St. Croix Central comes to Grantsburg

Grantsburg's Record  20-0

    The normal Burnett County discussion usually ends up with somebody asking....Where is St. Croix Central?  Somebody always says it is another name for St. Croix Falls because the new Wal Mart is Central.  Others say they think it is by Eau Claire.  But since we have already played them in basketball this year, a few actually know the correct answer. SCC is located in Hammond, WI  It is a combination high school with Roberts.  It is located just off the freeway west of Baldwin.  Since it is located near a freeway, we assume it has about 5000 students and can't quite figure out why they are playing Division 3.  Maybe they have all moved to Dominican.  Sandra's sister and brother in law teach at Central so we have some of the inside information....not on softball but on the town.  Next weekend, we will be at Kathryn's graduation in Hammond.  That would be Whitney's cousin. I would assume we would see some SCC players at her house.  And for you people that keep looking for different ways to get to Eau Claire, sometime try the Star Prairie to Hammond road.  Straight, not much traffic, and you get on the freeway at Hammond and can drive 65 for as long as you want.  But, remember...you don't have to go to SCC.. The game is in Grantsburg at 5:00.  The first 1000 people get in free.

    Today is Saturday.  We just got back from some graduations.  Congratulations seniors.  This is a nice landmark in your life.  I hope you got out old family photos and can name all of your relatives before they arrive.  Mitch says Hi.  When I was a senior in high school, we won the first game in the state baseball tournament.  Mitch was the shortstop...  Until he was a senior, he thought it was a nick name.  Craig said he could hit the Rice Lake pitcher.    Virginia Ryan was telling us she daily lectures the Office Max people.  Soon they will get it right.   I saw the group of young girls at the Hansens.  Lynn Ryan says she wants to come and play, too.  Somebody saw Kelcy's broken finger.  They asked how long she had been playing with a broken finger... Kelcy politely explained.  I AM NOT WHITNEY..then she spilled punch on her.   Also Rich Olson wants everyone to know.  He can't make cookies.  He was only the delivery boy and it was Janice with an old Christian recipe (as in Walter and Joyce) that produced the famous cookies.

    The Rice Lake scrimmage was a very useful activity.  Rice Lake brings a level of softball that opens people's eyes. The Rice Lake catcher played like a D1 player and reminded our base runners that they are not faster than a speeding bullet.  We now have a list of about 27 things that we will practice on Monday.  Don set it up so that Rice Lake had a meal before they left.  Rice Lake is favored to go back to back state titles in Division 2.  They play Spooner in round 2.  By the time you read this, the game may be over.

    The WIAA places a limit on the amount of players during a tournament.  So we had to say ...Next year to a few of the JV players.  We already miss them in the dugout.  Last year there was a team in Wisconsin that refused to reduce the roster.  They played the first tournament game and won, but then they were forced to forfeit and were eliminated from the tournament.  all for now..

Today is Game Day:  I am going to water the field. I will tell you about the game...later.

Game over....Grantsburg 6 - SCC 1

    It was a beautiful night in Grantsburg.  Baseball was being played on the north field and fastpitch on the south.  It was an impressive setting.  We were all reminded the Grantsburg boasts some very impressive facilities and they back it up with some very impressive athletes.  Going into tonight's game both SCC and Grantsburg were 1-0 in the new season.  Grantsburg broke the tie and answered all questions very quickly.  Mollie was aMazing tonight.  With a very focused pre-game warm-up, she went to the mound and fanned the first six batters in a row.  It was quite a psych job.  Teams give up trying to win or score runs...they just want to try and hit it fair.  She looked good..Just like so many other games, Katie reached first right away this time with a single.  Mollie and Whit followed with walks to load the bases with nobody out. Even though Grantsburg's bats remained quite silent, Lindsey walked to push one run in.  Sarah used her backside to stop a pitch forcing in another run. And Shelby walked to give Grantsburg a 3-0 lead after 1 inning.

Grantsburg did not bring their A game when it came to batting. We didn't score again until the 5th inning.  Jamie walked and Sarah followed with a sharp single to left. When Shelby walked for her second time, the bases were loaded.  Alyssa squared to bunt, then pulled the bat back and took a cut.  She hit a line drive over first scoring Jamie.  Sarah was held at third and soon all the runners wanted to be there... But the catcher just stood there holding the ball while all runners scrambled back to something safe. Katie came to the plate and singled again scoring Sarah.  When Mollie hit a sac fly to center, Shelby trotted in giving us a 6-0 lead.

There were two stories of the night worth highlighting.  Mollie was amazing.  She struck out 16 batters and took away their will to win.  She is a fierce competitor and will help carry this team deep into the playoffs.  Great night Mollie!  And Katie came up with 3 hits tonight to remain just a terror on the bases.  She is a greyhound and uses her speed to become quite a threat.  Her ability to hit fast pitching will help us in the tournament. 

Next up is St. Croix Falls who beat Cumberland 9-3.  This year Grantsburg gets to play them on our field as we go for four consecutive regional championships.  Rice Lake beat Spooner 7-3.  Luck got beat by Clear Lake.  Thorpe advanced 4-0.  Chippewa is cruising.  Hurley is flexing muscles preparing for Washburn who knocked of Bruce. For full coverage..

TWIS:  What a nice night for ball in Grantsburg.  The gnats came out.  We tell Mollie to not pitch until the batter swings at the bugs.  Craig H says use Repep100 to keep away bugs.  But only use it if you are terminally ill because it is almost allllll deet or deat or whatever that stuff is that you shouldn't add to your lemonade.  Alyssa surprised the third baseman.  The third baseman surprised Alyssa.  It was fun to have new umps.  We could tease them and they didn't understand.  The radio guy had an accent.  He laughed because we line the field ourself.  Remember the foul ball down the right field line?  We curved the line in to make it just foul.   Jon from Oregon says hi. I hope the SCC players don't catch cold with all the whiffing going on..   The cookie lady showed up, too.  Welcome Dr. Burgin and Mr. Merlin Johnson.  Mike T even came.  Emil Brown from SCC greeted everyone.    He had two daughters playing and was from our own fastpitch history.  We are going to the SCC graduation party this weekend.  We have relatives.  Bart pitches tonight at Cushing.  We have new signs.  If Don scratches his left arm pit while pointing his left toe towards right center, it means watch for the bunt unless it is a Thursday game.  We are being scouted...so keep that in mind as you read the next part.  The two new transfer students are ready to play.  They cannot used their current batting averages because they were suspended from their old school.  This is the first game that Grantsburg tried more than 10 bunts.  With Miranda's arm being sore, runners are taking full advantage. And the flu is ravaging our starters.  It is unusual when you see the outfielders join the infield to prevent grounders from going through.  When the entire team batted from the left side, the slap defense looked perplexed.  Thanks Elsie for the video.  I will try and get it on the page.  Dewey says he likes the big Gus video.  And I think my patience is dwindling and I am about to give up.  Good to see some previous players...Nell, Megan, Missy, Kelcy, Elise, Caroline..We have seen Callie there, Doni,....Nice you come back and visit.  My pontoon is still on dry land...not much use lately.  The green beast has given up.  Do you think we need more seating?  The music didn't work last night...We will get it fixed.  Congratulations to St. CRoix Falls for advancing.  We appreciate the competition and the game is always exciting.  Russ still likes purple.. Hi Joan..nice pic.  Maci had on her new uniform...looks good.  Byron had snacks delivered.  He is going to stand on a tower between the two fields and take pictures of everything with his 20.0 megapixel camera.  He can also use it as an X-ray machine.  See  you on Thursday.  After the game Thursday, we will be taking a picture of the varsity and alllllll the little softball girls that come to the game.... So bring your kid...or tell your friend who has kids...The picture will be entitled....The Present and the Future... It could be a fun shot.

IEAE!!!!! guess not...starting to wake up.

I am playing with resolution

which one loads faster?  which one looks better?

AND WE FOUND JOCELYN

Here are some shots from Craig...the files may be too big to open at home....

Here is another try at shots from Byron...again these are large files..

In the fictional Star Wars universe, the Sith were a humanoid race enslaved by a group of warrior priests who follow the dark side of the Force and serve as the evil counterparts to the Jedi. Those Dark Jedi are known as "Sith Lords." Sith Lords often adopt names that are preceded by "Darth".

Congratulations is you had enough stamina to get this far on the page.  !! 

and....from another Grantsburg Grad.....

and...if you still have time to spare....try this web site.....