsburg travelling to Pine City to take on the Dragons.

I wish I could’ve been there on Saturday when the lady Pirates were able to take a pair from Amery. The first game was a 3-0 shutout the second was a seventh inning come from behind win.

This is exciting to me because Grantsburg is being tested this year… and winning. How can they help but grow together through things like that. I believe that playing these tough games early and pulling them out will do nothing but great things for this team.

The Pirates are now 8-0 on the season. Read more about each game at assistant coach, Steve Johnson’s awesome site.

The baseball team is still struggling in the W/L columns but they are playing some very good teams. The team is now 2-4 after this past weekend’s Prescott tournament. Ben Larson and Jimmy Nelson were honored as all-tournament players.

I will be broadcasting the fastpitch game versus Luck on Thursday and the following week I will be broadcasting the Pirate baseball game against Frederic on the 27th. Tune into 105.7 WXCX to hear the play-by-play!

I haven’t been able to get to any games yet. The girls fastpitch team is undefeated (5-0) and outscoring thier opponents 62-6. They did have a scare against Barron, but they were able to pull it off in the bottom of the seventh inning. Read coach Steve Johnson’s account of the game here.

The baseball team is starting a little slow, dropping two of their first three games.

My column in the Sentinel had to be condensed from what I had originally written so I wanted to give you an opportunity to read the whole thing as it was intended. Here it is.

Grantsburg will again have strong baseball and softball teams this spring.

The girls fastpitch team finished last year ranked 6th in Division three and will be bringing back a lot of key players a year removed from getting to the sectional final game.

The boys baseball team is already getting some recognition from Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association. The Pirates check in at number nine in the 2009 preview. Here is the breakdown: