This will be the first time the Grantsburg baseball team has participated at the state tournament since they moved it to Spring sport a few years ago. The last time Grantsburg made it to State was 1998… head coach Pete Johnson's first year (or half year, as it were… he took over the program from Dick Peper who passed away in the middle of the season that year).

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More info on state venue

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WIAA corrects the bracket

The WIAA board of control rejected the proposal by an 8-2 margin to change the current football setup with conferences to a district format. You can read about the ill-fated plan here.

There were some good things about the plan, such as ending the three games in ten days at the end of the regular season and beginning of playoffs. That issue is slated to be confronted by the 2011 season. Here's a few ideas.

Todd Beckmann from the Sentinel has been all over this story and here's his latest about the thumbs-down vote from the WIAA.

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Football district proposal rejected

Money is tight everywhere including the radio station. In fact, there won’t be much of a profit made (if any) during this state volleyball trip to Green Bay this weekend. My modest payment plus travel expenses (food, lodging, and 50.5 cents per mile)  plus a $100/match broadcasting fee to the WIAA will take a big chunk of what our station brings in.

He’s even popping an extra $75 for a land line instead of a cell phone because the sound quality is better. $75 is quite a bit in the whole scheme of things (it’s more than my per match payment).

This is not a case of an employee kissing up, but a genuine thank you to him and our station for letting us cover local sports even if it means we don’t make anything on it.

Everyone likes an ‘atta boy so if you’d like to email him here’s his address, but I bet he’d also like you to visit the businesses that buy ad space and let them know you heard their ad during the volleyball matches.

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Kudos to my radio station

Here’s the rosters/stats for the D3 participants as well. I’m pretty sure it’s ok for me to post these and if it’s not I’ll remove them and replace them with the love letter the WIAA sends me.

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Predictions, rosters and stats

I didn't post about the game last night because I wanted to make sure the sun came up this morning, and thankfully it did.

Maybe you've heard about the issue that took place before the game that registered a couple of Grantsburg starters inelligible for the game. Turns out a couple girls played in a SLOWPITCH softball tournament and that is allegedly illegal and results in a season suspension for those involved.  From what I've heard there was no prize money involved, either. Also, Grantsburg wasn't the only team to have players involved.

I won't name the players just to respect their privacy, not because they should be ashamed. I also believe that Grantsburg has a case to appeal as the rule reads:

I think Grantsburg athletic director Mike Amundson and head softball coach Don Bjelland can at least have an argument that slowpitch and fastpitch are two different games entirely. Hopefully the folks from the WIAA agree and the players can be eligible for the tournament.

The whole debacle is not an excuse for the Pirates, though as they were unable to touch Saints pitcher Amanda Larson. She was firing heat the whole night and Grantsburg had a difficult time catching up with the pitches. There were TONS of foul balls last night between the two pitchers (Michelle Lund for Grantsburg). Michelle registered 13 strikeouts, Larson whiffed 12 Grantsburg batters.

The runs were scored after some fielding problems. Lund had struck out a girl for the second out of the inning, but the catcher dropped the ball and was unable to throw the batter out at first base. That player would later come around to score and that would be all they needed to win the game.

Grantsburg received a first round bye and will host next Tuesday's game and take on the winner of the #4 Cumberland Beavers versus #5 St. Croix Falls Saints game. What do you want to bet that the Pirates would like to see the Saints come back up to Grantsburg?

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The sun came up this morning

Tonight’s match was very, very good and although Grantsburg won 3-0 it really could have been closer than that as you can tell by the finals of each set (25-22, 25-21, 25-22). The difference between the Pirates winning instead of the Castle Guards this year was finding a way to finish.

We saw Grantsburg come from behind in the third set of the Regional championship game against Colfax and they had to do it again tonight coming from behind in the first and third sets.

Grantsburg and Sheboygan Lutheran are the only two teams left in the state which haven’t suffered a loss. I’m not sure what Sheboygan Lutheran’s set record is, but Grantsburg still only has on set loss all year.

The Sectional Final match will be broadcast on 105.7, WXCX at 7 pm.

By the way… second place finishers in the Large Lakeland conference, the Clayton Bears, are still alive in division 4 volleyball. They defeated 3-1 and move on to the sectional final match versus Mellen. Oh, and the match will be played in Clayton. Congratulations, Bears!

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On to Osseo… bring on Regis