The Fastpitch Chronicle

The infields may be dry but the outfields are soggy!

That was the case in Watertown today at Luther Prep's softball field. They'd done a bang-up job of getting that infield ready to go but the outfield was really, really, really soft. We did get the games in though.

In Poynette and Portage, the fields looked great as the sun set last night. When I awoke at about 6 am this morning my thermometer here said 26 degrees. I knew that our infield was going to be frozen when I got there a bit later. We had a work detail planned at the field early this morning (6:45 am) so as to get the spancrete covers on our in-ground dugouts all set. When I arrived a the field confirmed my suspicions. The fields were frozen solid on top (about an inch or so). I know the same thing happened in Portage and put their 10 am start time for the Rio invite back to 11:15. In Poynette we had Whitnall, Stratford and Thorp coming in to use our facility. The Stratford JV team also came and took on our Poynette JV team. None of those games were slated to start before 1:00 so I knew if we could keep people off them until 11:30 or so we'd be good. We were!

After a twinbill in Watertown I returned to Poynette and watched a nine-inning battle between Whitnall and Thorp. It was a great game between two very good teams. Thorp from Division 4 is a perennial power under Head Coach Brad Ceranski. Whitnall, under Head Coach Tim Hickman really swings the bats well too. That game was a back-and-forth skirmish. First one team would take a lead and then the other would battle back and take the lead. Whitnall forced extra innings in the top of the seventh and threw out the would-be game winner at the plate to end the seventh all knotted. In the end Thorp had to battle back from a three-run deficit in the 8th and did and then won it on a two-out, two-strike single off the bat of Julie Benzschawel. The day marked the first time that Whitnall had been on an infield this season. For Thorp, it was their second time and both have been in Poynette. On April 5th they came to town and played New Lisbon. On May 4th Thorp will return to the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree for three games. There is a chance that they will have played more games on their home field in Poynette (6) than they will have played games on their home field in Thorp. Those girls, their coaches fans and administration really get it. High School sports are really about creating "forever memories" for kids. Administrators who realize that allow their teams to travel to places that allow them to play (free of charge) in a season like this one. It's unprecedented. Never in the history of WIAA softball (began in 1976) has there been a spring like this that affected every single school in the state. My hand goes out to the schools that have found ways to get games in.

In Poynette today Katelynn Jacque took a Stratford offering over the fence for her first-ever varsity home run. I promised her a Fastpitch Chronicle home run certificate. I'll also send Coach Ceranski a game-winning rbi certificate from The Fastpitch Chronicle for Julie Benzschawel.

There were other games played around the southern part of the state today as well. Are there any other Fastpitch Chronicle Award certificates due anyone out there? Let me know and I'll get them done immediately.

I bought the Android phone app for I-Score but can't figure out how to make it work. Anyone have any help for me?

I heard that SPASH bat Chippewa Falls in Portage today. Wisconsin Rapids and Kenosha Bradford were also on hand there.

Beloit Turner hosted the Indian Trails tourney instead. The results are on the summaries page. Turner is 10-0 on the season. I don't think any other teams have played more games that Bob Sulser's Turner team.

That's about it for tonight.

Be sure to catch up to date on the Conference Standings across the state put together by Norbert Durst. They are all great reading and full of good information. They are really a big part of what we are trying to do for high school softball in this state. There have been quite a few of those posted on the wissports.net site the past few days.

Keep it Rising!

Bob