Several area high school senior softball players recently competed at the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association All-Star Classic in Stevens Point. Area athletes included Sophie Dahl from Menomonie, Sara Gilman and  Kayla Amundson from Altoona, Melissa Weaver from G-E-T, Brenda Perry from Cumberland, Mollie Bjelland, Mirranda Kammeyer and Lindsey Hedlund from Grantsburg, Betsy Thompson and Alyssa Hahn from Glenwood City, LeAnn Elstran from Cadott, Amanda Henke from Thorp, Whitney Hedge from Eau Claire Regis, Megan Murphy and Sarah Howe from Elmwood, Lauren Cornell from Gilman, Molly Mcintosh and Mary Buvala from Pepin, and Ashley Nereng from Blair-Taylor.

Area coaches included: Tami Slowiak from Chippewa Falls, Gary Haus from Rice Lake, Dale Yindra from Bloomer, Chad Risler from Independence, Kari Kallio from Elk Mound, and Sue Lundberg from Osseo-Fairchild.  WWS salutes all these fine athetes and coaches.

 

Eau Claire North pitcher Phil Isaakson recently signed a letter of intent to play baseball next year for the Minnesota Gophers. He will join Eau Claire Memorial alum Scott Fern on the Gophers roster.

 

Bloomer girls head basketball coach Lon Wilson recently resigned after 20 years as the Lady Hawks coach. His teams posted over 350 wins, won 12 HON conference championships, 3 sectional championships and twice brought home the silver ball trophy from the WIAA state basketball tournament.

 

The Eau Claire Regis baseball team recently hoisted the silver baseball trophy from the WIAA state baseball tournament in Appleton. Regis beat  Kenosha St. Joseph's in the state semi-final game 5-2. In that game the Ramblers fell behind 2-0 but rallied to take the lead for good in the 4th inning. Ramblers ace Chris Musser fanned 5 Kenosha St. Joe's batters for his complete game win. In the championship game the Ramblers fell just short to their old CWCC opponent La Crosse Aquinas 8-7 in 8 innings. Despite the high score both teams left a combined 26 baserunners on base.  The Ramblers were down 7-4 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning before storming back to plate 3 runs to tie the game. They had baserunners in the bottom of the 7th but couldn't plate one across which would have won it for the Ramblers. Kurt Roubal and Ryan Stanke combined for 5 RBI's in the loss. Matt Kachel had the game-winning RBI single for Aquinas in the 8th.

 

The Eau Claire North baseball team beat Wisconsin Lutheran 4-1 in a state quarterfinal game. The afore mentioned Phil Isaakson fanned 14 Wis. Lutheran batters and Mitch Running had 2 RBI's in the Huskies win.

In the state semifinal game the Huskies fell short to Kimberly 9-5 despite only giving up 2 earned runs. The Huskies got off to a great 1st inning state with a 2 run HR by Alex Burian. Kimberly responded with 2 in the 2nd, North came right back with 2 in the 3rd and then Kimberly plated 7 runs in the 4th inning and all of them were unearned.

 

The Amery Warriors came up just short in their first ever state baseball appearance losing to Waupun 5-1. A 3 run triple by Waupun in the 5th inning was the biggest blow to the Warriors chances. Matt Mullendore had 9 K's for the Warriors.

Speaking of Matt Mullendore, he is now the newest member of the Osceola Braves summer baseball team.

You can go to www.osceolasun.com for the Braves schedule.

 

The hottest rumor about an area athlete that we first reported on is now a reality. Menomonie native Cole Kraft is transferring from Winona State University to UW-Stout and he announced his intentions to play basketball and baseball for the Blue Devils. Kraft is currently playing baseball and playing very well for the Eau Claire Cavaliers this summer. You can check out the Cavaliers schedule and up to date scores on our homepage.

 

The UWEC Women's basketball team recently announced their recruiting class for the 2007-2008 season. They include 6'1 Jackie Hauser of Whitehall who scored over 1,000 pts for the Norse and led the team in rebounding and blocked shots. 5'8 Ashley Hightower from La Crosse Logan who was named Mississippi Valley Conference player of the year as a junior, 6'2 Hannah Mesick from Chatfield, MN. Mesick led the Chatfield Gophers in scoring, rebounding, and steals during her junior and senior seasons.

6'2 Nikki Nusberger from Boyceville high school. Nusberger was a two-time first team All Dunn-St. Croix Conference selection. 5'7  Katie Weinberg from St. Croix Falls high school. Katie scored 1,000 points and was a three-time all Lakeland conference selection.