Softball teams excited for new season

Softball season is here and the Pine Knot will be covering your local high school fast-pitch teams this spring. Here is a preview to the small-school softball teams in our area.

CARLTON: Carlton coach Melissa Clark is in only her third season, but the Bulldogs head coach has led her team to the state tournament in her first two seasons at the helm and it certainly looks like she has the inside track on a third straight trip to Mankato. The Bulldogs lost only two players from a team that finished last season as Class A Consolation Champions.

"We lost two starters to graduation: Ally Hoeffling at first base and Millie Groth in outfield," said Clark. "We return seven starters along with a few contributors."

The Bulldogs roster features just one senior and eight juniors and is ripe with talent.

According to Clark, among the key returners are Alaina Bennett (catcher), Brynne Mickle (pitcher), Abby Mickle (shortstop), Taylor Nelson (centerfield), Nicole Nilsen (second base), Bella Anderson (third base), Alena Wallin (outfield) and Ava Grondahl (utility).

SOUTH RIDGE: The Panthers have had a solid program for quite a while now, but can't seem to get over the hump. That could change this season as South Ridge picked up one of the best coaches in the area in longtime University of Wisconsin-Superior coach Roger Plachta. Prior to coaching at UWS, Plachta was coach of the Esko Eskomos and won the state tournament in 1998.

"I'm excited about being back in high school ball," said Plachta this week. "We have a good team and I think there is a lot of promise with this group."

The Panthers return two top senior pitchers in Cecelia Olesiak and Melania Madill. South Ridge opened their season against perennial power Cherry and fell by a 3-0 score, but there was plenty to be excited about after the game.

"Both teams got some good pitching," Plachta said. "Madill pitched the first five for us and Olesiak the final two and between them they struck out 10 batters. The Cherry pitcher struck out nine of our kids, and we didn't really make good contact."

Look for strong years from both Natalie Smith at second base and Natalie Lisic in left field.

Plachta also likes the ability of shortstop Alana Young.

"I think we have a good mix of a lot of seniors and younger kids," explained Plachta. "We should get better. I think if it comes together for us we can challenge for a section title. Obviously both Carlton and Cherry are very good, but I think we can be right in the mix."

BARNUM: A year ago the Barnum Bomber softball team had the luxury of six seniors who were all starters at one time or another in the lineup. This year the Bombers return four starters.

"We finished 11-8 last season and won our first playoff game," said coach Dustin Collelo. "After winning the first playoff game we lost the next two, which were very close games up at Braun Park in Cloquet."

Two of the biggest losses were centerfielder and leadoff hitter Lea Peterson, who batted .403 last season - a year after batting .621 as a junior - the other was catcher Liz Carlson who smashed seven home runs and had 29 runs batted in last season.

Returning to pitch will be freshman Mendota Castonguay, along with third baseman Izabell Carlson, shortstop Mallory Agurkis and second baseman Sidney Baier - who are all seniors.

"Our goal for this season is to rebuild around our young developing pitching staff," Collelo said. "We will have a lot of new faces playing varsity, but we feel we have a lot of talent and should be competitive."

GAME TIME: Playing against Cromwell-Wright Tuesday, the Bombers received a strong pitching performance from Mendota Castonguay who gave up four hits and struck out nine in picking up the 13-2 win. Anna Wikstrom knocked out a pair of hits and had a triple along with five runs batted in for Barnum, while Jessica Stevens added two hits and three RBI and Mallory Agurkis chipped in with two hits and three runs scored. Katelyn Buell also hit a homer for the Bombers.

ESKO: Most small schools who lose four quality starters would suffer severely in the win-loss column. When a team loses one of the top pitchers and one of the top catchers in the area, that problem could be even more of an issue. However, a program like Esko can oftentimes reload and stay near the top of the section - that might just be the case again this season. Under fourth-year coach Huff Emanuel, the Eskomos have advanced to the state tournament three straight seasons and are hoping for a fourth.

The Eskomos lost Emily Wilson, one of the most dominant pitchers in the area. Wilson is now pitching in the NAIA for Valley City State, while all-everything catcher Davriana Horvath is now playing for the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Last year's starting first baseman is Ashley Pollema while Hannah Stark is playing volleyball at Crookston.

"Those are tough kids to lose and that is tough to overcome," said Emanuel. "All four of those kids started since ninth grade. It will be hard, but so far it's been a lot of fun working on things and trying to figure out where everything fits together."

Some of those puzzle-type moves are already happening as the Eskomos have moved outfielder Sydney Hanson to shortstop and last year's starting shortstop, Kaitlyn Bergerson, to first base.

A big key will be the fact that the Eskomos return three players who either started or saw extensive playing time in the outfield with Dea Deleon, Madison Rambow and Jenna Zdebski, all back patrolling the outfield.

Pitching this year will be sophomores Miranda Kelly and Zoie Johnson, as well as junior Kristy Demuth. Demuth started at third base last year and will be back in that position when not pitching.

The Eskomos will also rely on freshman catcher Jayden Karppinen to handle the bulk of the receiving duties.

"We're excited about the year and it will be different without having the four kids who had been with us for four years in the lineup," explained Emanuel. "All the girls are open to playing wherever they have to in an effort to make the team better. They've all told me they will do whatever it takes to make the team better and that's a great feeling for a coach."

CROMWELL-WRIGHT: The Cards lost only one senior to graduation last season and that was first baseman Amber Lehti. In addition, Cromwell-Wright also had a couple of other starters who decided to not play this season, but coach Terry Sawdey still has a pretty good nucleus of eight kids returning this season.

"Some of our key returners include Elizabeth Risacher at shortstop, Jordan Jokinen at catcher, Sascha Korpela at second base and in the outfield, and Elisabeth Kachinske at pitcher," Sawdey said. "Our goals are to improve on what we had last year. Elisabeth (Kachinske) is making great strides on the mound and we have a seventh-grader that isn't far behind her ready to back her up if needed."

After notching three wins last season, the Cards will look to improve their record behind the pitching of Kachinske and better defensive play along with timely hitting.

"Last year we lost in the first round of the playoffs to Silver Bay, but we were able to keep it close and compete," Sawdey said. "I think what we took most out of last year was that we were rarely, if ever, truly out of a game. In almost all of our games we were competitive."

Unfortunately for the Cards, much of what they lost from last season was in the hitting department and that is an area that Sawdey is working hard to get shored up and ready for the season.

"I have a great group of girls that are working hard day in and day out," Sawdey said. "I am spending far less time having to teach the rules and more time building skills, so we feel we have an opportunity to prove to people this year that good things are going to happen if we work hard. We also have added a couple of girls this year that will help ease the loss of some of the girls we lost a year ago. As it stands now, we will have a couple of starters on Day One that didn't participate last year, who we will have to lean on to help replace the loss of our two best hitters in terms of RBI production."

The lone senior on the Cards roster is Elizabeth Risacher.

"I believe that good things are in store for this group of girls," suggested Sawdey. "While I am sad to start the last year of Elizabeth Risacher, I am excited to see how good some of these youngsters can be."

WRENSHALL: The Wrenshall Wrens are going from not having a program to a program that has 18 athletes - an impressive move for a team that played a limited schedule a year ago.

"We have 18 girls this year," exclaimed first-year head coach Anna George. "We were hoping for more, but our numbers should keep growing as we get more established as a program and can start some feeder programs."

A couple of years of playing a limited JV schedule helped the Wrens build numbers as well as find a pitcher that can compete at the high school level.

"The last two years we were able to get about five games at the JV level and we are certainly an inexperienced and young team, but that is also exciting," George said. "Typically how sports work around this area with small schools is that you build a young team up and then start refilling as they leave you."

One of the keys to building any solid high school program is pitching and Wrenshall is fortunate to have a pitcher with a bit of experience on the roster this season.

"We have one experienced pitcher and are working with multiple girls at this point, trying to find a couple more who are comfortable on the mound. Brooke Kent has been our pitcher the last two years and is exciting to work with. " George said. "She sleeps and breathes softball. She is already a very talented pitcher and player and, as a 10th-grader this year, only has room to grow. We are excited for her future in this sport. There is also promise with Hailey Tauzell. We have been working with her on pitching and she shows real promise."

While the Wrens will have potential for pitching they will need to find offense to score runs.

"I only have about three or four girls who have played before at a competitive level and we've been working a lot on being comfortable at the plate during this time of being stuck in the gym," George said. "Brooke Kent and Lexy Perry are aggressive at the plate. This is not to say that some first-timers such as Janae Sjodin won't surprise us this season. Janae is another aggressive player who will work until she gets the result she wants."

Despite being new to the varsity level, the Wrens have set some modest goals.

"The girls and I have a No. 1 goal of having fun. Although, this group knows that it is more fun when you win and they want it," George said. "Our only goal skill-wise is to improve on something every practice and game both individually and as a team. It is great when the score is in your favor, but at this point, I want them to focus on growth."

The Bulldogs, the defending Section 7A champs, opened their season with a solid victory at home. Brynne Mickle bested the Panthers' Celia Olesiak on the mound by giving up six hits and fanning three, while Olesiak gave up seven hits to the Bulldogs and also struck out three. Abby Mickle went 3-for-3 for Carlton with a double and three runs scored. Alaina Bennett had a big day with a 4-for-4 effort for Carlton including three RBI. Olesiak aided her own cause with a pair of hits including a double and Hailey Chandler also went 2-for-3 for South Ridge, which had the tough task of opening against Cherry and then Carlton this week.