‘Cats unbeaten so far

Edgar has new coaches

By Casey Krautkramer

Edgar’s new father and daughter co-head varsity softball coaches have guided the Wildcats to an undefeated 4-0 record so far this spring, with regular- season sweeps against Auburndale and Marathon. Sophomore hurler Makayla Wirkus has earned all four victories in the pitcher’s circle.

Two of the Wildcats’ victories have come in extra innings against the Eagles and Red Raiders. Edgar started this season on April 11 with a 1-0 road win against Auburndale. Wirkus pitched the complete-game victory while striking out 14 Eagle batters and only surrendering two hits and one walk.

Edgar then swept arch-rival Marathon in a home doubleheader on April 19. The Wildcats easily won the first game, 19-2 in five innings, and then edged the Red Raiders, 7-6 in 10 innings, during the nightcap. Wirkus struck out 12 batters while only giving up two hits, three walks and a pair of runs in the first game. Junior Leah Davis led Edgar in batting by going three for four with six RBIs and two runs scored.

Wirkus fanned five batters while surrendering three hits, two walks and a pair of runs in 4-2/3 innings during the second game against Marathon. Sophomore reliever Morgan Streveler gave up six hits, three walks and four runs in the remaining 5-1/3 innings. Sophomore Maycie Yonker led the Wildcats in batting by going three for four with three RBIs and one run scored.

On Monday, Edgar edged Auburndale, 11-10 in nine innings. Wirkus earned the complete-game pitching win by striking out 14 Eagle batters while giving up 12 hits, five walks and four runs. Erickson batted three for six with three RBIs and two runs scored. Wirkus hit a perfect three for three with two walks and a pair of RBIs and runs scored. Streveler was three for five with a pair of doubles, a walk, an RBI and three runs scored.

Edgar co-head varsity softball coach Kevin Brown is fortunate to have a great pitcher in Wirkus striking out opposing hitters.

“Makayla Wirkus has great focus, always remains calm and doesn’t get rattled, has three different pitches that she can throw to a called spot, fields her position well and is a team player,” he said. “Makayla needs to continue to be be a vocal leader as it’s too essential to the success of the team. As a team to be able to have a pitcher like her that you can count on to keep you in every game, it brings great confidence to the team.”

Edgar’s top returning varsity softball players this season are senior outfielder Karlin Lipinski, senior third baseman/outfielder Haylee Schreiber, junior first baseman/shortstop Reagan Borchardt, second baseman Erickson, junior third baseman Kendalyn Dahlke, outfielder, first baseman and catcher Davis, junior pitcher and outfielder Jessica Mucha, pitcher and shortstop Wirkus, catcher and pitcher Streveler, sophomore shortstop, pitcher and outfielder Taylor Lemmer and catcher and utility Yonker.

Before coming to Edgar, Kevin Brown has coached softball at various age groups for the last 26 years.

“I started coaching all Mosinee youth in travel ball and for the last 14 years I’ve coached and ran the Central Wisconsin Voodoo at 16U and 18U ages with players from all over the state,” he said. “We travel the midwest playing A level tournaments and ending each summer at a national tournament. We’ve played in nationals in Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois and Minnesota.”

He said his daughter, Edgar co-head coach Samantha Brown, played A level summer softball underneath him for six years and she also helped him coach when she was available in the summers.

“The transition from travel to high school softball has been an easy one as all the players at Edgar have been very receptive to learning my ideas, system and philosophies; it’s been a smooth transition so far to say the least,” Kevin Brown said. “We both talked about coaching high school softball together, so when the opening occurred, we jumped at it as with Samantha being a special education teacher in school, it was a good fit. We also liked that there’s a lot of talent and numbers throughout the softball program.

“When it comes to coaching responsibilities we actually discuss everything before we make a decision on things. I’ll be putting in my system and plays, calling the pitches and Samantha will adjust the defense while our team is playing defense. On offense, I’ll be giving the signs from third base and Samantha will be coaching at first base. Samantha also does all contact, announcements and practice scheduling in the school.”

It’s been 30 years since Edgar’s varsity softball team has won the Marawood Conference championship. The Wildcats’ new co-head coaches are hoping to guide the team to a conference title in the near future.

“Our first goal is to win conference as it’s going to be every year; we will set other goals after the conference season for the playoff run,” Kevin Brown said.