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How in the world do the Pirates only get four players on the all-conference team?!? Out of 23 all-conference players named, only four are from Grantsburg.

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.

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

The Grantsburg Pirate fastpitch team remains undefeated as they dispatch of the Luck Cardinals, 12-2 in five innings. The girls had an opportunity to win in the top of the fifth but a couple walks and missteps allowed Luck to get one run making it 11-2.

It only took two batters in the bottom of the fifth inning to get the winning run across the plate as Tiff Meyer reached on error, stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and then scored on a passed ball.

Luck held Grantsburg scoreless for two innings, exactly once around the batting order, but the bottom of the third saw Grantsburg get the first seven batters on base and having all of them score. At that point the game was all over but the final score.

I would encourage you to check out assistant coach, Steve Johnson’s recap because it’s funnier, he has some great pictures, and you might learn something!

(photo courtesy of Steve Johnson)