The Fastpitch Chronicle

Columbus

Division 3 – Enrollment this school Year is 408 – Sectional #3 Group B – Sectional Final at Brodhead
Conference – Capitol North Division (Lakeside Lutheran, Lake Mills, Lodi, Poynette, Watertown Luther Prep
Head Coach –Jim Rake – 3rd Year (30-14 overall) 1 Regional title
Assistant Coaches: Roger Witthun and BJ Peck
When Columbus coach Jim Rake looks over his program in this his third year he no longer sees the name of several top tier performers including both pitchers who have share the load the past three season and part of their freshman year. Gone through graduation are Brianna Farrington and Lauren Kirchberg. Those two players were three-time first team performers in the Capitol North.  But he does have some excellent talent returning in Morgan Witthun and Megan Boettcher. He is also looking for big things from Lexi Thurston and Hally Norman this season. Rake feels that pitching will still be a strength of the Cardinal’s program in 2019 along with solid defense and offensive punch.

Lakeside Lutheran

 Division 3 – Enrollment this school year is 430 – Sectional #3 Group B with Final at Brodhead
Conference – Capitol North Division (Columbus, Lake Mills, Lodi, Poynette, Watertown Luther Prep))
Head Coach – Matt Doering – 17th Year – (192-157) 1 Regional title
Assistant Coach: Jim Birschbach
Lakeside Lutheran Head Coach Matt Doering begins his 17th season at the helm  of the Warriors. Located in Lake Mills the school is one of two private schools in the Capitol North. The Warriors compete as one of the top teams in the Capitol Conference which also includes six teams in the South Division. The two divisions do not play mandatory games against each other however. When taking and look and thinking about the upcoming season Doering says that his club returns a good group of core players including two seniors. Cat Richart and McKenna Lamp are those two seniors and along with sophomores Kyle Gnabasik, Olivia Krieser and Olyvia Uecker the team plays strong defense and features pitching that does no give up free bases. “We have some proven players that can produce offensively,” said the coach. “ Gnabasik and Krieser were both all-conference selections in their freshman season a year ago. “We will have to fill holes left by some key players through graduation including a three year starter at shortstop and a four-year letterwinner behind the plate,” Doering added. “We will need to find some offensive consistency to replace the strength of our graduated class provided at the top of the order.” All-in-all the coaching staff will be looking trying to figure out what their best lineup and positioning will be to maiximize the strengths they return. The Warriors are due to open the conference schedule with a trip to Poynette on April 2nd.

Poynette

Division 3 – Enrollment this school year is 321 – Sectional #3 Group B – final is in Brodhead
Conference – Capitol North (Columbus, Lake Mills, Lakeside Lutheran, Lodi, Watertown Luther Prep
Head Coach – Bob Tomlinson – 40th year – (655-173) 25 conference titles, 16 Regional Titles, 10 sectional titles, 10 Final Fours, 4 time state runner-up, 4 time State Champions
Assistant Coaches: Sean Mackey (11th year), Kessa LaBlanc (3rd year)
Poynette returns to the 2019 season as the defending WIAA Division 3 Champions after knocking off unbeaten Westfield in the state semi-final 4-2 in 11 innings and slipping past Tomahawk 2-0 in the finale. The Pumas enter the upcoming season with a target on their back but according to the head coach that target seems to never disappear. “We usually get the best every opponent can give us and that’s the sort of thing that keeps a good program going,” he said. To have a successful season in 2019 the Pumas must replace a great group of 2018 grads in Amber Walter, Marisa Klitzke, Heather Kimberley,Mikayla Sorge and Mattie Bredeson. Sorge was the starting first sacker last season while Bredeson was named the WFSCA Division 3 Player of the Year after holding off all comers during the 2018 season. After dropping their first game of the season to SPASH the Pumas finished with a 24-game winning streak to win the title. “Replacing a pitcher like Mattie is not an easy task at a school with 320 students,” said the coach. “However, she didn’t win all 24 of those  game either.” Current junior Casey Fountain, a first-team selection in 2017 played shortstop and picked up seven wins in 50 innings of work and recorded an ERA of just 1.00 while current junior Molly Anderson was 1-0 as was current senior Ashley Hellenbrand. The Pumas started every game using the DP/Flex option so in the state tournament games they used 10 starters and eight of them were underclassmen. Hellenbrand was the lone junior out of that group and had a stellar season, batting .456 against some of the toughest pitching any Division 3 team played statewide. She was named first team all-conference, all-district and first team all-state by the WFSCA. “She is our leader both on the field and off,” said Tomlinson. “If there is something to be done she eithers does it herself or just sees to it that somebody gets the job done.” Also returning are 17 juniors who were in the program last season. In addition to Fountain and Anderson (also named all-conference) other juniors are Zoe Ramberg, Lizzie Schwenn (all-conference), Brianna Schulz (all-conference), Brianna Kowald (all-conference), Mollie Blochwitz, Mara Millard, Lucy Cuff, Morgan Jones, Abigail Genz, Hannah Berner, Kaitlyn Berner, Shelby Reeder, Kirstin Doherty, and Saraphin White. A sophomore, Peyton Kingsland will factor heavily into this season’s team while other sophomores include: Alanna Borgen, Tia Baurenhuber, Emily Cross,  Maysa Clemens, Abby Gray, Leah Gray, and Grace Grace Haukom. The Pumas have three excellent freshmen in Grace Berner, Ashia Meister and Abby Klink. “Those freshman and sophomores are very good players as well,” said the coach. The coach sees a very tough, competitive Capitol North Division in 2019 with Lake Mills getting a slight nod over Lakeside Lutheran and Columbus but also says that Lodi should be much improved as will Watertown Luther Prep. When it comes time to look ahead to the Sectional level he says that there are more than a handful of teams that can win a state title. He includes the aforementioned Capitol North teams along with perennial power Marshall from the Capitol South, Waterloo from the Capitol South, Palmyra-Eagle from the Trailways along with Aquinas, Arcadia, Platteville, Prairie du Chien, G-E-T  and Westby. There may be another sectional with as many really top notch teams but none of the others are any stronger according to him.  “We learned a lot about ourselves in a scrimmage with Division 1 DeForest today,” he added. “Trust me, we have plenty to work on.” They will be tested hard the first week of the conference season with a games against the two schools found in Lake Mills – Lakeside Lutheran and Lake Mills High School. “We are just like every other program out there. We strive to learn more about the game and improve our skills day-by-day. It’s simply about daily progress and a journey toward an amazing place.”