Today's loss in the state semi-final was a heartbreaker. Grantsburg was three outs away from playing in the championship game. But, after two crucial errors to start the bottom of the seventh, the game began to unravel and Pardeeville ultimately came away with the berth in the state championship game winning the game 7-6. In Grantsburg's four losses this year, three of them have been walk-offs.

How different it could've been. The worst part is that these players and coaches (and wives of coaches… and parents… and fans) now have to live with the "couldas" and "shouldas" and "what ifs" and "if onlys" and "why me"?

The Pirates had a two run lead after coming back after trailing early in the game (yet again… these guys have some masochistic tendencies). There were some timely hits, good base-running and very good pitching by Jimmy Nelson and Jacob Glover. Unfortunately, Grantsburg committed five errors in the field, left nine men on base and left men on second and third three separate times… including with one out in the seventh inning.

Like I said, wouldas and couldas.

But instead sports sometimes teach us bitter lessons. In this case it might turn out that the lesson taught is how to pick yourself up and dust yourself off after a major disappointment.

To those players who were out there today, do not allow an error, a loss, or a missed opportunity define you as an athlete or a person. Sure, it's going to be a painful memory, but there will be many more good ones in the future. Use it to motivate and overcome.

All the good stories are about overcoming obstacles. There is nothing great about having stuff come easily, but when you overcome the tough stuff… that's the start of something great.

We'll see how this group reacts as some of them head off to school, their final high school moment now in the past. Some have more playing to do. With the character of these young men and knowing a lot of their families, I'm sure they'll see this with correct perspective in the near future.

By any measure this was a spectacular year for the baseball team and for Grantsburg athletics overall. And the best thing about it was that they did it all with class and represented our town well everywhere they went.

Thank you, Pirate athletes, coaches and fans… what a year!

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A series of unfortunate events

Here's the link to the four D3 teams' info pages… the same pages you'll see in the program if you go to Appleton to watch them play on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Division 3 rosters

The Coleman Cougars are 21-1 and champions of the Marinette & Oconto conference. They are ranked second in the D3 poll.

The Winnebago Lutheran Vikings are 20-5 and co-champions of the Flyway Conference. They are ranked sixth in the D3 poll.

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Info on the other state teams

The pep rally is open to the public and will begin at 8:20.

Hope to see you there!

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Grantsburg baseball pep session

The Grantsburg Pirate baseball team is heading to the state championships next week (June 15th and 16th). They defeated Chequamegon 9-4 in the semi-final game and then destroyed Elk Mound (the team the football team blew out in the first level of the playoffs… just remembered that one… wish I had during the broadcast) 21-9. FINAL BRACKET

The games are in Appleton and you can learn more about the venue here (here's a map). The Pirates will be taking on Pardeeville in the semi-finals.

I always think that getting to state is the ultimate goal, now that they're there, maybe they could bring home another nice big trophy!

Here's the replay of the championship game. It starts off with a real DJ talking about Gordon Lightfoot. It's not me… I'm the one bumbling through the intro to the game.

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It never gets old

photo courtesy of Steve Johnson

Another regional championship is in the books for Grantsburg. They beat Cameron 9-3 on Thursday night to stay perfect on the season, 20-0.

Cameron was a spirited team with good fundamentals and they took advantage of a couple Grantsburg mistakes early in the game. Grantsburg trailed early in the game but eventually pulled away late to win it in seven innings. By the way… it was the first time all year that Grantsburg trailed in a game. It lasted half an inning.

This was only the second time all year Grantsburg was forced to go all seven (there's a ten run rule after five innings). Cameron fell to 19-2 on the season.

Grantsburg will be traveling to Hurley on Tuesday game time is 5pm. We're trying to figure out how to broadcast their game and also get the baseball games on the air as the Grantsburg baseball team has also advanced to Sectionals and plays in Osseo at 11am that Thursday and if they win they play again at 5pm.

Here's the audio replay of the game as heard on WXCX and streamed online at redrockonair.com.

Great job, Pirates!
 

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Grantsburg fast pitch regional champs again!

It was an incredible turnaround for a team that had only scored 19 points in the first three quarters to come up with 25 in the fourth and then another 10 in the four minute OT.

If you're like me and were there or listened or watched that unfold you found yourself wondering "what the heck just happened?"

I re-listened to the fourth quarter and if you can get past my hyperventilating you will be able to piece the puzzle back together. By the way… it's a lot less nerve wracking the second time.

Another note: I stayed at a hotel that had many Blair Taylor people staying there and while they were very stunned at what had transpired, they were very gracious when they saw me and my Grantsburg attire. It maybe was because I had two young children with me, but I think it's more because they're good people who appreciated the effort Grantsburg put forth to capture the win.

Here's the replay of the fourth quarter and overtime.

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Fourth quarter and overtime

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Championship audio

It was a season where few expected that it would end with that game on that Saturday. Sure, a regional championship would be nice for these guys who lost in the first round last year. That was probably as much as anyone could've asked or expected.

Except for the guys who wear the uniform. And their coaches.

There was a higher bar set for those guys. A challenging off-season playing all over the land. Putting in time. Conditioning. Open gyms.

Still, the result wasn't guaranteed. The first game of the playoffs was a little wobbly in the first half. Then it all changed. The second half sent Grantsburg on their way to be one of the last two teams standing at the end of the season. Raising the silver trophy above their heads. And though the smiles may have been forced at that time, after the weeks, months and years pass, the smiles will come easier as they recount the thrilling win over Blair-Taylor and the butterflies dancing in their stomach when the championship game began, the goofing around at the hotel, the bus trip.

It will be something that, in the midst of very tenuous and downright scary times in the world, those boys were able to help us forget about the outside world for a couple hours. Gave us something to cheer for. They bonded a community.

Sport sometimes gets a bad rap because people focus so much on it. But being diverted by sport, especially in these times, is a completely American thing. There could be no better example than the Miracle on Ice. This was Grantsburg's diversion and there will be no apologies.

So, congratulations Pirates. You didn't listen to the critics and cynics. You believed in each other and accomplished great things. Well done.
 

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Congratulations

Here's what I've found out about Marathon.

They have a go-to guy named Cody Hanke. He's a 6' 3" Senior center who scores a little over 24 points per game and he scored 31 in the state semi-final against Oostburg. The next leading scorer is a tie between Cedric Lechleitner and Brody Hurtis both scoring nearly eight points per game. Clearly, coach Hallberg must be concerned about Hanke, especially since Seth Coy suffered a concussion on Thursday and while there's a chance he'll play, I doubt it (I don't have any insider info on that, though).

It looks like they don't shoot too many three pointers, but they do have a decent percentage (35%). It seems their min threat is Koleman Schilling. He has a 32% shooting percentage from outside the arc.

Here's a handy chart to compare the stats of the teams:

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Marathon: who are they?