Hello Fastpitch fans,
My good friend from Random Lake High School called me this morning to tell me that the WIAA office has posted next springs tournament assignments. That means that the Half Sectional assignments are there for Divisions 2 through 5 and the entire sectional assignments are there for Division 1.
There are few things I noted as I went through the various lists. Of course I looked at the Division 3 assignments first. In that list here are a few things that are particularly noteworthy. Of course we must keep in mind that most changes that take place in those assignments are the result of teams moving up a division or down a division due to enrollments or by seeking a waiver to stay where they were instead of moving downward.
In Division 3 several changes I know of caused some movement. Most noteworthy from my point of view is that Westfield has dropped down into Division for next year. With Hannah Hockerman in the circle and Taylor Bignell behind the plate the Pioneers just might be the team to take on Horicon for the state's Division 4 title. Of course there are others as well. Random Lake has dropped down into Division 4. Of even more particular note with that school it should be noted that they were placed in what I shall call the Northeast Sectional. They will be a strong force in that sectional as Mike LaFever's club will be seeking it's first state tournament berth in 2020 which will be just the 8th year of existence for that program. Mishicot ruled that sectional in 2019 going unbeaten until the state championship game. That team has graduated pitcher Megan Junk who went 18-1. They return backup pitcher, soon to be junior Maddie Doley who went 6-0 in 22 2/3 innings of work and an ERA of 2.16.
Another noteworthy thing I saw was that Turner High School, a recent power in Division 2 drops down to Division 3. That move apparently bumped Poynette out of Sectional Group B into Sectional Group B along with Dodgeville and other SWC teams as well as Aquinas. That move along with a couple of other domino effects moved Arcadia out of this sectional and into the Northwest Sectional. That was made possible when Stratford got moved to the Northeast Sectional. The team that could benefit from a move from the southeast to the northeast is Wautoma, a team with the only all state 9th grader on it, Bri Handle. She will be back in the circle for three more years. This team along with Nekoosa from the South Central could raise some eyebrows over in the Northeast.
When we take a look at all the sectional groupings we can start at the very bottom left and work our way around the chart in a clockwise direction. It does not take the astute observer to figure out who got moved and why. It makes for interesting summer research. Teams that got moved out of an entire sectional such as Wautoma will now be scampering to get information about teams they have no idea about. Aha, however, the information is out there to be gotten.
More on the other divisions in the next Fastpitch Bulletin.
Keep it Rising!
Bob
