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Day #1 - Practice #1



Hello Again Everybody - Have you mailed in your WFSCA dues yet? You only have until the end of March or thereabouts to get that done and still get your kids some post-season recognition.  Get it done!



There are more schools in Division 4 in 2008 than there were in 2007. Twelve more to be exact and to get that way there is one less school in Division 1, one less in Division 2 and 10 less in Division 3. It's a better balance.



I was looking at the regional pools in all four divisions and the sectional sites as well. There are going to be some Division 4 schools making some long trips to get to those sectional sites. I'd make the trip to those sites if I had to drive all night and all day to get there. Just to play in the sectional is a treat.



I have marked my pre-season predictions for the sectionals. I won't share them with you though. I have them in a sealed container though and I have shared those predictions with a few close fastpitch friends.



There are more and more team and conference previews on the 2008 Preview page of The Fastpitch Chronicle now but not anywhere close to as many as there should be. There should be a team preview for every school that sponsors softball. Get the word to the coaches in your conference and urge them to get me an outlook before the games begin.



I was going to rank the four divisions last night but the rankers just simply found it too tough to actually put a number on them. We have the top teams that we know of in each division listed on the rankings page of the website. Take a look at them and if you think your team or a team in your conference should be on that list - just e-mail to me. I'll pass the word along to our great group of rankers and they will consider that team.



Here is another short list of former Wisconsin high school standouts and where they are playing this spring: Katie Sutter of Barneveld is plahing at UW-Platteville, Carrie Franson, Poynette and Malory Gill of Beloit Memorial at Valparaiso, Molly Bjelland of Grantsburg and Callie Givens of Greendale at Winona State, Ainsley Klar of Aquinas at UW-Eau Claire, Brittany Schmitt of Colby at Northland College, Jill Janke of Black River Falls at UW-Eau Claire, Kaity Acker of Middleton at UW-Eau Claire, Casey Lesigang of Seymour at UW-Eau Claire, Rachel Haines of Pepin at St. Cloud State, Amanda Wilhelm of LaCrosse Central at Winona State, Ashley Hammerbeck of DC Everest at UW-River Falls, Katie Fichter of Baraboo at UW-Stout, Mindy Rudiger of Menomonie at UW-River Falls, Michelle Butkus of Medford at UW Eau Claire, Sara Baumgartner of Arcadia at UW-Eau Claire, Rosie Weyer of Loyal at UW Lacrosse, Amy Gahl of Parkview at UW-Whitewater, Stephanie Schmikla of McFarland and katie Hendrickson of Verona at Concordia in St. Paul, Kate Earleywine of Brodhead at Loras College, Ronessa Stampfli of Brodhead at UW-Oshkosh.



Earleywine was a second team all conference pitcher last spring as a freshman and set the Loras College strikeout record with 208 which was 70 more than the previous record.



Stampfli is a first team Division 3 All American pitcher as a junior and the WIAC Pitcher of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2007. She hold the career record for strike outs with 757 and she has a year to play yet. Her ERA of 0.92 over 527 is pretty impressive.



Schmikla recently pitched in Concordia's openers at the Husky Dome in St. Cloud. She had thrown 31 innings with an ERA of 1.83 and a record of 2-2. Seh beat St. Cloud State and Mercyhurst where she tossed a 3-0 shutout.



Here is a short list of current high school standouts across the state that would be worth watching: Ashley Meinen of McDonell in Chippewa Falls. She has 446 strikeouts in three years of work and allowed 30 walks in 350 innings; Jessica Freagon of McDonell, a lefthanded hitter that has power, hits for average and can really run; Stephanie Kohn of Bonduel who is a tremendous base runner and base stealer and is great in the field; Tierney Planasch a junior pitcher at Dodgeland who can really pitch and is a treat to watch; Brittany Kreig of Hudson who has signed a National Letter of Intent at St. Cloud State; Lydia Free, a sophomore pitcher at Watertown Luther Preo who was the Pitcher of the Year as a freshman in the Capitol North last spring.



If you have a player or players that should be on our long list of fine players in the state, just e-mail me some information about them and I'll highlight them in a Bulletin and add them to the Outstanding Player page of The Fastpithc Chronicle website.



If you have a player or players who have signed a NLI or committed to a school to play collegiate softball, send me that information too.



Hey, it's late and I am bushed from practices today and have 6:40 am batting practice in Poynette tomorrow. Send those team profiles to me tomorrow. Get it done!



Have a great Day #2, Practice #2 and until tomorrow night --

Keep it Rising!