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The WIAA has ruled to move the pitching rubber back from 40′ to 43′ for the upcoming and subsequent years. (43′ is the distance for international and collegiate play)

Grantsburg has always had excellent pitching and the girls have been practicing over and over at the 40′ distance (and to be fair, so has everyone else). I wonder how this will affect the pitching for Michelle Lund et. al. for the Pirates come this spring.

I’m sure the hitters will be happy to hear about the change. I would expect scoring (and walks) to be up significantly this year.

Here’s an article about the change.

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

The only game the fastpitch team lost this season has now become a win. St. Croix Falls had to forfeit their big win against the Pirates because they were playing with an ineligible player. The score has been changed from a 2-0 loss to a 7-0 win.

The player(s) in question were involved in that debacle over some area softball players participating in a CO-ED softball tournament a few weekends ago. Grantsburg was affected and they sat the "guilty" parties while SCF played them.

So Grantsburg is still undefeated. Rules are there for a reason. Grantsburg followed them, St. Croix didn’t. I’m not sure about their circumstances, there’s a chance they didn’t even know that the girl was ineligible.

There was another team in the state, Assumption, that had to forfeit thier regional championship because the coach played an ineligible player. That player had been caught drinking, but was a huge part of their team so the coach demonstrated some bad judgement there and ultimately he resigned.

I am in no way saying that the SCF coaches should do that, not at all. But since a rule was broken there are consequences.

As I was researching stuff for tomorrow’s Sectional broadcast(s) I saw that Grantsburg was listed as an undefeated 23-0, which is odd because, well, I saw them lose 2-0 against the Saints on the last game of the regular season.

I checked the scores and the game has been changed to a 7-0 win in favor of the Grantsburg Pirates (which is significant because that’s the automatic score that is recorded due to a forfeit). Here’s the link. I KNOW I saw the same site listing the Pirates with one loss. I’ll try to get to the bottom of this soon. That would be a very interesting turn of events.

The thing that comes to my mind immediately is the whole slow-pitch CO-ED softball tournament that many area players participated in and were subsequently disqualified for the season. The season long suspension was later reversed, but all the girls were to sit out the next game (they had just found out about the suspensions that morning and for all they knew, their seasons were over). Maybe St. Croix had an inelligible player play, thus the forfiet?

Or it could be a mistake at wissports.net.

Undefeated? Maybe… tune in to tomorrow’s broadcast at 1pm on 105.7, WXCX for the sectional semifinals. I should have some answers by then.

Photo stolen from Steve Johnson's site

The Pirates are heading to Eau Claire for (hopefully) two games tomorrow. In case you’re last minute shoppers like me, here are the directions to the ball diamonds. The games will be held at Carson Park. Grantsburg plays at 1pm. Listen to 105.7 for all the action.

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I’m still very impressed with the girls game last night. If they can capture whatever magic they had last night and apply it for the next four games, they will be coming home with a very nice trophy.

A couple things I want to point out then I would advise you to go to assistant coach Steve Johnson’s recap as he went pretty in depth with the game. I know he was very happy with the way the girls played as well.

1. The defense really sticks out in my mind. They showed they can handle it when the Michelle Lund doesn’t strike everyone out (I think SCC struck out only four times – they were very good hitters).

I recall one error by the team and that was a tough play where first baseman Annie Palmquist was stretched out trying to make a play and dropped the throw. That’s the only real miscue I can think of.

Grantsburg threw a runner out at the plate with a perfect relay from Cody Crawford (CF) to Ingrid Ames (SS) to Lauren Romanowski (C). The runner had no chance. It was a picture perfect relay.

In the top of the third inning third baseman Sarah Wald had some great plays. She had a hand in all three outs. The first was with runners on first and second. The batter bunted to her because Sarah seemed to be playing back, but with the pitch Wald moved in. The bunt was good but Wald was there quickly, turned 180 degrees, threw and forced the runner out at third. The next batter also bunted but in the air. Wald caught the ball, whirled and whipped the ball to second base to double off the runner, a double play. We also learned that Sarah Wald’s smile is infectious.

Tiff Meyer had some very good plays, catching line drives, tracking down pop-ups and making the difficult look routine.

2. Baserunning was agressive, but smart. During the Cumberland game (the regional semi-final) the girls made some very strange moves on the basepaths and it likely cost them a couple runs. This game it was different. I remember one play where it was first and third and the runner went to steal second, the catcher faked the throw to second then whipped it over the third baseman’s head and a run scored. The thing about that play that I was impressed with is that the runner stealing second didn’t even hesitate and took third easily on the overthrow.

3. Attitude. I don’t know if the lightbulb just happened to turn on for me last night, but I saw a bunch of girls out there that seemed to be having the times of their lives. That is such a great thing. This game is FUN and even though these games are important, they’re not THAT important. It seems the coaching staff has done a phenominal job getting the girls to a place where their fundamentals are outstanding and their attitudes are even better.

Good luck at Sectionals, girls. Keep smiling.

Photo courtesy of Scott Hoffman of Hoffman Photo

Now THAT’S Pirate fastpitch

After a couple very suspect outings to end the year and begin the playoffs, the Pirate gals put together one of the best games possible. They were hitting… aggressive and smart baserunning… great pitching… and the best defense I’ve seen out of a Pirate team.

So many things to talk about, but I don’t have time right now to recap.

The Pirates take on Park Falls (the team that beat them in the Sectional Finals last year) next Thursday at 1:00 at Eau Claire Regis.

IF the Pirates can keep playing at this level it will be difficult for anyone to hang with them. The St. Croix Central team was ranked #3 in Division 3, Grantsburg showed why they themselves were ranked as the top team.

The game will be broadcast on 105.7 WXCX.

Check back later for more details on a complete win (and maybe some pictures).

Congratulations, Pirates! REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!

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.

Mollie Bjelland’s marathon season has come to an end.

After 62 games her Winona State Warriors fell out of the Division II College World Series.

It was a double elimination tournament. The Warriors lost thier first game 1-0 then won their second game 2-1, but dropped their third game 7-3.

Mollie had a great season statistically. She batted .326 with 10 homeruns. She led the team in RBI (54), walks (24) and hit by pitch (10 – ouch). She was in the top four of most other team categories for the 2009 season.

Congratulations to one of the best athletes to come from our area. The two-sport athlete is only a sophomore.