Grantsburg 4 - Cumberland 0   

Grantsburg 7 - Spooner 1

      I arrived at the field at 7:30 on Saturday morning.  I had checked the radar and it sounded like the rain would stay south.  We watered the field... Don and I lined it..Mike was there to help.. The concession stand was starting to fire up.. Soccer parents were starting to show up...wishing that their kids actually had some hand skills so they could hang out with us...  The Honkers not only were flying over but today they were also playing baseball.  The dance recital people were in the high school gym.  It was a busy Saturday in Grantsburg.

    And thanks Joe Olson for the video clip.  Here is what he says....  There are a bunch of little boats in the ocean.  This is parallel to... there are lots of little teams around the area.  Moral of the story:  When you are playing in the ocean....look out for BIG fish....like Grantsburg.  DON'T GET IN THEIR WAY! 

    Sunday is/was mother's day... I hope your pet said something special.

    Our first opponent of the day was Cumberland.  We have been following Cumberland and knew that they had a great record in the Heart of the North conference.  So we were excited to play another team that was also talented.  And when their first batter lined it off Mollie's glove we knew we had a game.  Mollie did recover and throw her out but Cumberland had made a statement.  We had watched Cumberland warm up.  They practiced fundamentals.  It is good to see teams that practice that way.  We knew that if they spent time on fundamentals that the rest would come.  In our half of the first we declared our own team to be worthy.  After Katie flied out to left, Mollie singled sharply to center then stole second base.  Whitney worked the pitcher for a walk and soon both were in scoring position.  Playing fast and slow, Miranda picked out slow and drove one to center scoring Mollie.  After Miranda was thrown out at second base, Whitney stood at home safe with the second run.  Lindsey walked and Shelby rifled a shot just fair down the left field line.  And yes...Lindsey scored ALL the way from first to make the lead 3-0 after one inning.

    Cumberland is a young team and has a very good shortstop.  They will be a team to contend with for a few years.  But tonight Mollie held them to two hits and three walks.  She had lots of help from the defense, too, as they threw out 9 runners.  Grantsburg would put pressure on each inning but Cumberland's defense would answer the call.  Grantsburg picked up its last run in the 7th inning.  Jamie reached on a fielder's choice and then pranced to plate when Katie tripled deep to left.  Katie picked up two hits for the game and we knew this would be her day.  By now the people were arriving back from Swing Choir.. I asked Jamie.. Did you speed?  Yes.  If everything goes as planned, we will be seeded #1 in the tournament and Cumberland #2.  So we may see them again in a couple of weeks.  Beating Cumberland was huge for the seeding meeting.  It was a good win.

    Spooner beat Osceola on the other field and soon joined us for game 2.  We all know that the Spooner pitcher is one of the best around.  We also call her Katie's pitcher because Katie has batted about 700 vs. her for the last couple of years.  I was talking to Paul between games and told him that this pitcher is fast enough so that Katie may actually hit one fair. We were getting tired of pulling foul balls out of the detention pond.  It didn't take long. In Katie's first time at the plate, she took 5 straight balls....and because she swung at two of them, the count was now full.  Somewhere the sun is shining and somewhere the sky is blue, this time Katie connected and the ball really flew.  It left the field in a hurry.  It was similar to Miranda's homerun last week... No wind was keeping this one in play.  It was gone. It was over in a hurry.  It was a great hit.  You could tell that it kind of shocked Spooner.  But Spooner regained its composure and the game was soon tied 1-1 as Grantsburg mishandled the ball.

Grantsburg responded quickly.  Lindsey and her sweet swing singled to start the second inning.  After the pitcher dropped the ball trying to tag Jamie we had runners ready to score.  With two outs, Michelle hit a pop up to second and it was dropped while both runs scored.  Grantsburg scored again in the 4th when Jamie walked, followed by Shelby's single.  We also picked up three in the 7th.  Melissa reached on an error.  Sarah was now back from Eau Claire and ripped a single up the middle scoring Melissa.  Katie again singled to left scoring a run and then Katie scored, too,  on Mollie's sacrifice fly to center.

For the game Spooner earned two hits and two walks.  Grantsburg picked up 6 hits and got some free runs from Spooner.  But today was Katie's day as she picked up two hits in this game, too.  She had a great day at the plate showing power and speed. She hit for the circuit today.  If you have no idea what that means, go ask an electrical engineer!  The one thing that I have noticed is that any player in our line up is capable of stepping up and having a banner day.  Some years we had certain hitters that had to come through or we would lose.  This year we have 9 players that hit.  And there are always a few that come through... Grantsburg only struck out 3 times against a very good pitcher... If you can put the ball in play, good things happen.

On the other field...the game finally ended and Osceola had eeked out a win over Cumberland in an upset.  This week we have a JV game on Monday.  Spooner comes back on Tuesday.  Frederic visits on Thursday. Northwood makes it southern trip on Friday.... and then the second season starts...WOW.  Softball season is in FULL SWING.

TWIS:  We watered the field three times today.  The JV beat Unity 20-1. Michelle had a homerun.  Alyssa's ankle is healing.  The Swing Choir did well.  We missed the music and announcer.  Please come back Pete.  The concession stand sold lots of things.  Spooner didn't practice on Friday but just chose ice cream.  They considered camping but decided to attend school.  Hi Coach R...check out your picture.  I was going to put a moustache on you, but didn't.  What a day Katie!  Spooner's pitcher with Cumberland's defense would be quite a challenge.  Spooner had lots of little baby players...Tough strike zones, but good.  Where was Jade?  Macy finished her game and then made it.  It was very nice to see so many fans.  Craig wants to bat.  And the umps were talking about the big guy in the stands...Do you think it was Buddy?  And thanks Sena for the Brownies...sweet.  Consecutive wins???? Will we break last year's record?  Are you ready to practice like a team that is undefeated?  Ask Lauren how Nell's team finished the weekend.  Nice to see some old players showing up.  We are far enough into the season where people are starting to show up...simply because this team is the "Greatest Show in Town."  The pictures on the end...are with a camera that has a little better resolution.  If it is too slow to load with your modem, let me know..I will go back to the El Cheapo camera.

Still MaY

The next pictures are from the JV win over Unity.

and...for Elise...going home Friday and coming to work Monday. and the trip one..