STATE

UNDEFEATED 27-0 STATE CHAMPIONS

If you would like to email me a congrats to the girls....I will put them on a special page.

Click here to read the notes.

Thank you for your support of these fine young ladies!!!

Thank you to all the teams in our conference. Their improving skills makes all of us better.

Thank you soooooo much to everyone that was involved in the welcome home. It suddenly occurred to the players that they must be special. So thanks Grantsburg.

It really was AWESOME!

On July 8 the team is invited to Miller Park in Milwaukee. They will be given free seats and brought down to the field for introductions as the STATE CHAMPION.

And so the tale begins......The bus was set to leave at 9:00 am on Thursday. It was a beautiful morning as excited players arrived at the bus loading area. Parents were there with cameras and with refreshments. All the bags were packed...we were ready to go. Chas was our bus driver. We have had him before and he is great. We headed for Madison.

As we were leaving, the first movie was placed into the DVD player. I think it was called Vegas...or something like that...anyway after about 90 minutes of jibberish, the moral of the story was that guys are dumb and girls rule the world. Sometimes we have to be careful what we say. On the way to the sectional games, Romo asked me....If we go to state will you buy strawberry pie??? Absolutely, I said...anything for you Romo.... So our first stop was perkins in Rice Lake.

At this point we headed towards a wayside in Black River Falls. On the way we watched a movie called She's the Man. After about 90 minutes of gibberish, the moral of the story was guys are dumb and girls rule the world. It was now time for lunch.

Then for some reason, we discovered that John Tucker must die. We are not sure exactly why, but after 90 minutes of gibberish, the moral of the story was that guys are dumb and girls rule the world. Soon we arrived at the motel now named AmericInn. It was the same motel but different name. We also discovered that our first opponent...WF would be staying there. And our potential second opponent Laconia was also there. We made a quick stop in the rooms and then headed to field for our first practice.

After discovering that girls don't shower....only guys stink, we headed for Culvers. After Culvers we went to Goodman diamond to watch a D1 game. It was important for everyone to see the diamond before we had to play. Chippewa Falls won a very good game and advanced to the finals Saturday. We picked up all the player's passes...decided not to buy DOTS for $5 each and headed back to the motel.

On Friday morning we were up early. We decided to leave for West Town mall shortly after breakfast. The mall was open, but the stores didn't open until 10. We visited with people....we walked through stores. Don considered buying John Tucker clothes at Victors....??? But a fine time was had by all. Soon everyone was gathered at the food court....

GAME TIME

We arrived at the field and met our guide whose name was Steve. Then we met the ump whose name was Don. Bart and Mollie came to the cage and pitched to our players. We were assigned a time on the practice field. The coin flip was done prior to the game. I thought we had won the flip but discovered the first flip was designed to determine who gets to call the second flip. We were the visitors.

Being the visiting team we batted first. The pitcher had a most unusual rising curve that perplexed our hitters the first time through. In the second inning Emily picked up our first hit of the state tourney. Michelle had started the game hot and was mowing 'em down. Their first batter was a slapper. Ing dispatched her twice. In the third inning, Cody came to the plate as the lead off batter. After fouling off some pitches, she earned a walk. Since she still had a sore leg, Lauren Finch ran for her. Romo was up next and placed a perfect sacrifice bunt moving Lauren to second. Tiff, who had a great tournament was up next with a chance to drive in the lead run. BAM... she hit one over the left fielder's head for a triple scoring lauren. We were on the board. Michelle was up next and also singled scoring Tiff and we were up 2-0. After Annie got bonked in the head, Heather laced a shot to the green scoring Mich...and the Pirates were ahead 3-0. BUT WF would not go quietly. The lead off batter in the 4th tripled to right center. Cody had to back up Heather and tried out her sore leg. After a throwing error by Grantsburg and a WF hit, they had two runs on the board. Romo caught the next foul ball and Mich struck out the last two batters. It was now 3-2. In the fifth Tiff singled to start the inning. Sarah bunted her to second. Annie ripped her first hit of the day and Tiff was home. The remainder of the Grantsburg scoring came in the top of the 7th. With two outs, Mich singled. Annie walked and Heather uncorked one over the left fielder's head again. After Emily's second hit of the night Grantsburg had a comfortable 7-2 lead.

For the game, Grantsburg had 7 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks. The youngster from WF did strike out 9. Mich held them to 2 hits and 1 walk. Her 14 strikeouts tied a tournament record. Tiff, Mich, Emily, and Heather all had 2 hits each. Annie picked up the other hit. There was one really amazing play. When you look at this next picture, it is hard to believe that HEATHER CAUGHT THE BALL!

Both Scott and Greg took some amazing photos. The first set is from Greg. Feel free to use them....

So we were now set to play for the championship. The kids had decided to eat pizza. Nobody has sent me any of those pictures, yet. The Hotel had complimentary refreshments in the lobby... the Grantsburg fans took full advantage of that. Greg and Scott set up the computers in the conference room and we watched photos of the day. Often Greg and Scott were on opposite sides of the field and we had opposing views of each shot. It was very interesting. Brian had all the parents set up during the Lancaster and laconia game as scouts. We had video of the pitcher and stills of all the batters. It helped in planning the strategy for the next game.... Soon everyone was in bed....at least that is what we think.. You never know what Emily and Gabbie may be up to...????

We arrived at the field and went through the warmup routine. Cody again visited the trainer and had treatments for her sore quad. Bart and Mollie threw in the cage..... We lost the chance to call the flip. Laconia lost the call on the next flip and were suddenly the home team. We also discovered that the it is alphabetical for dugouts...so for the 6th time, we went back to the confines of the first base dugout...It is where we belong.

I will make this very brief because mostly people want to see the pictures. Our defense was not perfect but it also made some of the most spectacular plays that I have seen. Michelle was once again awesome and only allowed 1 hit and 1 walk. Because of this near perfection, we were able to overcome some mistakes. One reallllllly big play was when Annie back peddled to stab a pop up...to strand 3 Laconia runners. It saved a few runs... And Tiff...who is always ready prepared for the dropped ball. After Annie caught it, Tiff tried to stop and strained her quad.....Tiff is Tuff. Great catch

And possibly the greatest defensive play that I have seen in high school softball was pulled off by Tiff. In the first picture, she dives up the middle and stops a hit. In the next photo, she gets to her knees and fires a strike for out #3. Amazing!!!

Grantsburg had all three runs score in the 3rd inning. I think the turning point for Grantsburg was this at bat by Romo. She battled...she fouled off pitches...she let the rise ball go...and soon she had earned a walk. It was a fantastic at bat for Romo. Then of course Tiff is up to bat... And she bangs a hit. With runners on second and third, Michelle strides to the plate. This IS Mich's day. She pounds one up the middle scoring two runs...and the fans cheer. Heather again rips a shot to the green and Michelle prances home. It was starting to look good. Grantsburg did have other scoring chances but all the runs came in this inning and they were all earned runs. You don't get many free runs in the state tournament. For the game Grantsburg had 6 hits..2 by Tiff and 2 by Mich. Emily and Heather had the other 2 hits. Romo had the only walk...and it was HUGE! Laconia was held to just 1 hit by Michelle and the defense. They only had 1 walk......and Grantsburg finished off a 27-0 PERFECT SEASON.....STATE CHAMP!

The team of 2009 placed a MAJOR stamp on Pirate fastpitch. It was the first 27 win season. It was the first undefeated season. It was the first time 5 different players hit homeruns...It was the first time ever Grantsburg had played a D1 school. It is very possible that this mark may never be broken....then again...you never know!!!! People ask me...Did you know that this team was this good? I said ABSOLUTELY! but I wanted to keep it a secret... but now the State of Wisconsin Knows. The team of 2009 was UNMATCHED!

AND so the fairy tale continues....hugs from the relatives...back to the motel...Off to the GREAT DANE for a private room...and then back the ball park to see one more game....And the team of 2009 celebrated each song...each moment.

Off to the mall for ice cream......then back to the motel...TBAS!!!! all night.

and then we returned to Grantsburg.....and the players felt VERY special.

TYIS: Well there is nobody left. What a strange feeling! The Chicago boys are coming to the banquet. Gabbie's clothes are still wet. The SP was good. CHAS roots for us. If we go to the Brewer's game, Chas will give us a deal and we will fill the 47 seats. Our warm-ups were perfect. The movies were girly. As we came to Burnett Dairy, one of the players said...wow, we must have done something special...(V8) It was a special year. Now it is time to move on....after all, we haven't done anything since last Saturday.

The best predictor of future successes is past successes!

Sometimes you work very hard and things just don't work out. Most softball teams worked hard but only YOU are the STATE CHAMPION. Enjoy the stories for a life time. You were awesome.

SYBTF

Scott's pictures just arrived