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How in the world do the Pirates only get four players on the all-conference team?!? Out of 23 all-conference players named, only four are from Grantsburg.

They only went undefeated in the conference.

No conference team scored more than 19 points on them and that only happened once.

The average score of a conference set was 25-11!

The four girls who were recognized as all-conference (Emily Cole, Kortney Morrin, Annie Palmquist and Lauren Romanowski) were also recognized as part of the all-state tournament team. Three of them (Emily, Kortney and Annie) were ALL-STATE.

You're telling me that this conference is so loaded with talent that there was just no room for Larissa Wilhelm? or Kallie Thoreson? or Tiff Meyer? or Sarah Wald?

It is ridiculous that some of these players are not getting recognized! All of them would start and be one of the best players on ANY OTHER TEAM in this conference.

Look at the Flyway Conference all-conference team. They have Laconia (Grantsburg annihilated them in the state semi-finals) and Kettle Moraine Lutheran. KML is a volleyball powerhouse and won the conference. Laconia finished third. That conference recognized SIX Laconia players.

This rant of mine is not intended to take away from the other 19 girls who were recognized by the coaches… it's just to say that the process is flawed when a team can have such a dominating season and have clearly superior talent yet only four are recognized.

To me it is unfortunate.

It took a while, but the West Lakeland conference volleyball team has been announced and here it is…

Grantsburg
Emily Cole, junior
Kortney Morrin, junior
Annie Palmquist, senior
Lauren Romanowski, senior

Clayton
Annie Grossenbacher
Ashley Grossenbacher
Lindsey LaBlanc
Krystal Kohnen – honorable mention

Clear Lake
Rachel Norby – honorable mention
Jaici Vangsness – honorable mention

Frederic
Chrissy Chenal

Luck
Morgan Denny, junior

Shell Lake
Ashley Anderson
Stephanie Clark – honorable mention

Siren
Carley Emery – honorable mention

St. Croix Falls
Sarah Petznick
Megan Yunker

Turtle Lake
Ashley Lahti
Tricia Hanson – honorable mention
Alex Tschida – honorable mention

Unity
Crystal Donahue – honorable mention

Webster
Mary Johnson
Siiri Larsen – honorable mention

Some of the state champion Grantsburg volleyball team stopped by the WCMP/WXCX station to discuss their season with myself and Sam Klemet (sports director).

We’re sitting tight on the all-conference selections because I don’t have the entire list (volleyball or football).

What I do have is the WSN all-tournament volleyball team*, which differs a little from the WVCA’s team which you can read about in this previous post.

The WSN all-tournament team* has three Grantsburgians…

Kortney Morrin, Annie Palmquist and Emily Cole represented the Pirates. Congratulations on another accomplishment!

RANT ALERT… RANT ALERT…

I just don’t know how some of our girls could get left off that team. With the absolute domination of the tournament four, five or even six of the Pirates could’ve made the team. Only three? Please.

It’s pretty clear that for the WSN team they were allotting three places for the champ, two for the runner up and one each for the two semi-final losers. To me that makes this pre-formulated all-tournament team* a little less special than the WVCA one where it was truly the best team they could think of. Although, I still think Grantsburg could beat the best players from the other three state teams combined (Washburn could too!)

* indicates a “we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings so each team gets to be represented on this team even though two of them would have lost to the champion’s JV team” made up team.

It is a huge honor to be named to the all-state team. The WVCA (Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association) select from the entire state, regardless of division. Grantsburg landed THREE all-staters.

First Team: Kortney Morrin

Third Team: Annie Palmquist

Honorable Mention: Emily Cole

Morrin and Cole aren’t done either, they’re both juniors.

Excellent job, girls… well deserved!

The Pirates placed four girls on the WVCA all-state-tournament team. They are Kortney Morrin, Annie Palmquist, Lauren Romanowski, and Emily Cole.

Way to go girls!

The Pirate softball team is once again the Division 3 state champions. They won back in 2006 in the longest game in Division 3 state history (12 innings). They were able to get this one in regulation.

The Pirates dispatched the Laconia Spartans today, 3-0 after avenging a 2004 loss to the Weyawega-Fremont Indians yesterday 7-2 in the semi-final game.

There is so much to write about with this run to the championship, I don’t know where to begin.

There were a lot of defensive highlights this weekend. Heather Davison had a game changing catch in the semi-finals… Tiff Meyer layed out for one today, snagged it and threw a bullet to first base to get the runner by a hair… Ingrid Ames had a couple amazing, tough catches… Annie Palmquist, too. The defense of Grantsburg was great when it needed to be.

The hitting all weekend was timely. Heather Davison was outstanding, as was Michelle Lund, Emily Cole and Tiff Meyer. The baserunning was outstanding and aggressive again and it paid off.

The pitching, though, was the absolute best. Michelle Lund was in a "Michael Jordan, NBA Finals" type of a zone. Nothing could rattle her and she was pitching bb’s up there. She had 14 strikeouts in the semi-finals and five today. If it weren’t for the errors today (5) it could’ve been the best game in the state tournament (although the division four game saw a perfect game pitched by a freshman!).

It was a very fun experience to announce these games. I’ve been privileged to go to state to cover athletics five times now and this is the first time one of the teams has won the tournament.

Congratulations, Pirates! You are a great team and a fun bunch of people!

By the way… with only one player lost to graduation (Ingrid Ames) it’s time to start thinking repeat!

Sectional Champions!

The Grantsburg Pirates softball team has advanced to the Division 3 state tournament by beating Park Falls 10-1 then dispatching of the Prescott Cardinals 7-3!

Both games were won in different ways, but in both the common thread was Grantsburg making the most out of the opportunities given to them (hello, life lesson!).

In the first game the Pirates had the patience of Job as they watched the pitcher from Park Falls implode before their very eyes. I think the Pirates only had one earned run in that game, a Lauren Romanowski two-run home run (the other girl, Emily Cole, reached on an error). That was a lot of fun. Romo came out to catch the next inning with the biggest, most sincere smile I’ ve seen in a long time. She gets to keep that memory for the rest of her life.

The second game saw Grantsburg bats come alive. I think they had something like 13 or 14 hits. They did leave the bases loaded twice so the score could have been much worse (or better, I guess). Cody Crawford hit a three-run home run in this one! So in two games the 8 and 9 batters were hitting like cleanup batters. Lots of fun!

Of course the thing that this whole run is constituted on is that golden right arm of Michelle Lund. She went 14 innings today (Jack Morris only went 10) and I think she only gave up one or two earned runs. She was in absolute command today striking out 13 batters on the day. Good job, Michelle!

I have been REALLY impressed with the girls the past three games especially. They have put together some real team wins.

If Grantsburg’s defense can step up just a little bit and their offense stay where its at… good luck rest of the field, Grantsburg’s a HOT ONE, BABY!

This picture is from the Stillwater Dome… waaaayyy back in early April.

Great season, girls!

Photo stolen from Steve Johnson's site

Byron Higgin has named his choices for the volleyball all-area team. As you might imagine it is rightfully loaded with Pirates. I know first hand that Byron takes a lot of time and puts a lot of thought into these teams and I think he has done a good job with this one. Here is a link to the article.

Congratulations to the Pirates after a succesful season as a team, the individual accolades come in. Notice the youth of the Grantsburg All-conference winners… all but one will be back next year… Grantsburg reloads again for next year.

Here is the all-conference team from Grantsburg and the rest of the West Lakeland:

First Team:

Emily Cole, Grantsburg, 2010
Annie Palmquist, Grantsburg, 2010
Lauren Romanowski, Grantsburg, 2010
Kortney Morrin, Grantsburg, 2011

Loreto Stange, Webster, 2010
Chrissy Chenal, Frederic, 2010
Amanda Kuske, Unity, 2009
Alex Tschida, Turtle Lake, 2011
Ashley Anderson, Shell Lake (graduation year unknown)
Hillary Friendshuh, Clear Lake (graduation year unknown)
Amanda Larson, Saint Croix Falls (graduation year unknown)
Annie Grossenbacher, Clayton, 2010
Clairiann Thompson, Clayton, 2010
Sadie Schradle, Clayton, 2009

Honorable Mention:

Ingrid Ames, Grantsburg, 2009
Larissa Wilhelm, Grantsburg, 2010

Megan Anderson, Frederic (graduation year unknown)
Cailin Turner, Unity (graduation year unknown)
Sarah Jamme, Shell Lake (graduation year unknown)
Krystal Stage, Siren (graduation year unknown)
Janey Emery, Siren (graduation year unknown)
Michelle Gibbs, Webster (graduation year unknown)
Lindsay LaBlanc, Clayton, 2011
Alex Confer, Saint Croix Falls (graduation year unknown)
Rachel Nordby, Clear Lake (graduation year unknown)
Kayla Steffen, Turtle Lake (graduation year unknown)
Ashley Lahti, Turtle Lake (graduation year unknown)