Pirates sail on after lost 2020 season

GILMAN SOFTBALL PREVIEW

The lost softball season of 2020 was something Gilman may never get over considering the loaded roster the Pirates would have brought back from their 2019 state squad, but the time has come to move past it as the 2021 season gets underway.

Officially, the Pirates will open practice on Monday. But in the last month, they, like most teams in the area, have been building momentum with extended contact days the WIAA extended to spring sports coaches in the wake of last year’s COVID-induced season cancellation.

That early work has come in handy with the season-opening game against Eau Claire Regis on April 27 fast approaching.

“We’re so ready to get back at it after this past year and all of that insanity,” head coach Brian Phelps said on April 9. “We haven’t done a lot during the contact days of formal, organized stuff. It’s been a lot of getting in, getting your swings, playing catch, getting your arms in shape, getting the pitchers and catchers going a little heavier on their loads, trying to get them ready for a full game. We’re working through some mechanical things and working on some bad mechanics after a year off that you kind of pick up and develop. That’s the biggest part of what we’ve been doing. Keeping it low key.”

Things will look much different in the Gilman dugout this year. After the team’s last game, an 8-3 WIAA Division 5 state semifinal loss to Blair-Taylor on June 6, 2019, seven players who earned 2019 All-Eastern Cloverbelt honors have moved on as have other key pieces to that 21-5 season.

Some key players remain, but participation numbers are down from what Phelps and the Pirates have been used to and the team will enter the season with limited varsity experience overall. But, the goals and expectations haven’t changed in this consistent small-school program. “I believe we lost a couple of kids to COVID from the perspective that they didn’t get to play last year and they didn’t get to play a lot the year before with that loaded group we had,” Phelps said. “And it was a horrible spring for even trying to find JV games. We lost some kids there. Then you just have some classes here where there’s not a lot of numbers. You even saw that in basketball.

“But with what we have, I will say I’m very confident in that we can play,” he added. “We’ve got some really good young kids.”

Strong pitching and catching is the solid foundation for any softball team, and the Pirates feel they have that with senior Addy Warner and junior Madisyn James.

Warner made a name for herself as a sophomore in 2019 by belting six home runs and hitting about .450, also was a solid numbertwo pitcher, going 9-4 with 90 strikeouts in 81.1 innings. Phelps said Warner had worked tirelessly to prepare for last year and has carried that ethic into this spring. There is little doubt she’ll be one of the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference’s most feared hitters. James, as a freshman, played well in the post-season while filling in for injured catcher Grace Grunseth and now steps into that role as the presumed starter with sophomore Gracie Tallier also capable of filling the position.

“If the old saying everything starts in the circle in softball is true, we’ve got a pretty good start,” Phelps said. “Having Addy Warner in the circle, it certainly helps our defense out right away. She can throw hard and she can move the ball around and she’s worked really hard at it and worked a lot.

“Behind the dish, we’ve got Madisyn who has played there since she was little,” he added. “She seems to be handling the pitchers pretty well. She has a good arm. We want our catcher to be really offensive. We want our catchers attacking base runners, the ball, all of it.”

From there, Gilman’s most experienced player is junior Tychelle Duellman, who is pegged to be everyday centerfielder. She served a key role two years ago as a situational base runner.

“She’s been playing outfield for us the past two years now,” Phelps said. “She’ll be really solid there and she’ll be another one of those pressure offensive weapons that we have that can slap, swing and bunt all from the same side. That’s going to be a multiple tool that we’re going to have.”

The rest of the roster will be a work in progress, but, according to Phelps, it has a lot of flexibility, especially defensively, which should be a plus.

Tallier could play any number of positions from catcher to middle infield to outfi eld. Sophomore Tatum Weir figures to be a key player as Gilman’s number-two pitcher and a corner infielder. Junior Hannah Vick and freshman Jayda Rosemeyer also will get looks at first base. Warner and Rosemeyer can play first and third.

“Tatum Weir throws with a different style and has some different stuff,” Phelps said. “She’s definitely going to be able to eat up innings.”

Freshman newcomers include Ava Warner, Bryn Hendricks and Bailey Angell, who, again, could see time at several different positions and Katelynn Koziol and Ruth Lee, who project as outfielders.

Offensively, Phelps feels Gilman has the potential to be a good run-scoring club, though matching 2019’s output of nearly 8.5 runs a game might be tough to match. Expect Gilman to use some small ball to get runners on and advance then ahead of the big run-producers like Addy Warner.

“If you look at our enrollment, we’re not going to be at 20 kids on teams anymore, Phelps said. “Everyone is going to have to play multiple positions, not just one spot. ... Every night we can throw a little bit of a different lineup out there and give some people some playing time and experience and by the end of the year figure out our best lineup going into playoffs.”

With the year off, it’s difficult to predict how the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference title chase will look. Phelps guessed Neillsville will be one of the teams to beat. The league’s biggest curiosity might be the Greenwood-Loyal squad that is co-oping this season. Separately, those schools typically field solid teams. The 2019 Pirates split the regular-season games with each school and then won tournament thrillers with each on their way to state. Gilman swept Neillsville two years ago.

It remains to be seen what teams like Spencer, Colby-Abbotsford, Owen-Withee and Columbus Catholic will produce.

It’s also not certain what the WIAA tournament trail will look like as the WIAA hasn’t updated its brackets since August. As of now, Gilman is in a sectional that includes traditionally strong programs like McDonell Central, Hurley, Thorp and Athens, but that may be adjusted.

“Last year was devastating, not only for those seniors but for those juniors that were coming up,” Phelps said. “Even the sophomores that would’ve been freshmen. We lost that year in a lot of aspects. It’s going to be a crash course here in a real hurry.

“I’m hoping we’re competing for that top spot (in the conference),” he added. “I think we have the talent to compete. We’ll just have to see how it matures and plays out and what lineup we end up with. I think we certainly should be in the discussion for one of those top three teams in the conference. As always you’re just working your butt off to try to get better for the end of the year and hopefully peak at the right time.”