Grantsburg Reigns over Luck  9-0   Total for year...21-0.

It has been a wonderful spring for weather.  We have enjoyed warm days and mild nights.  The sun has been shining and the birds have been singing..of course those were home games...back in Grantsburg where everyday is sunny and all the kids are above average.  But, we are now on a road trip and can't expect the same hospitality from surrounding towns.  We were in Luck tonight and started the second round of conference play with plenty of thunder.  Track was called off...I94 was closed in Fargo, the light rail system had an accident, but we weren't about to lose a chance to watch this team play.....In the words of Charlie Weiss..."Nasty!"  Besides, we all get such a kick out of watching these games. Bring marshmallows next time, we will start a fire in the dugout.

During the last few years, Grantsburg has become known as a fast starter.  Even though the game started a bit late, and even though Grantsburg warmed up like they were from the frozen tundra, and even though they are coming off a Prom weekend, the Pirates came out like a shot.  Katie doubled over the left fielder's head and reached second base on Mollie's grounder to second.  Whitney hit the first pitch to left for a solid single scoring Katie.  Miranda then literally launched a line drive to the gap in left center that went all the way to the fence.  Lindsey followed with a shot of her own.  After Sarah walked and Jamie singled to center, the Pirates were in a comfortable 4-0 lead and Luck was growing cold. Big Butternut was starting to freeze over.  Luck grew colder as Mollie mowed down the first two batters on strikes.  By now it was raining and the ball was quite slippery.  Mollie walked two in a row before putting down the third out.  It would be Mollie's only two walks of the game.  And Bailey from Luck only walked three.  So both pitchers showed good control in tough circumstances.  The rain eventually quit and the Edmund Fitzgerald came back into port.

Grantsburg had runners in the second and third inning but didn't score.  The Pirates picked up two more in the 4th using hits by Miranda and Lindsey.  In the Grantsburg 5th, Jamie singled to start the inning and then Shelby unloaded a drive over the left fielder's head that resulted in an in the park homerun.  Nice shot Shelby. The Luck coach had just told the left fielder to move in... After the blast, the other coach smirks..."Nice call!" Katie and Mollie picked up singles before the inning was over.  A Grantsburg base running error took away our chance at a 5 inning game.

Luck had only a couple of base runners for the night.  Britta Peterson reached twice, once on a hit and once on a walk.  Breanna Olson had the other walk for the Cards.  The Grantsburg defense handled the ball well tonight.  Shelby had a couple of nice plays at third.  Whitney had two at short.  Katie caught a fly ball.  Mollie threw out four from the mound.  On one of those plays, Mollie ran down a deflection and fired to Lindsey who showed fast hands as she reacted to the throw and came up with a great catch.  Melissa Burton came in and also made a nice play at first.

With all the jackets being worn, it was hard to do the numbers.  When Melissa entered the game for Lindsey the ump somehow got the number 18 instead of 22.  So when it came time for Emily to bat, she wasn't allowed in that spot.  Next time...Emily..

For the game, Katie and Lindsey each ended up with three hits.  Mollie, Miranda, and Jamie picked up two apiece.  Whitney, Shelby and Lauren had the rest.  Sarah, Jamie and Shelby also walked one time each.  For you people that follow the game, you have noticed that balls are leaving the infield quite quickly in the last couple of games.  I hope the trend continues.  The bats are coming alive.  And on a cold night, Grantsburg's offense looked very good.

Next is St. Croix Falls.  It is the biggest game of the year so far.  We will travel to the Saints on Thursday and hope for continued success.  The weather is supposed to be cloudy and cool for a couple of days but Thursday is supposed to be nice.  And if it is 30 and wet.. who cares... We look GOOD in the cold.

TWIS:  4:30 or 5:00...when do the games start?  Shouldn't they all be the same?  What do you prefer?  Two JV games coming up soon...It should be fun.  When Mollie's little skinny legs get goosebumps, they are bigger than her knee pads.  Almost everyone remembered their uniform tonight...almost.  We had the world's smallest coaching boxes tonight.  By the way Prom was quite a hit....so..in case you weren't there....The four juniors were allllll a huge hit.  Relive it one more time with Katie, Sarah, Shelby and Whitney.  And thank God, they took that smashed truck away.  DONT wear red and blue and yellow sweatshirts on our bench.  It gives us the look of a bar team.  WEAR PURPLE.  We saw Buddy there early. We thought he may be the only fan.  Then came Tony and Dawn in their full winter gear.  Sarah and Michelle even came and think they will get out of school work.  Come on, Baby!  Have you ever seen the farm at the south end of mainstreet in Luck.  Sandra was born there... She couldn't do sports...she had to milk cows...Go figure!  Did you know Scott Hoffman was all-state in football?  He didn't have a left thumb... so he could only run the football to the right. He just emailed me and reminded me that he ran the quick pitch to the left... He held the ball like a loaf of bread!!   I hope Brooke's shoulder is better.  Lauren thought the infield was perfect for sliding.  Why does everybody wear so much bling to the games? The umpire in thefield played at Eau Claire when I pitched.  He hit one over the freeway.  Forecast for later in the week:  GREEN. Everybody had the stars on the right side...or would that be the left.  Will they allow the prison to watch when we play Rush City?  Come to St. Croix....  And then inquire why the other side of the river is called Taylor's Falls. ...off to bed for me... more in the morning. No, I wasn't sleeping..I was gone.  Matt has a new boat.  Kelcy has two days left of class.  Should we do Harley's again? I chose blue for the background rather than the Luck school color of red..reason:  It matched everyone's lips!  Checkout the last two dugout pictures...It was nasty.............Hi Deb. Pete would have played Christmas music.  If anyone out there has softball pictures from t-ball days...send them in..... Meet you at the St. Croix river.  Did Connar really take the microphone and sing? Did you know Morp is really in the dictionary?  It comes right after the word gullible..which is no longer in the book.  AP calc test soon.  and notice the picture at the end of the prom court for the year 2009.  And finally, I found my perfect cake that we will pass around if we are lucky enough to beat St. Croix.

Come On, Baby!