Tom DombeckManitowoc Herald Times Reporter
The WIAA softball postseason begins Thursday although several teams from the Manitowoc and Sheboygan area won’t be in action until next Tuesday.
Here are five teams who could make the state tournament which takes place June 6-8 in Madison.
Mishicot leads the state in wins
Through Monday, No. 1 seeded Mishicot has the most wins in the state with 24 and has displayed the grit and determination required to get to Madison in Division 3.
The team is batting .436 overall and a team ERA of 0.79 meaning it can put up a crooked number fairly easily while also preventing the opposition from doing the same.
A key game to look at is from April 25, when Mishicot trailed St. Mary Catholic 6-0 before rallying to win 11-6. Sometimes things don’t go your way and its important to be able to respond.
What makes Mishicot so dangerous is having seven batters with at least 23RBIs, with senior Katelyn Callahan leading the way with 37.
Junior Kiran Sanford has been a revelation in the circle as well for Mishicot, with six starts of at least three innings which ended in no-hitters. She’s got 144 strikeouts compared to just 10 walks on the year in 77 innings.
Eastern Wisconsin Conference rivals Valders, New Holstein best bet to face Mishicot
The New Holstein Huskies and Valders Vikings are seeded Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the same D3 half sectional as Mishicot.
I’m including them together because they split their regular season series against each other 1-1 and both finished tied for the Eastern Wisconsin Conference title.
Should both teams win next Tuesday, as seeded, they’ll square off in a rubber match for the right to head to a sectional semifinal against most likely Mishicot.
Sophom*ore Megan Hochkammer is the key for Valders as the sophom*ore leads the Vikings in batting average (.394), on base percentage (.512), slugging (.742),RBIs(14) and her four home runs are the only home runs on the team.
Oh yeah, she also has pitched all but 20 of Valders 143 1/3 innings en route to compiling an ERA of 1.816 while striking out an even 200 batters.
Individual stats for New Holstein were not available.
Should either of these teams knock off Mishicot, it would likely give a giant boost to the chances of making it to Madison.
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Plymouth must get through Waupun if postseason hopes are to be realized
The Plymouth Panthers are the No. 2 seed in their Division 2 half sectional and will likely need to get over a season-long hurdle if the team wants to make state.
Plymouth has faced top-seeded Waupun twice in East Central Conference action and lost a combined 25-1, so the results haven’t been where longtime Panthers coach Gale Grahn would want it.
But, when the softball field you play at bears your name as Gale Grahn Fields does in Plymouth its safe to say Grahn knows a thing or two about getting a team ready.
Aubrey Fischer leads the Panthers in hits (37) andRBIs(27) whileBriDonner is the ace of the pitching staff for Plymouth with 83 1/3 innings pitched and an ERA of 3.61.
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Random Lake powered by two-way standout Jayla Harter
The Random Lake Rams are seeded second in their Division 4 half sectional and senior Jayla Harter will play a key role in how far Random Lake can advance.
Harter is the team leader inRBIs(34) including a game with sevenRBIslast week alone.
She’s also tossed 91 of the 92 innings for the Rams with 120 strikeouts compared to 13 walks and a 3.20 ERA.
Random Lake has yet to lose a game this season to a team in its division so the strong strength of schedule should bode well for the postseason now that it won’t be playing up a division or two.
Manitowoc/Sheboygan softball playoff schedule
Thursday, May 16
Division 2
No. 9 Two Rivers at No. 8 Marinette
Division 3
No. 10 Sturgeon Bay at No. 7 Kiel
No. 9 Omro at No. 8 Oostburg
No. 10 Howards Grove at No. 7 Winnebago Lutheran
Division 4
No. 9 Gibraltar/Washington Island at No. 8 Roncalli
Tuesday, May 21
Division 2
No. 7 Berlin at No. 2 Plymouth
Division 3
TBDat No. 2 New Holstein
No. 6 Southern Door at No. 3 Valders
TBDat No. 1 Mishicot
No. 6 Cedar Grove-Belgium at No. 3 Laconia
Division 4
No. 5 Reedsville at No. 4 St. Mary’s Springs
No. 6 Sheboygan Lutheran at No. 3 St. Mary Catholic
No. 7 Manitowoc Lutheran at No. 2 Random Lake
Division 5
No. 5 Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah at No. 4 Cambria-Friesland
Editor’s note:The Division 1 bracket was not released by the WIAA by press time.
Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.
