We are Grantsburg Subscribe

It was another no contest tonight as the Grantsburg volleyball team rolled over the Cardinals from Prescott in straight sets.

The Pirates advance to the regional final match against St. Croix Central tomorrow night (Saturday). The game will take place on SCC’s home court (Hammond) by coincidence (the site was chosen before the playoffs started).

Grantsburg has won their region every year since 1993.

Good Luck, Pirates!!!

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 is a heavyweight battle scheduled for seven innings Thursday night in Grantsburg.

The Pirates (21-1) will play host to the Panthers (16-3) the winner will be crowned regional champion and be two wins away from the state tournament in Madison.

The Pirates are the best team in Division 3 softball according to the Wisconsin Coaches Association, St. Croix Central is the fifth best team. How the Panthers received a number three seed in the tournament is a bit perplexing.

The Panthers beat the number two seeded Glenwood City Hilltoppers 9-2 on Tuesday evening to advance. Grantsburg got by Cumberland 5-4 to get to the regional final game.

Make sure you’re tuned into the game on 105.7 WXCX for all the action.

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.

It has become a tough task to write about this football team as the season has worn on. I haven’t written in two weeks and in that time the Pirates have dropped two games by huge numbers.

The Pirates lost their homecoming game against St. Croix Central 46-0 and then last Friday night to the Webster Tigers 37-13 (the Pirates scored the last two touchdowns of the game against the backups for Webster). At its worst the Pirates were outscored 85-0 during the past two games.

Some historical perspective on this dubious season for the Pirates.

• Through 7 games the Pirates have given up 237 points. Last year, when the team finished with a 2-7 record, they gave up a total of 167 points.
• The last time Grantsburg was winless in a season was 1987 when they finished 0-9. Before that it was 1948 when the Pirates finished 0-5.
• The last time Grantsburg had two consecutive losing seasons were the 1994 and 1995 seasons when the Pirates finished 3-6 both years. (1995 was the last year Grantsburg had suffered a losing record, that is, until last year).
• The combined total losses for the team in the ’04, ’05, ’06 seasons was 7.

Every team goes through their ups and downs, ebbs and flows (except Grantsburg Volleyball) and a downturn should be expected. Going through it though, is always tough. This will help the players deal with adversity throughout their lives. It will be interesting to watch and see how they come out on their final night playing in front of the home crowd. I still remember the scene like it was yesterday when I had played my last down at Olson Memorial Field (although it wasn’t that at the time since Bob Olson was still alive).

It has been a difficult season for the team and their fans. With two games left on the schedule the time is getting short to find a win. It would be very difficult to beat the St. Croix Falls Saints on Friday, but I believe the Pirates have a chance to beat the Cameron Comets on the final game of the season.