The Fastpitch Chronicle

West De Pere

Division 1 – Enrollment this year is 960 – Sectional 2 at Kimberly
Conference – Bay
Head Coach Tom Zimdars –  2nd Year – 17-4 last year – Overall Record is 179-106
Conference Championships 3, Regional Titles 3
In his second year at West De Pere Tom Zimdars welcomes back a group of players who will be out to improve on the second place finish they recorded in 2018 with a 12-2 record. They finished runnerup  to Seymour. They were beaten 4-3 by Denmark in the leadup to the state tournament. Returning players include Genessis Eggart a first team all-conference pitcher; Anna Young a first team infielder, Hanna Bearson a second team outfielder and Alexa Thompson a second team infielder. Zimdars believes his team’s strength in 2019 will be in the circle with Eggart pitching as well as the team’s defense. He sees Seymour as the team to beat in the Bay Conference but figure his club will be right in the hunt. When it comes to the sectional level he sees Kimberly as the favorite in its own sectional.

Franklin

Division 1 – Enrollment this school year is 1566 – Sectional 8 at Kenosha Bradford
Conference – Southeast
Head Coach – Jenny Rechlicz – 5th year  (58-40)- 1 Regional title
When Franklin Head Coach Jenny Rechlicz ponders the upcoming season she sees Kenosha Bradford and Oak Creek as the biggest hurdles for her experienced club to contend with. She feels her club can be right in the mix if they work on getting out of their comfort zone and are willing to push each other. She will welcome 13 players back from 2018 and says that 10 of them are on their third or fourth year of varsity action. In the that mix are returning all conference players Abby Matthews, Ashley Lesser, Izzy Bruder, Elizabeth Koch who did not play most of 2018 due to an injury. Koch, Bre Roberts, Alyssa Danes, Bruder, Matthews, Brooke Runte and Lesser were all named Suburban Honorable Mention a year ago. With a list like that it’s no wonder that Rechlicz is upbeat about the upcoming season. “If these players are not afraid to outwork one another we could do some good things,” she stated.

Milwaukee Rufus King

Division 1 – Enrollment this school year is 1537 – Sectional 7 in Germantown
Conference – Milwaukee City
Head Coach – Duke O’Keefe-Boettcher  16th year (287-70) – 12 Conference Titles
Entering his 16th season at the helm of King, O’Keefe-Boettcher will looking for his club to add a 13th conference title to the trophy case. He sees Milwaukee Ronald Reagan as the top contender for them and in the sectional he believes Menomonee Falls has to be given the nod as the favorite to advance to a second straight state tournament.  He returns one all conference player, that being Jayne Kilander. Other top King players to watch and keep track of are: Elizabeth Myer, Adi Reyna, Rachel Sepulveda, Maddie Isham,  and Anna Jureda. Duke thinks a team strength will be its cohesiveness but says they have to develop some pitching and continue to work diligently on fielding and hitting. Lots of runs get scored in the City Conference so that puts a premium on defense and the ability to simply outslug and outscore the opposition.