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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!

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

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.

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)