With a 17-0 conference record heading into the regular
season finale Thursday, May 19, the Rosholt
High School softball team
won the Central Wisconsin Conference-10 (CWC-10) Title this season for the
first time since 2011.

The ninth-ranked Hornets have outscored their conference
opponents by a 200-34 margin so far this season, and clinched the CWC-10 Title
outright with a 15-2 win over Menominee Indian in the first game of a
doubleheader Monday, May 16.

Rosholt will look to finish unbeaten in conference play when
it hosts Wild Rose (7-13, 7-10) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, before the WIAA Division
4 Playoffs begin next week.

“I know that these girls didn’t expect this out of our
season, and I don’t think a lot of other teams expected it out of us,” said
first-year Rosholt softball head coach Morgan Oppor. “They’re really starting
to mesh well together as a team, and it’s kind of crazy how we’ve changed from
the very first practice to where we’re at right now.”

Last season the Hornets finished third in the CWC-10 with a
13-5 record, before they lost to Manawa 4-3 in the Division 4 Regional
Semifinals to finish 18-8 overall.

Rosholt lost Second Team All-CWC-10 selections Nikayla
Glodowski and Shantel Cordova from a year ago, while Oppor, who was a two-time
First Team All-CWC-8 and a 2011 Third Team All-State pitcher at
Iola-Scandinavia, took over as the Hornets’ head coach for Aaron Dobbe this
season.

“I came into the first practice, and I did not know over
half of the girls’ names, so that was different,” said Oppor. “And it was kind
of tough, because I’ve been an assistant coach and I’ve helped out, but I’ve
never been a head coach, so I came into that first practice and I just wanted
to do everything and I couldn’t.

“Now I finally understand that I get to watch and put my
input in when I see it’s needed, and I have two great assistant coaches (Shane
Larson and Paul Rink) that have been with the program for quite a few years now,”
she said. “And it’s definitely different though, to be a head coach, but it’s
so much fun. Especially to teach them how much I love the game, and to put that
in them, it’s just an awesome feeling.”

Freshman Kayla Fletcher broke into the starting lineup this
season at shortstop and hits leadoff for the Hornets, followed by a pair of
returning starters in Second Team All-CWC-10 junior third baseman Paige Skibba
and senior first baseman Taylor Kaminski.

“Kayla knows the game very, very, very well, and there’s not
a lot of freshmen that can say that, but I have a lot of faith in her, and
she’s definitely grown as a player this year, batting and fielding-wise,” said
Oppor. “Paige is very, very fast running the bases, she’s an awesome player
overall, and her range at third base is astonishing.

“Taylor
hadn’t played much first base before this season, but she’s picked that up
amazingly well, she gets those quick ones that are right back at her and has
had some awesome scoops this season,” she said.

Senior Kaitlynn Lehman has taken over at second base and
hits cleanup after starting for part of last year, with Second Team All-CWC-10
sophomore pitcher Emily Rink and Second Team All-CWC-10 senior center fielder
Andrea Stroik right behind.

“Kaitlynn’s bat is awesome, I had to have her in the lineup
so I had her at (designated player), and then my second baseman got hurt, and
she’s done amazing at second base since I put her in there,” said Oppor.
“Emily’s our All-Star pitcher, she’s got two years left, and I am so thankful
for that. She and her dad work a tremendous amount on pitching in the
off-season and during the season, she’s walked 10 girls all year and her
strikeouts are at least 150, so she’s doing very, very well this season for us.

“Andrea’s also a very fast runner and she’s smart, and when
she gets a hold of the ball, it goes,” she said.

Senior right fielder Bre Richter also returns as a starter,
while junior catcher McKenzie Glodowski, sophomore designated player/second
baseman Shaina Niewiadomski and senior left fielder Rachael Ganski moved into
the starting lineup this season.

“Bre has two home runs for the season, so she’s one of our
power hitters, and she also does awesome in the field,” said Oppor. “McKenzie
is a first-year varsity catcher, to the best of my knowledge, and is another
one that’s improved tremendously this season, with throwing down to second
base, and she just continues to get those tough plays at home where Emily
throws them in the dirt and she keeps them in front, no problem.

“Shaina is another one of those girls that has an awesome
bat, and I can’t afford to not have her in the order, she has quite a bit of
power, and she’s a fast runner,” she said. “Rachael is a little taller and can
get to those ones that you don’t really expect, and all of a sudden she just
pulls them out.

“But our whole lineup, overall, can just hit the ball very,
very well,” Oppor said.

Rosholt opened its season with five CWC-10 wins in a row,
including a 4-1 win over reigning Conference Champion Almond-Bancroft April 14,
before it beat Colby 11-0 and lost to Amherst
5-1 in a pair of nonconference games April 16.

Along with a 4-0 nonconference loss to Iola-Scandinavia and
a 19-3 win at Wittenberg-Birnamwood, the Hornets won 10 more CWC-10 games in
row, capped with an 8-1 win at Tigerton Thursday, May 12, which clinched at
least a share of the CWC-10 and improved the team to 17-2 overall and 15-0 in
the conference.

“Rosholt hasn’t beat Tigerton twice in one season in quite a
few years, and my girls came into that game so excited and ready to go,” said
Oppor. “Our girls are quiet, I finally got them to start talking in the dugout
and on the field, and they’re just loud now, and finally they understand that
it makes a difference, whether you’re upbeat and loud, or you’re just sitting
there talking.

“And that whole game was just chit-chat, the whole time, and
the bats were going, we hit the ball well, everything just clicked,” she said.
“Emily threw amazing on the mound, and it felt so good for me and for them, to
just take that second win over Tigerton. They all had smiles, and it was just
an awesome feeling to beat them in Tigerton.”

Rosholt followed with a pair of nonconference games
Saturday, May 14, where it beat Barneveld 4-3 and lost to seventh-ranked Wisconsin
Rapids Assumption 5-2.

The Hornets then had a chance to clinch the CWC-10 Title
outright in the first game of a doubleheader against Menominee Indian Monday,
May 16, where they rolled to a 15-2 win.

“They were very, very excited after we won our first game,”
said Oppor. “I had girls almost in tears, because they never expected to do
that, especially the seniors did not expect to get to be Conference Champs this
year.

“It started out in game one (of the season), we came out
against Tri-County, and it was cold and crappy and just miserable, but the
girls pulled through, and just game after game, kept winning, kept winning,”
she said. “Finally toward this end here, I think I was more nervous than they
were coming into games.”

Rosholt followed with a 15-6 win over Menominee Indian in
the second game to improve to 17-0 in the conference, and will look to finish
unbeaten in the CWC-10 when it hosts Wild Rose Thursday.

“You never know what can happen,” said Oppor. “But I have
full confidence in my girls to come out strong on Thursday, and take that
Conference Title with an 18-0 record.”

The WIAA Division 4 Playoffs are set to begin with the
Regional Quarterfinals Tuesday, May 24, with the Regional Semifinals to follow
Wednesday, May 25, and the Regional Finals Friday, May 27.

Rosholt will compete in the New Holstein Sectional, which
includes CWC-10 foes Almond-Bancroft (7-10), Marion (9-10), Tigerton (11-9-1),
Tri-County (8-12) and Wild Rose among the 12 teams in one half of the Sectional,
with 12th-ranked Burlington Catholic Central, 13th-ranked Oakfield and
15th-ranked Williams Bay in the other half.

“There’s a very good chance, if we keep continuing to play
the way we are, that we could make it to state,” said Oppor. “And the girls
understand that now, and they’re all focused up and ready to go.”