Conference Championship Secured!

Did you know that bald eagle tastes much like spotted owl?

Have you ever heard the story how Balsam Lake was named? It is cute. Balsam Lake has 2054 acres. The deepest spot is 37 feet.  I am happy to inform you that my mom's Bass Lake has two spots over 50 feet deep.  Balsam lake also has an amazing 65 miles of shoreline.  Can you imagine the tax value of this lake?  This tax base is only matched by our own Memory Lake.  If you have never been on this lake, it really is amazing.  Nick Hallberg owns most of it.  He takes us on pontoon rides and makes us meet people from our past. Nick's dad is Stu hallberg.  When he was born his first word was Innenehinduc.  This native word soon caught on as the original name for Balsam lake.  It means Place of the Evergreen.  In honor of this name, Unity keeps one large evergreen in the softball parking lot.  Check it out!

The final battle is not too far away.  In the Grantsburg regional we find Cumberland, St. Croix Central, and Glenwood City.  That means that this regional will be quite tough.  Since Grantsburg has the #1 seed, we will not be playing in the first round.  Glenwood has already beaten SCC once this year.  They do play again before the tourney.  In 2005 Grantsburg had one of the top rated teams in the state.  St. Croix Falls knocked off the Pirates with a 5 inning rain rally.  So any thing can happen.  The team that survives our region will have some really quality teams waiting.  Hurley knocked of Park Falls in a non conference game 8-2.  Before that Park Falls was unbeaten.  Park Falls was the team that beat Grantsburg last year 12-0 and returns everybody.!!  Then there is Chetek, the dark horse.  These three teams are all verrrrrry good.  Whoever makes it to the first round of sectionals will have a tough game.  The players on our team made a pact.  If we lose any tournament game we will quit for the year.

From Scott... after Sarah's great fake throw last week.

The picture on the left shows the coach's disbelief.  The pic on the right is the first base coach.

  Here are the rankings that came out today.  Lancaster is back up there. SCC is looking strong...as is Chetek.  It is possible that Glenwood City does not turn in scores.  By the way....only Don and the Amherst coaches get to vote!  Sometimes, Don's wife Debbie also votes.  For those of you that follow athletics, regional championships and sectional games are almost a flip of the coin.

Throwback paragraph!

Have you ever been to college and fallen in love with the laundry guy?  Things like this do happen.  And if he proposes by candle light near a lake in the park, things could work out!  ...and they lived happily ever after.  Anybody who spends 90 minutes reading softball web pages deserves a little INK time.  "The original DL"  Stupid fly in the chardonnay. 

Jojo can actually lick her elbow!  and they say it couldn't be done!

Parent's night is coming up when we play St. Croix Falls.  Details will be released soon but at least we know the date.  In other years players have arrived on harleys, trucks, horses, and 4-wheelers.  This year we may arrive on llamas...just for Emily.  And...if you have ever heard of the running of the bulls? They have the running of the llamas in Hammond, Wi.  You really need to attend.

This owl sits in our yard waiting for Lola!  Mr. Berg told me that I had better be careful.

Unity Game Summary

Holy cow was it windy. 

Right in the middle of the game a pine cone came flying into the infield.  It came from that magical lone evergreen next to the highway.  It most certainly was a sign from the Balsam Lake gods that they approve.  The Pine Cone will now go with us for the rest of the games.

Grantsburg was the visiting team and batted first.  According to the script, Tiffany singled to right, stole second base and finally advanced to the plate giving us the early lead.  In the bottom, Michelle lit them up with two K's.  Annie almost had her chance to crawl up the fence for a catch as the pop sailed close to their dugout.  When Annie was younger, she would have let it go... That would have been two weeks ago..Now, she catches everything and appears to like it.

Grantsburg busted the game lose in the second inning. Emily started with a peepy single to right center.  Heather then bombed one over the left fielder's head.  Ing hit one of her towering popups which was tough to handle in the wind.  They did not handle it....and soon the romp was on.

Michelle says...."Turn around and I will go Quietly....."

Highlights of the game include.....

Cody bunted for a single with a runner on third.  Finchy bombed a 205 foot triple to right center with the bases loaded.  Michelle had 2.5 triples.... I yelled go, Don yelled stop and Michelle probably chose well.  On this very windy and exceptionally hard infield, Annie singled as the one hopper hopped over the head of the shortstop.  Emily had two consecutive hits before retiring to the dugout to chase out the parents.  Emily and Heather each went 2 for 2. They also did it quickly as they both picked up the two hits in the long second.   Nicole McKenzie hit a rope to center but it was caught.  Nicole is playing with a broken finger and lots of tape.  Cody went 3 for 3 plus a walk.  Romo threw out a runner and perfectly played a Unity bunt.  The baserunners took everything they could get and often made the infield look like a merry-go-round.  Unity also had their own circle thing going on for one inning.  Heather brought back the shoulder roll for the third time as she robbed a Unity hitter in right... and Mac went after the pop up and caught it.  Jessica caught a line drive hit at the pitcher. For this game the Pirates had 14 hits and 8 walks leading to the 17 runs.  Michelle pitched the first three innings shutting out the Eagles.  Jessica pitched the last two innings.  The home plate ump knew Dubek.

Finchy BOMBS one 205 feet to clear the bases!

TWIS:  Fast and slow and medium with one hand???? give me a break...  Heather's bat had a break.  It broke right in half.  Lee's Pro Shop had already replaced it the first time it broke but chose not to replace it this time.  Annie's dented bat will be replaced....we think.  Don bought doughnuts...not to eat, but to put on the thumb... we have had the thumb stuff going on all year.  We keep telling the players that if you hit each ball on the sweet spot, your hands will never ring.  Em, Cody, and Tiff often load up the poof or the double poof.  So at 5:00 some of us left.  I scouted the SCC band..they were good.  Are the baseball boys really teasing the softball players? The 14U team went undefeated last weekend... Nice job.  I didn't hear about the rest...  Olivia found me right away and had me correct her speed from 32 to 42..  Ing got her grad poster.  We decided that Romo had the best pose.  Cody hit me right smack on top of the head...again.  Sarah has a little meniscus issue.  It will be dealt with at the end of the season.  We are short a bat...or two.  This year we have 14 on the team...next year will probably be 24.  The dugout needs a wash.  The youth softball teams leave the field in great shape.  Congrats to Mollie Bjelland.  Her team will be playing to see if they get to go to the college world series.  I believe this little play off will happen this weekend.  Seniors have only 3 days left.  And for the next 3 weeks, the teachers that had only seniors will be available to rake and drag the softball field.  mac caught the pop up.  Finchy blasted one 205 feet to the gap.  Nice to see Paul Kooiker ump.  It was windy.  The parents tried to sneak into the dugout.  and suddenly...the pine cone appeared!  Only four people on the bus...not like it used to be.  Annie played second.  Where did Sarah go?  Gretchen made me hand her the tape.  The thumb ring seemed to work.  The two rings combined for 5 hits.  Annie and Michelle are now batting .500 which is just amazing.  Nice to see school board member Joe standing by the Unity dugout....didn't see Stu.  But Marlene Nielsen stopped into the dugout and said hi.  Thanks Scott for your hard work and all of the pictures... Tonight, I got some from Greg, too.  And Brian's amazing stats...wow, what an advantage. He will be doing some scouting for us very shortly.  Looks like Cumberland may be our first tourney game.  Did you hear Romor singing..."Should I go or should I stay now?"  Finchy took one off the shoulder to reach first.   And yes, they did get Nicole to smile....then I took her picture.  At least the wind kept away the monster gnats... Annie had to wear sunglasses just to keep out the flying debris.  Tiffany just stood in Michelle's shadow and received no dust.  When Finchy was in the field, the wind blew sooo hard that we had to send Gabbie out to peal Finchy off the outfield fence.  The bus ride home had only 8 people... and Dwight's bus is the best...smoooth.  Hi Satin...still around?  On Thursday we will go for win #20.  I won't get the rest of the pictures online until my test second period....so come on back later...

SYBTF

Pictures from Scott Hoffman and Greg Palmquist