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Some staggering numbers for sure



There are some staggering numbers folks!



Hello again everyone.



Not everyone who needs to check in has checked in, but a few of the people who read last night's bulletin did respond with some impressive statistics, especially for pitchers.



Here are a few to get you started.



Here are some Horicon Pitching Stats for your reading:



Brooke Schliewe of Horicon had 1085 K's in her career and 80 wins in 90 attempts.

In 2001 Brooke had 13 shut outs and 5 No hitters

In 2002 Brooke had 20 shut outs and 7 no hitters including the one at the state tournament with 19 K's

she also has a school record of the lowest ERA with 0.17 in 2002 with a 25 - 1 record

In 2003 she had 8 walks in 199 innings or .281 walks per 7 innings

in 2003 Brooke had 16 Shut outs and 6 no hitters





Chelsie Held is right there also with 843 K's and just picked up win no.74 the other night

She may break the lowest walk per 7 innings for a career record held by Brooke, it will be close

She has 6 walks this year.

Jolene Heller was not bad either with 696 K's and 64 wins to her total



And from McFarland

Stephanie Schmikla finished the year with 18 Shutouts this year and 47 for her career. (18 this year, 14 as a junior, 12 as a sophomore and 3 as a frosh) She also struck out 826 batters in her career. (247 this year, 277 as a junior, 266 as a soph and 36 as a frosh.) She only pitched a few games as a freshman but pitched every inning of every game the last three years. She ended up with 62 wins and pitched 512 innings walking 81 with a career ERA of 0.46 (thanks to Jim Wickert and his stat book!!) At one point this season Stephanie had pitched 60 scoreless innings in a row.



From Greendale comes this report



Greendale started the 2005 season by winning their first 8 games, all shutouts. The scoreless inning streak lasted 53 2/3 innings, snapped by Oak Creek in a game at Helfaer Field next to Miller Park. Senior Nikki Temple pitched all the innings as well.



Longest Games

Andy Niedzwiecki of Fall Creek reported that in 2005 in a WIAA regional game Fall Creek and Chetek played a 19-inning game.

Brian Phelps of Gilman reported an 18-innning game.

I think Cuba City played a 20, 21 or 22 inning game this year -- somebody set the record straight.



Longest winning streak in state history?

I'm not sure what the season record were for many of the teams that won two, three or four straight state titles. Help me out here folks.



Most automatic home runs in one game - Kelsey Squires of Poynette had three of them in one game in 2006

Most RBI in one game - Poynette's school record is 11. Anyone top that? Let me know if you have a player that has more than those numbers.



Most doubles in one season? Anyone with more than 12?



On another topic



Strike Zones - I thought it was just me but I've learned lately that I'm not alone. I read the rulebook where the strike zone is explained and re-read it a couple hundred times. This year, however, it just seemed like game in and game out, the strike zone had dropped too far below the knees. I saw games that I coached, watched, scouted etc. where pitches were 8 to 10 inches below the knees and were consistently called strikes. That happened with a myriad of umpires and not just a few guys. I didn't say too much early on but as the season progressed and other coaches began asking me what I thought of the umpiring this year my answer was, "the safe and outs were really superb but the strike zone has dropped to a zone where pitches are absolutely unhittable. For us, that started right out in the first game of the year and then at the scrimmage.



So what is a person to do? Answer? Get your kids accustomed to the lower zone and teach them to hit the darn thing when it's down there. It's tough to do but if they are going to ring you up and get excited to boot when they call that third strike - you gotta do something.



I'm not complaining - just commenting because except for one game, I thought the zone stayed very consistent for both teams in every game I witnessed.



I watched a few baseball games lately too and I haven't seen that low zone called in that sport.



Here are a few other things I saw this season.



I saw two different umpires run back to the backstop and call runners either safe or out on wild pitches and passed balls and both insisted that being where they were was absolutely the correct place to be to make that call. Hmmm - I've been around this game for along time and witnessed thousands, yes thousands of games and I had never seen that before. I saw umpires in the wrong places with runners on certain bases. I saw an umpire call and infield fly on a pop up to short stop with one out but with runners on second and third and no runner at first, the shortstop dropped the ball but got the runner out at first because she stopped when the guy said she was out as he said, "Infield fly, batter is out!" Hmmmm?



I saw a coach substitute the flex player into the batting order for a player other than the DP and the home plate umpire allowed it to happen. When the flex came to bat the knowledgeable opposing coach appealed the illegal subsitution and then the home plate umpire was caught in a conundrum because he'd allowed it to happen.



I saw the four outs in an inning situation take place. That was the first time ever for that one for me.



If I had more time I could write about a plethora of others things I saw but it's getting late and as Yogi said, "It gets late earlier these days!" Or maybe he said "it gets early later these days"



But one thing Yogi once said held true for many of us this season. "We kept making all the wrong mistakes!"



And by the way - last night when I was typing about teams from the Poynette Jamboree still in the hunt for a state title I omitted by neighbors to the north -- Portage is alive yet in the Division 2 McFarland Sectional.



Capitol Area Fall League Teams still alive and in the hunt for a state title include: Verona, Monroe, Beloit Memorial, Portage, Deerfield, Middleton, Madison Memorial and Fall League Teams that were in the regional final but did not advance include: McFarland, Monona Grove, Sun Prairie, Baraboo, Mt. Horeb, and that's 12 of the 20 Fall League schools from 2006. There were 22 teams in the league but Middleton and Madison Memorial fielded two teams each.



The Summer Super Senior League is also well represented on the list of schools that were in the regional finals and beyond.



Have a great weekend!

Keep it Rising!

Bob