2011 West Lakeland All-Conference

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Softball all-conference announced

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!
 

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Grantsburg fast pitch regional champs again!

They've not only done it, but they've done it BIG!

They've outscored their opponents 262-18…

Played a full game (7 innings) just once, the rest were 10-run rule games…

Shut out opponents 10 times…

Gave up just one run 4 times…

One of only four undefeated high school fastpitch teams in the state Wisconsin…

They have the highest team batting average (.462) in team history…

They have the most home runs (8) in team history…

They have four pitchers who have combined for the stats listed above (with some help from a very good defense)…

Kylie Pewe has a .643 batting average. .643! That's going to beat the all time team record set in 2010 (.610) by, um, her.

And they have the funkiest website in America…

They have accomplished this run with an unorthodox approach to pitching, if you've seen the games then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Are they a shoe-in for state? No. Do they have a chance? You better believe it!

As we learned last year, there are no "for sure's" in this game… except that girl from Arcadia was "for sure" out at home… but I digress….

Its another great season put out there by the Pirate gals and they're so much fun to watch… seems like they're always smiling and having fun and relaxed, but they do everything right… or at least the come close to doing everything right… not many strikeouts… lots of walks, hits, and putting the ball in play….

It seems like a lot of the competition has trouble with knowing where to throw the ball… situational stuff… not always an athletic problem… a thinking ahead problem Throwing the ball around and giving up extra bases because of that has not been an issue for Grantsburg.

What I'm getting at is there are some pretty fantastic coaches working with the team and it starts with Don Bjelland and Steve Johnson. They have a lot of differences, but they both know the game and have a knack for teaching it. Then it moves down to the "minor leagues" and those teams are staffed with coaches who care and are also knowledgeable in the basics and fundamentals of the game. It is truly a great system in Grantsburg with parents and coaches who really care a lot about this sport and the ones playing it.

Congratulations on a fantastic REGULAR season… *the real season starts now.

Juniors then… taken at the 2010 season banquet. Photo courtesy of Scott Hoffman.

Grantsburg seniors walk away from their home field after the last regular season game of their careers. Photo courtesy of Steve Johnson.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Softball finishes* 18-0

Grantsburg is 9-0 in the West Lakeland conference and ranked number one in Division Three, while Unity is 8-1. Grantsburg beat the Eagles earlier in the year by a score of 6-2.

Unity’s field is brand new and hadn’t been playable this entire year, so this will be Unity’s first real home game of the year.

The game starts at 5pm and you can listen to it on 105.7 WXCX or online by clicking the STREAMING tab on top of the page.

(This is a change from our previously scheduled fast pitch game between Grantsburg and Siren/Webster team)

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Conference on the line tonight for baseballers

The baseball team will face the winner of the (5) Chetek/Weyerhauser @ (4) Ladysmith game. The Grantsburg game will be played Tuesday, May 31. [BRACKET]

The fast pitch team will face the winner of the (5) Turtle Lake/Clayton @ (4) Unity game. The Grantsburg game will also be played Tuesday, May 31. [BRACKET]

Both games will be in Grantsburg… not sure which one will be on the radio. Stay tuned for more on that.

Both the baseball and softball teams from Grantsburg have had unbelievable years and with a couple games remaining in the regular season, both have perfect records.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Tournament fields set in baseball, softball

The Grantsburg Pirates are now 4-0 on the young season and are outscoring their opponents a combined 60-2 in those four games.

Wow.

(You can click on the picture to see my scribbles on the game.)

Grantsburg looks like they're reloaded again.

The baseball team also won,11-1 over Frederic and the Pirates remain undefeated at 5-0.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Grantsburg puts up season high in shutout

The Pirates were ranked #1 in the final poll last year which was pre-tournament.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Fastpitch team pre-season rankings

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.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

A significant fastpitch rule change

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!

Post from: We are Grantsburg

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

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Final Four