The Pirates have been ripping through opponents this year again, in fact they're ahead of last year's state champion pace. Last year the Pirates lost a match in the Ashland tournament to Hayward (then beating them later in the tourney) en route to a 36-1 record. After losing such stud seniors this year (Annie Palmquist, Lauren Romanowski, Sarah Wald, Kallie Thoreson, and Larissa Wilhelm) I didn't know what to expect from this year's team. I should know better by now.

The Pirates have beaten #6 ranked Washburn – twice, they've taken care of Division 1 Eau Claire North (17-6, 3-0) and they've only lost two sets (one to Webster and one to Washburn).

Grantsburg beat Clear Lake in straight sets (25-12, 25-11, 25-6) last night in my first broadcast of volleyball since the state championship match in Green Bay last fall. It took less than an hour to send Clear Lake back to the bus. I can say that this team is still fantastic.

The serving was crisp, and at its best, unreturnable. The defense was solid and the offense was there as well. There may have been some small errors which to the casual observer are glossed over by the overall dominance of the match, but I'm sure the coaching staff saw them as clear as a pimple on prom night. And they'll fix them so that by the time the playoffs come around there will be no chink in the armor. Again.

If you're interested in the broadcast of the match have at it (announcing doesn't start until around 25 seconds into the recording).

West Lakeland Standings

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Pirate volleyball has no equal in the area

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.

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All-Conference snubbings

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

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All Conference team announced

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State champs on WXCX

Way to go girls!

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Grantsburg places four on all-tournament team

Grantsburg saved their best play for last as they came out strong in the first set and never looked back. Things got a little close in the second set, but Grantsburg was clearly the better team and they prevailed.

Annie Palmquist, Sarah Wald, Kallie Thoreson, Lauren Romanowski and Larissa Wilhelm will all be able to say they won their last match in their high school careers. Congratulations to those seniors.

I will update this site later this evening (when I get home) with other state related information.

Congratulations, Pirates! STATE CHAMPIONS!!!

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They are the Champions

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

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Final Four

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

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More on the regional championship

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Sentinel names all-area team