At least for this night, Grantsburg WAS Superior.

Defense was awesome and Michelle, too, was Superior

Thanks for the Key...talk about quick results.. my ego is fine now...thanks.

We greatly appreciate Superior for making the trip down south.  They offered to come here which was really nice.  Who knows?  Maybe they consider this their southern trip.  But it was great for them to set this up. I have often realized that our players lack some geography skills.  Most players knew that Superior was up north.  So I asked them if anybody knew the school song.  Now Emily knows most things....so I asked her to fill us in.  During the day, I talked with our AD Mr. Amundson.  He had contacted at least 38 umps in order to find somebody to ump.  As of 7:30 in the morning, he only had one. If you are reading this, Mike must have found ump #2.

Cody watched the Romor video and decided to eat one of her own.....

We continue to work on sliding...especially after watching Mac and Jess slide.  So we dug out the old movie that taught Holly how to slide...and before that Lindy.  If you watch closely you can see that they all use similar techniques.  I was going to say we made less mistakes tonight but Deb would have jumped all over me.  The proper way is to say....We made fewer mistakes tonight.  Then I was going to add that people don't understand both of them...or is that them both???  actually it is redundant...It should be just plain both.  If you can't always hit, at least the grammar should be acceptable.

In case you get bored during this newsletter please visit this page.  As we approach prom I know that hand painting becomes a big deal.

AMERY GAMES SATURDAY:  10:00  Game 1.  Game 2 starts about 30 minutes after Game 1.

We were all mesmerized by the tatoo...

So it is time to bring out the old tattoo pic from the state champs!

And now for the game stuff.

Michelle pitched a shut-out and...had Grantsburg's ONLY two hits.

The first inning was a good start for Grantsburg.  Michelle fanned the first two batters and after a walk, Sarah threw out the batter for out #3. With One out, Sarah took one off the helmet.  Scott caught the perfect picture.

 and her leg hurt....that old BB injury stuff.  But it placed a runner on first with one out.  Now Michelle is used to high quality pitching and tonight it was VERY obvious.  She laced one to the gap in left center.  Sarah rounded third, then went back, then took off, then went back, then took off...and eventually she scored giving Grantsburg a lead.  Annie reached on an error after a strikeout and Michelle was able to score giving Grantsburg its only two runs of the night.  Grantsburg place great defense but looked quite miserable at the plate.

The next set of action took place in the top of the seventh inning. With one out, Superior put together not only its first hit of the night but its second and third loading the bases.  The balls were not hit hard but they found a place to fall.  With the bases loaded and only one out we brought the infield in...hoping for a home to first double play.  The batter hit to Tiff...she threw to the plate for out #2 and Romo decided to throw to third... Sarah made a GREAT saving catch as the ball was in the dirt.  If it had gone passed her, possibly two runs could have scored.  Michelle struck out the next batter to end the game.  Both Grantsburg hits came from Michelle.  But, it was Grantsburg's defense that shined tonight.  It was really good to see.

Another play that stood out in my mind was when Michelle rounded first.  Taking a big round she placed herself into position so that when the ball was bobbled, she picked up the extra base.  It is base running like that which will make the difference in close games....

so what do I think?  I think their pitcher kind of shut us down.  She threw a rise and decent drop.  Her change was ok.  Her control was very good.  She was the best pitcher we had seen.  Michelle seemed to control their batters but it was the Grantsburg pitching and defense that made the difference.  It was a good game to win and a confidence booster.  Our players also realized that they must put the ball into play in order to make games competitive.  We will work a lot on that at Friday's practice.  We think Amery will be the best team that we have played so far.  If we can't put the ball into play, it will be a long Saturday  We will work on technique, keeping the arms loose, and not over striding.  You get into bad habits playing bad pitchers.  WE had a big reminder about hitting good pitchers....

I am tired....pleasant dreams..more in the am.

TWIS:   Romo finally received a text...and Ing has a new phone.  Did anybody find Michelle's keys?  How about her tires? Sarah's old basketball injury came to the surface.  Heather had a transplanted leg...she wanted to be like Don.  And...robo boy is pitching again.  He is learning to pitch from a new solid base...much like Tiger Woods.  The team wanted to warm up to the chicken dance???  The limer is the proud owner of two new cotter pins... thanks joe.  And....when you go through the lunch line....Tell Lara....Tuesday and Thursday for sure..... don't say anything else!!! Michelle reminded the players that Superior can probably hit and they should consider fielding the ball.  The outfielders worked on fielding the ball off their left foot when throwing to the plate..In practice it was perfect!  Today was a nice day for me...8th graders were gone.  Thanks Sam, Jo, Jenn, Kylie and Macy.  Greetings from Dale Schauls...ex Grantsburger. Did I ever tell you the story of the Pine trees?  Oh wait...it is a living legend.  Cody's thumb still hurts...Me thinks they be gloves fo dat!  After we saw the mullet we played Hillbilly Deluxe..and all of our players knew the words... Oh Lydia...you are sooo good. Thanks.  Mike called 38 umpires before he found two.  Romo noticed the mouse eaten shirt...BS stood for Be Superior...not Beat Superior...or that other one you were thinking.  All the people did a great job of making this night happen on such short notice. Hope Gretchen feels better. Paul got his turkey.  We have allll kinds of sore thumbs.  The song "Jump" comes from the badgers.  It is the song played at the end of the third quarter of every football game...Everybody jumps.  Sometimes I feel like a dog.  Did you see that horse dog...Was that you Becky?  What kind was it?  part Quarter Horse?  Holy cow...what does it eat?  Little dogs?  hopefully a few cats.  Park Falls is playing pretty well... Hurley lurks in their future. I am at New Richmond Friday but will be back for practice.... sometimes you need to walk away...and that is not always easy.

sybtf.

We lock up the youn'uns until they can hit a rise ball!!!

more shots from Scott Hoffman.