The Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) softball
team overcame an early deficit to win the WIAA Division 1 State Title at
Goodman Diamond in Madison
Saturday, June 11.

Eighth-ranked and reigning State Runner-up Watertown scored
three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-1 lead over the
Panthers in the State Championship Game, which it remained heading into the top
of the third inning.

There, third-ranked SPASH (29-3) erupted for six runs to
take a 7-3 lead, and went on to a 16-4 victory to win its WIAA-record ninth
State Title in program history.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said sophomore center fielder
Ally Miklesh. “We have a really veteran team, and we just pushed and pushed as
hard as we could to win this game, because we knew how much it meant.

“We weren’t able to make state last year,” she said. “But we
were coming out hungry.”

“I’m just really proud of our kids,” said SPASH softball
head coach Tom Drohner. “We got down 3-1, and we never panicked, and we did a
really good job of getting back in the game.

“And when you don’t panic, you figure out ways to get it
done,” he said.

The Panthers had won 17 of 18 games coming into the State
Tournament, where they opened against Kenosha Tremper (17-11) in a WIAA
Division 1 State Quarterfinal Thursday, June 9, and scored five runs in the
bottom of the first inning to chase Tremper starting pitcher Emilee Nelson from
the game after 1/3 of an inning and take a 5-0 lead.

The Panthers led 8-2 going into the top of the sixth inning
when rain began to fall, as Tremper hit a solo home run with one out to make it
8-3 and then used a walk, a hit batter and another walk to load the bases, when
the game was delayed for more than two hours due to rain.

Junior pitcher Aubrey Drohner used a popup and groundout to
escape the jam, and SPASH went on to an 8-3 win, as Miklesh was 2-for-3 with
two runs scored, senior third baseman Shaylee Kluck went 2-for-3 with a double,
junior second baseman Brittney Flugaur and senior catcher Jordan Kawlewski each
had two hits, and senior first baseman Payton Gaber added two RBI.

“Sometimes when you jump on people, you have a tendency to
relax,” said coach Drohner. “We did a little bit, but then every time someone
challenged us, we answered the call.”

The victory sent the Panthers to the State Semifinals
Friday, June 10, to face fourth-ranked Pulaski (27-2), which beat Divine Savior
Holy Angels (22-7) in the State Quarterfinals Thursday when Pulaski junior
pitcher Liz Pautz threw the 10th no-hitter in State Tournament history and tied
a Division 1 State Tournament record with 16 strikeouts in an 8-0 win.

SPASH struck early again Friday night against Pautz, as
Miklesh scored on a RBI groundout from Aubrey Drohner, and Kawlewski scored on
a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning to give the team a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers added RBI singles from Aubrey Drohner and Kluck
in the bottom of the second inning to go up 4-0, and after Pulaski hit a solo
home run in the top of the fourth to make it 4-1, SPASH answered with four runs
in the bottom of the fourth to increase its lead to 8-1.

Pulaski scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to
close within 8-3 when the game was stopped due to a thunderstorm and resumed at
Waunakee High School at 9 a.m. Saturday morning, where Kluck hit a
two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to provide the final margin
in a 10-3 victory.

Kluck went 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, Miklesh
was 2-for-4 with three runs scored, Kawlewski scored three runs, and Aubrey
Drohner went 2-for-4 with three RBI at the plate and recorded the win after she
allowed three earned runs on five hits, struck out five and walked none to send
SPASH to the State Championship Game for the first time since 2011.

“It honestly gave us more motivation and momentum,” said
Kluck of the rain delay. “We came out there and finished the game up.”

In the other State Semifinal Saturday morning, Watertown
(22-8) trailed second-ranked Union Grove (28-3) 3-1 in the top of the seventh
inning at Goodman Diamond, when it loaded the bases with one out and scored a
pair of runs on an errant throw home to tie the game at 3-3, and with two outs
in the top of the eighth used a RBI double and a RBI single to win 5-3.

That set up a rematch in the State Championship Game, after
SPASH won at Watertown 13-0 April 15 in its fourth game of the season, when
Watertown didn’t throw its top pitcher in junior Ellee Jensen.

With the State Title on the line, the Panthers struck first
in the top of the first inning, as sophomore pinch runner Rachel Sullivan
scored on a RBI single from Gaber to give the team a 1-0 lead.

Watertown led off the bottom of the first with a single and
followed with a bunt single, as the throw to first base went into right field
and allowed the lead runner to score on the error to tie the game at 1-1.

Watertown added a pair of RBI singles later in the inning to
take a 3-1 lead, as two of its three runs were unearned in the inning.

“The last couple of games, we’ve been getting on top and
staying on top,” said Kawlewski. “So it was a little bit of a change for us,
and we had to adjust to coming back from behind.

“But our defense did a really good job adjusting to make
sure that we played clean and didn’t have any more errors,” she said. “And our
offense definitely just took off as the innings kept going.”

The SPASH offense responded in the top of the third, as Flugaur
beat the throw to first on a dropped third strike to lead off the inning and
then beat the throw to second base on a fielder’s choice groundball from
Miklesh to put runners on first and second with nobody out.

Kawlewski dropped down a sacrifice bunt in front of home
plate, and the throw from the catcher to first base sailed into right field,
which allowed Flugaur to score and pull SPASH within 3-2.

Aubrey Drohner followed with a line drive into left-center
field that scored Miklesh and Kawlewski with the two-run double, as the
Panthers battled back to take a 4-3 lead.

A groundout and a Gaber walk left runners on first and
second with one out, when sophomore left fielder Halle Pavelski stepped to the
plate and hit a deep drive over the fence in left field for a three-run home
run that gave the Panthers a 7-3 lead.

“I was just thinking, ‘I didn’t hit my best in my first at
bat,’ and (assistant coach Todd VanderLoop) told me, ‘take a deep breath,’”
said Pavelski. “I went up there, swung at the ball, and hit the ball out.

“It felt really cool; it felt like my best hit I’ve had all
season,” she said. “Right at the crack of the bat, I knew it was gone.”

The six-run third inning opened the floodgates for SPASH,
which used a RBI ground out from Gaber and a RBI single from junior designated
player Brooke Tuszka in the fourth inning to push the lead to 9-3, and then got
RBI singles from Kawlewski, Aubrey Drohner and Pavelski and a sacrifice fly
from Kluck in the fifth inning to extend it to 13-3.

Without a 10-run rule for the State Championship Game, the
Panthers added three more runs in the top of the sixth on a RBI double from
Kawlewski, a RBI single from Kluck and a RBI on a fielder’s choice by Pavelski
to go up 16-3, while Watertown scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to end
SPASH’s 15-0 run and make it 16-4.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Watertown had a one-out
single, but SPASH senior shortstop Sierra Niewiadomski hauled in a line drive
on the next play and threw to Gaber at first to double off the runner and end
the game on a double play, as the Panthers rushed toward first base to
celebrate their State Championship with a 16-4 victory.

“I just felt a lot of emotions going through me,” said
senior right fielder Hannah Worzella. “I got all teary-eyed, and I was just so
thrilled.”

“Our goal was to play our best softball at the end of the
year, and I think we did that, especially offensively,” said Drohner. “We were
phenomenal all year, one through nine in our lineup, and then we really started
playing well, probably three-quarters into the season, as far as squaring up
balls.

“It really didn’t matter who we were going against,” he
said. “We were figuring out ways to get it done.”

SPASH finished with 20 hits in the win to end up one short
of the Division 1 single-game record, as Pavelski went 3-for-5 with a home run
and five RBI, and Aubrey Drohner was 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI,
while her pinch runner, Sullivan, scored five runs to tie the State
Championship Game and State Tournament (seven in three games) records for all
divisions.

Kluck was 3-for-4 with two RBI, Kawlewski was 3-for-5 with a
double and two RBI, Tuszka went 3-for-4, Flugaur was 2-for-4 with three runs
scored, Gaber had two RBI, and Miklesh and senior pinch runner Riley Zempel
each scored two runs in the win, as the Panthers totaled 40 hits in the three
State Tournament games to fall one hit shy of the Division 1 record.

“It’s something our team has that’s really special to us,”
said Pavelski of the offense, after her five RBI tied for second most in a
State Championship Game. “We have been hitting all season, and I don’t think
there’s a better hitting team out there than us.

“Straight through, it’s just a great lineup, and you can
rely on everybody,” she said. “We have so much talent on our team, and it’s
going to be missed, because a lot of it was seniors.”

“Since we were all little girls playing fall ball together,
we wanted to win this,” said Kluck. “We wanted to end on a good note, and we
ended on a very good note.”

The State Title was the ninth in program history for the
Panthers, as they also won in 1986 under former head coach Marcy Mirman, and
under coach Drohner in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and now 2016.

“It’s just unreal, that we won state by over 10 runs,” said
Pavelski. “And it’s something that I won’t forget.

“My mom (Peggy (Singer) Pavelski) won state 30 years ago
(for SPASH), so it’s a cool feeling to have,” she said. “I’m just happy to be a
State Champ.”

“I’ve been watching softball games from SPASH for so long,
and every single girl on our team, it’s always been their dream to win a State
Championship,” said Gaber. “I’ve never been closer with a team in my life, and
it’s just such a great feeling.

“We’ve all just wanted this for so long,” she said. “And
it’s so awesome to finish like this.”