‘Cats fall in semifinal
By Nathaniel Underwood and Casey Krautkramer
Friday morning’s WIAA Division 5 state semifinal showdown between Edgar and Barneveld marked both teams’ first state tournament appearance in school history. However, only Barneveld would get to walk away with a 5-1 victory and play in the state championship on Saturday morning against Wisconsin Rapids Assumption.
The fourth inning would be the difference in an otherwise tight game between No. 2 seed Barneveld and the No. 3 seed Edgar in the state semifinal, as the five runs plated by the Golden Eagles in the bottom half of the frame proved to be too much for the Wildcats to overcome. Wirkus spoke after the game about her team’s troubles in that crucial fourth inning.
“We gave up a couple hits and then I think we started getting down on ourselves and losing some of our confidence,” she said. These were the first runs any opponent had scored against Edgar throughout the entire 2022 playoffs. The Wildcats outscored opponents, 43-0, in regional and sectional playoff contests coming into the WIAA Division 5 state tournament. The Wildcats saw their journey come to an end one game short of the state final and finished this season with a 17-7 record.
Kevin Brown, who co-head coaches Edgar’s softball team with his daughter Samantha, said after the game his players deserved all the credit by being the first Edgar softball squad to ever play in the state tournament.
“I told the players, and especially the seniors, that they’ve accomplished something this season that no other kid in Edgar had ever done, so they should be proud of themselves and re- spect their accomplishment,” he said. “To be honest, I’d expect our softball program to be battling every year from here on out to get to the state tournament, even after Makayla graduates in two years, because I think our school’s softball program is on the rise and has a lot of young talented players coming up into high school in the future.”
For six of the seven innings played in the state semifinal, Edgar softball fans who traveled down to Goodman Diamond in Madison were treated to the pitcher’s duel that many had likely expected coming into the game. Coming off an impressive outing in Edgar’s 11-0 sectional victory over Sevastopol in Plover, where she oversaw See EDGAR STATE SOFTBALL/ page 13
COMPETING AT THE BADGERS SOFTBALL TEAM’S DIAMOND- Edgar sophomore ace pitcher Makayla Wirkus goes into her windup against Barneveld in the WIAA Division 5 state semifnal on Friday morning at the University of Wisconsin Goodman SoftPall Diamond in Madison, where the Badgers play their home games. Wildcats junior shortstop Reagan Borchardt is pictured Pehind Wirkus and junior leftfielder Jessica Mucha is shown on the outfield grass Pehind Borchardt. Edgar lost, 5-1, to Barneveld.
TP PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD the shutout of the opposing Pioneers, sophomore southpaw Makayla Wirkus was once again patrolling the mound for the Wildcats. Barneveld had an ace of their own in Daelynn Rhoades, a senior whose high fastball would give Edgar’s batters fits all game.
Both pitchers would show why they were called upon in such a high pressure game. Outside of the anomaly that was the fourth inning, the offenses for both teams would manage only a combined five hits against the pair of hurlers. In the early innings, it had quickly become apparent that baserunners would be a premium commodity, with both teams trying to move runners over via bunts and steals but not finding much success in getting them home.
However, it was the fourth inning where things would take a turn for the worse for Edgar. The bottom of the inning started with a familiar sight; a weak ground ball to Wirkus for an out. Even after two singles snuck through the infield for the Golden Eagles, the situation still seemed under control, especially after Wirkus struck out her Barneveld counterpart Rhoades in the following at-bat. With two outs recorded, it seemed like the Wildcats would work themselves out of the jam.
A ball off the bat of Barneveld’s second baseman Zoe Schmitz looked like it would be trouble as it zipped up the middle of the infield, and indeed it was as it skipped into the outfield and allowed the runner on second base to easily score a run. Another Barneveld single in an almost identical spot would push the lead to two for the Golden Eagles.
What would truly break the game open occurred two at-bats later, when Golden Eagles’ third baseman Isabella Sullivan took a bases loaded, 3-2 pitch out to left center for a three-RBI single. Edgar finally recorded the third out of the inning on a lazy popup, but the damage had already been done. Up by five runs, Barneveld only needed to continue its solid defensive play behind Rhoades to claim its spot in the state finals against No. 1 seed Assumption which defeated No. 4 seed Thorp, 5-2, in the other WIAA Division 5 state semifinal on Thursday night. The Cardinals ended this season with a 12-12 record.
The Golden Eagles would mostly succeed in that task, as they’d hold the Wildcats hitless until the sixth inning. Sophomore catcher Morgan Streveler finally broke through for Edgar, starting the inning with a line drive single to right field. Her teammates would take advantage, with junior pinch runner Carly Feltz advancing on a wild pitch before being driven home on a well hit ball to left center by junior first baseman Leah Davis. Davis advanced to third base on a fielders choice but was left stranded after Rhoades recorded her 12th strikeout of the game to end the Wildcats threat.
Wirkus went all six innings for Edgar, giving up five runs on seven hits. She struck out five batters while walking just two of them. She also had a triple at the plate in the seventh inning, joining Streveler and Davis as the only Wildcats to record a hit in the game.
While their 2022 season has come to a close, Edgar’s softball team will be returning a sizable number of this year’s starters next season. The squad only loses three senior players in Skylee Manecke, Haylee Schreiber and starting centerfielder Karlin Lipinski. Even so, coach Kevin Brown told this year’s squad to savor its state tournament experience.
“I told our players to just take everything in and experience state, because although we are a young team that hopefully makes it back here next season, there’s no guarantee we are going to be back here,” he said.
Wirkus definitely wants to work even harder now this offseason to experience playing in the state tournament, and hopefully play in the state title game, next season.
“Now that we have this state tournament experience, we know we can make it this far and we have a lot of players coming back so hopefully we can make it to state again next season,” she said.
Edgar has the following current starting players back next season: left fielder Jessica Mucha, shortstop Reagan Borchardt, second baseman Ashley Erickson, third baseman Kendalyn Dahlke, pitcher Makayla Wirkus, catcher Morgan Streveler, right fielder Maycie Yonker and first baseman Leah Davis. Bench players Carly Feltz, Taylor Lemmer, Allison Kreft, Alexis Schara, Riley Mueller, Libby Woller and Autumn Schreiner also return next season.
Top-seeded Assumption defeated Barneveld, 3-1, in the WIAA Division 5 state championship on Saturday morning. The Royals captured their third state championship in their sixth appearance at state. Assumption concludes this season with a 21-2 record and Barneveld is 22-7. Edgar finished as Marawood South Conference runners-up to Assumption this season.
SCORING A RUN IN THE STATE TOURNAMENT- Edgar junior pinch runner Carly Feltz runs toward home plate to score the team’s lone run in the sixth inning against Barneveld during Friday morning’s 5-1 loss in the WIAA Division 5 state semifinal at UW Goodman Diamond in Madison.PHOTO BY JEREMY SCHREIBER
STATE COMPETITOR- Edgar sophomore Maycie Yonker fields a ball against Barneveld during Friday morning’s WIAA Division 5 state semifinal at UW Goodman Diamond in Madison.TP PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
NABBING ANOTHER BASE- Edgar junior first baseman Leah Davis advances to third base on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning against Barneveld during Friday morning’s WIAA Division 5 state semifinal. Davis had the team’s only RBI in the game, when she drove home junior pinch runner Carly Feltz in the sixth inning.TP PHOTO/ NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
