SPASH softball team returns to State Tournament
Following a one-year hiatus, the Stevens Point Area Senior
High School (SPASH) softball team is headed back to the WIAA Division 1 State
Tournament.
The third-ranked Panthers (26-3) beat Hudson 11-4 in the Sectional Final Thursday,
June 2, to advance to state for the 13th time since 2000, and were set to open
the State Tournament against Kenosha Tremper (17-10) in a WIAA Division 1 State
Quarterfinal at Goodman Diamond in Madison
at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 9.
The winner will face either fourth-ranked Pulaski (26-1) or
Divine Savior Holy Angels (DSHA) (22-6) in the State Semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday, June 10, with the
Division 1 State Championship Game set for 5:35 p.m. Saturday, June 11.
“It’s our last chance to win the thing,” said senior third
baseman Shaylee Kluck. “It’s our senior year, so we want to make it memorable.”
“We gave ourselves a chance to end the season with a win,
which is always the goal,” said senior catcher Jordan Kawlewski. “As a senior,
after four years, it’d be good to have the end of our SPASH career be a win in
the State Championship.”
The Panthers returned eight starters from last season’s team
that had its run of four consecutive State Tournament appearances end when Chippewa Falls
scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to rally for a 4-3 win and
end SPASH’s season at 24-5.
“Last year, the fact that we didn’t make it to the State
Tournament and we were very close, it kind of fueled the fire a little bit for
this year,” said SPASH softball head coach Tom Drohner. “Our kids worked hard
in the off-season, they played a lot of ball over the summer, and then they worked
hard in the weight room.
“So I’m really proud of the kids and how hard they’ve
worked,” he said. “And it just shows that if you work hard, good things
happen.”
After going 23-3 in the regular season, the Panthers opened
the postseason with a 12-2 win in six innings over Wisconsin Rapids in the
Regional Finals May 27, and then used a five-run rally in the bottom of the
sixth inning to beat 12th-ranked D.C. Everest 5-0 in the Sectional Semifinals
May 31.
That sent SPASH to the Sectional Final in Marshfield to take on Hudson (19-8) Thursday, June 2, with a trip
to state on the line.
The Panthers had hits in five of their first six at bats in
the bottom of the first inning to jump out to a 5-0 lead and chase Hudson
starting pitcher Katie Cardell from the game after 1/3 of an inning, and added
another run to lead 6-0 at the end of the first inning.
“Obviously you want to start strong,” said Drohner. “And I
thought that we really put a stamp on how we’re going to play the game in that
first inning.”
Hudson
scored a pair of runs in the top of the second inning to make it 6-2, while
SPASH used two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to increase its lead to
8-2.
Hudson
scored two more runs in the top of the fifth to pull within 8-4, but the
Panthers added three more runs in the sixth to close out the scoring on the
11-4 win that sent the team to state for the 13th time in the last 17 years.
“My freshman and sophomore year we made it there, and then
last year we didn’t,” said Kawlewski. “This is our year to accomplish
everything that we’ve been trying to for the last four years.”
“It’s amazing,” said senior first baseman Payton Gaber. “Last
year it didn’t end well, and it was just sad.
“And then knowing that it’s my last year, and ending the
Sectionals on a positive note, it was really cool,” she said. “This is my first
time playing on Goodman Diamond, because sophomore year I had a torn ACL, but I’m really excited and I have a lot of faith
in this team.
“I know that if we play how we can, we’ll do a lot of great
things down there,” she said.
Sophomore left fielder Halle Pavelski went 2-for-4 with a
double and three RBI, Gaber was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, sophomore
center fielder Ally Miklesh went 2-for-3 with two runs scored,
and junior second baseman Brittney Flugaur was 2-for-3 to lead a 15-hit attack
against Hudson, while junior pitcher Aubrey Drohner went 2-for-3 with a double
and three runs scored at the plate and also picked up the win in the circle
after she struck out six, walked none and allowed four earned runs on nine hits
in the win.
SPASH was set to open at state Thursday morning against
Kenosha Tremper, which was seeded fifth in its Sectional but upset top-seeded
and seventh-ranked Greenfield 2-1 in the Sectional Semifinals and then beat
sixth-seeded Kenosha Bradford/Reuther 4-0 in the Sectional Finals to advance to
state for the first time since 1986.
“They’re very hot right now; they’ve won the last four
games,” said coach Drohner. “They’re pretty tight-lipped down in that area,
I’ve been having a hard time getting a scouting report on them, but as far as I
understand they went a little younger in their starting lineup. They were
trying to figure out pieces of the puzzle, and I think that now maybe they
have.
“So we’re going to go down there and hope to play good,
solid SPASH softball,” he said. “And if we do that, I think we’re going to be
fine.”
The winner will advance to play in the State Semifinals
Friday night against fourth-ranked Pulaski, which is at state for the first
time since 1996, or DSHA, which is making its first WIAA State Tournament
appearance in softball.
The State Quarterfinals on the opposite side of the bracket
will feature Verona
(22-6) against eighth-ranked Watertown
(20-7) and sixth-ranked Oshkosh North (23-2) against second-ranked Union Grove
(27-2).
Watertown
was the State Runner-up last season and lost to SPASH 13-0 April 15, while Verona is making its 12th
appearance at state and was swept by SPASH 6-0 and 13-7 in a doubleheader May
7.
Oshkosh North qualified for state for the first time since
1978 after it beat fifth-ranked Kaukauna 1-0 in the Sectional Final, while
Union Grove beat SPASH 4-0 May 14 and won 8-2 over top-ranked and defending
State Champion Westosha Central in the Sectional Final to advance to state for
the first time in Division 1 after it won Division 2 State Titles in 2007 and
2011.
“That just goes to show you a little bit that softball’s
getting bigger and bigger,” said coach Drohner, as half of the Division 1 field
is at state for the first time in more than 20 years. “You always have the
usuals there, but there’s other teams that have been working hard to get to the
pinnacle of high school softball, and that’s getting to the State Tournament.”
The Panthers are making their WIAA-best 17th appearance at
state for softball, and are averaging 9.8 runs per game this season.
“Our team’s playing good defense and good offense,” said
Kluck. “And with the way Aubrey’s pitching, we’re going to go far.”
“We’ve been hitting the ball very well, one through nine,”
said coach Drohner. “There really isn’t a weakness in our lineup, every one of
our kids can hit the ball out of the ballpark or hit the ball to the gaps or
hit for a high average.
“We’ve got a lot of good things going on,” he said. “And we
just want to keep playing well.”
SPASH has won 17 of its last 18 games dating back to April
26, with its only loss to Union Grove at the Chippewa Falls Invitational, and
the Panthers will look to make a run at their ninth State Title in program
history this weekend.
“It’s a great time to be hot, and we are,” said Gaber.
“Everybody in our lineup hits, and it’s awesome, because if one person doesn’t,
you’ve got the next person.
“If we’re all on and we play together, I know we can win
it,” she said.
“We’re going to have to go and play really good defense,”
said coach Drohner. “Our outfield is very talented; they can go get it in the
outfield. We’re going to have to pitch and not give up easy baserunners, and
then we’re going to have to hit.
“And that’s why I like this team,” he said. “We’ve done all
three of those things pretty well all year long, so you think that you’ve got
an opportunity to be pretty successful if that continues.”
WIAA Division 1 State Tournament at Goodman Diamond in Madison
Thursday, June 9
Game 1: SPASH (26-3) vs. Kenosha Tremper (17-10), 9 a.m.
Game 2: Pulaski (26-1) vs. Divine Savior Holy Angels (22-6),
approximately 11 a.m.
Game 3: Verona
(22-6) vs. Watertown
(20-7), 1:30 p.m.
Game 4: Oshkosh
North (23-2) vs. Union Grove (27-2), approximately 3:30 p.m.
Friday, June 10
Game 5: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 10
State Championship Game: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 5:30 p.m.