The Fastpitch Chronicle

Screaming Eagles set to launch 2016 season

The Chequamegon High School softball team hopes to blend speed and power as it launches its 2016 season. The Screaming Eagles are slated to open on Friday, April 1, with a 5 p.m. home tilt against the Tomahawk Hatchets at the Park Falls Athletic Complex. Chequamegon hosts Spencer at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 4, and Gilman at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 7.

Chequamegon graduated four seniors in 2015 who played in 365 games over their four seasons, taking part in 72 victories and winning four conference and three regional championships en route.

But, the cupboard’s not bare.

“Every group of seniors is special and that group (Makayla Casey, Morgan Hilgart, Megan Mader and Danielle Masterson) certainly was, but we’re really excited for this year’s team,” Screaming Eagles’ coach Ken Dischler said. “We’ll feature a little different brand of softball, hoping to tap the speed and talents of our roster. Our returning seniors are 54-18 over their careers to date and our juniors are 36-13, so they’ve had pretty good success.”

Four-year starter Emily Mader is back behind the dish for the Screaming Eagles. The two-year captain was a first-team Marawood North Conference pick last season and second-teamer as a sophomore. She’s a career .364 hitter with 72 hits in 69 games. Pudge has hit at a .412 clip the past two seasons but what really stands out is her defense. Nothing gets by her, and last season, only 14 runners even attempted to steal off her and six paid the price,” Dischler said.

Senior Emily Ernest started in right field as a sophomore and earned MNC honorable mention last season at third base, hitting .360 on the season with four home run.“Double-E is a career .349 hitter and has great pop. We’ll lean on her both at bat and in the field, as well as for senior leadership,” Dischler said.

Junior Remi “Iron” Orr earned MNC honorable mention as a freshman and second-team honors last season. She’s hit .402 with five home runs over the past two seasons while fielding .961 at first base. “Remi obviously has put together two strong seasons and we’re excited for her this season. She’s driven in 40 runs in 48 games hitting down in the order and behind a lot of run-producers who cleared runners off the bases ahead of her. We’re hoping to get her lots of at bats this season with runners on base,” Dischler said.

Sophomore Mackenzie Dane earned MNC second-team honors as a freshman. She hit .443 with eight doubles, two triples and a home run to go along with 23 runs batted in. Sharing time in the circle, she had a 7-2 record with a 2.71 ERA.“Bruiser’s our ace this year and we’re really excited for her opportunities,” Dischler said. “She’s got a great bat and is rock solid in all aspects of the game.”

Also returning as starters are sophomores Kayla and Korrie Herbst in the outfield.“They were pretty much baptized by fire last year. Korn Dog (Korrie) can really track balls down in center field and Kiki (Kayla) also reads balls real well and is a very good outfielder,” Dischler said. “We expect their at-bats to really climb in number this season and a year’s experience means a lot in our game. We’re confident their offensive numbers will rise across the board.”

The Screaming Eagles will feature a new keystone combination with juniors Tess Richard at shortstop and Klaudia Swanson at second base.

“It should be fun to watch these two up the middle,” Dischler said. “Both are so fast and so quick and cover so much ground. As they get stronger throughout the season, so will we as a team. Big-T (Richard) is a triple threat (bunt, slap, hit) at the plate and both are lightning quick on the bases. Hopper (Swanson) is starting to develop her short game. Having both in the line-up speeds up the game and puts a lot of pressure on opposing defenses.”

Richard scored 25 runs and had 10 stolen bases as a freshman. She missed last season due to injury. Swanson scored 24 runs and swiped 11 bases in her first softball season last year.

Just over a week into practice, the ninth spots in both the batting order and on defense are still a bit of a question mark.

“We’re confident we’ll be strong there on both sides of the ball; we’re just not sure yet what direction we’ll go and we may experiment a bit early on to find the right fits and right roles for everyone on the varsity roster. Pinch hitting, pinch running, courtesy running, late-game defense, relief pitching – there are so many important elements to the mix,” Dischler said.

Expected to contribute at the varsity level are senior Shelby Zillmer, junior Ally Derr, sophomore Maggie Miller and freshmen Hannah Borne, Brooklyn Hanson, Eva Pasewald and Abby Zillmer.

“Others could figure into the mix as well but we want to balance valuable innings of play at the JV level with spot roles on varsity when we have that luxury,” Dischler said. “We need Eva to step into the No. 2 spot in the circle and Brooklyn has great tools and mechanics for pitching. Brooklyn and Hannah are both valuable assets as multiple-position athletes. When we’re varsity only, we’ll take advantage of the larger roster and hopefully work more players into the mix. Shelby and Ally have experience as runners and M&M (Miller), Hannah, Brooklyn, Eva and Abby have a lot of experience in summer ball and are talent just waiting to happen at this level.

“Junior Maria Hecimovich and sophomore Kyle Sales continue to get better each season. Senior Allison Krygoski and junior Kayla Ugoretz are in their second seasons and are head-and-shoulders over where they were at the start of last season. Freshman Katie Bourgard has a season of summer ball to bank on but is recovering from injury and will be sidelined for another couple of weeks. We’re excited for our newcomers, who include sophomores Chelsea Merten and Macensie Faller and freshman Ellie Wishowski They’re getting a lot thrown at them in a hurry and we’re seeing some good things from them early on.”

Team managers are Miranda Dane, Josi Orr and Kennedy BeBeau.

Returning coaches include Tom Masterson, Dave BeBeau, Dan Herbst and Kevin Orr. New to the staff is JV coach Emily Huluska, who played on a state championship team for Stevens Point Area Senior High and played at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for four seasons.

“So much of our success over the years it due to the great coaching staffs we’ve had, including last year’s MNC coaching staff of the year. Coach Huluska is a great addition and a great mentor for our girls.”

The MNC schedule is back to 10 games as Abbotsford is not fielding a team this season.

“Phillips looms as the favorite, coming off of a regional championship last season nearly intact and with six players returning with MNC honors last season. Athens graduated its first-team pitcher and catcher and four-time MNC player of the year, but returns five players from the 2015 MNC team. Edgar is a veteran team and returns three all-MNC players. It shapes up as a very competitive race to the top as it usually does,” Dischler said.

The Screaming Eagles will also play another challenging non-conference schedule. Chequamegon plays five games against teams which were ranked at the end of last season and nine against teams which played at the sectional level last season.