Weir gets first-team nod; Pirates nab 4 more awards in All-ECC vote
ALL-EASTERN CLOVERBELT SOFTBALL
The Gilman Pirates finished in the middle of the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference softball pack in 2022, however, with almost all of the team’s key players expected to return in 2023, the potential is there for a return to conference prominence.
Four of those potential returning players earned recognition from the conference’s coaches in the voting process for the 2022 All-Eastern Cloverbelt Conference teams. A fifth, senior Tychelle Duellman, closed her softball career with the Pirates by gaining honorable mention for her efforts this spring.
Junior Tatum Weir leads Gilman’s list of award winners as she earned a spot on this year’s All-ECC first team after a solid at the plate and in the circle as the team’s new pitching ace. Sophomores Bryn Hendricks and Ava Warner earned second- team spots and figure to be centerpieces of the team’s roster for two more years. Freshman third baseman Abby Chaplinski joined Duellman on the honorable mention list. The awards follow Gilman’s 7-12 season under head coach Brian Phelps that included a 5-7 mark in the Eastern Cloverbelt. The Pirates were 7-7 and 5-5 before hitting a five-game skid to end the season. Gilman lost two tight games to co-conference champion Loyal-Greenwood and two more to third-place finisher Columbus Catholic. They were eliminated in the regional semifinal round of the WIAA Division 5 tournament with an 11-1 loss at McDonell Central.
Weir took a big jump to the first team after earning honorable mention last spring. The clean-up hitter in the Pirates’ batting order, Weir hit .484 in 12 conference games and posted an on-base percentage of .609 in those contests. She pitched all 12 of those games as well and struck out 57 batters, while walking just 21 and posting a 3.21 earned run average in 70 innings.
She struck out a season-high 10 batters and walked only one in an 11-5 win at Spencer on May 9. She struck out five, walked one and allowed just two hits in the team’s first win of the year, a 7-3 victory over Colby-Abbotsford on April 21. Despite a 4-2 loss at Loyal-Greenwood on April 28, Weir struck out five, walked two and allowed just one earned run in six innings. She also had two hits and an RBI.
Among Weir’s offensive highlights in league play were multi-hit games against Colby-Abbotsford on April 19, Owen-Withee on May 5 and Columbus Catholic on May 12.
Weir is part of a 10-member All-East first team that includes seniors Zaida Brock, Emma Schlough and Mesa Rasmussen of co-champion Loyal-Greenwood; seniors Emma Moseley and Ava Mortenson and junior Delaney Rochester of co-champion Neillsville; juniors Hailey Zimmerman and Cierra Dieringer of Columbus Catholic and freshman Tatum Bargender of Colby-Abbotsford.
Brock was also named to the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association District 1 first team for Divisions 4-5, while Zimmerman and Rasmussen earned honorable mention. Moseley got first-team All-District honors for Divisions 2-3 and was named the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference Player of the Year.
Hendricks also moved up after getting honorable mention in 2021. The second baseman went on an offensive tear in the second half of the season and finished conference play with a .526 batting average, a .630 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .829. She hit five doubles, two triples and a homer that came in a 9-7, eight-inning loss to Loyal-Greenwood on May 13. She had a fielding percentage of .973.
After hitting a game-winning, threerun double in a 7-6 non-conference win over Cornell-Lake Holcombe in the May 7 Gilman-Thorp Slamfest, Hendricks had multiple hits in Gilman’s next seven games. She was three for four with an RBI single in a 10-3 loss to Stratford, went three for five and two for three with a double in a May 9 doubleheader sweep at Spencer, went three for three in a 6-3 loss to Columbus Catholic on May 12 and three for five with the homer and a tworun double the next day against Loyal-Greenwood. She was then two for four with a double in a 4-2 loss at Cornell-Lake Holcombe on May 17 and two for four with a double in a 9-5 loss to Flambeau on May 23. She finished with a double and scored Gilman’s run in the loss to McDonell.
Warner started the first two games at catcher, and then moved to shortstop, a move that solidified Gilman’s infield defense. She posted a solid .938 fielding percentage in that tough position, recording 18 assists and 12 putouts. She also hit .333 in league play with a .467 on-base percentage.
Warner had two-hit games in both matchups with Loyal-Greenwood, had three hits in the non-conference loss to Stratford and had an RBI double in the playoff loss to McDonell.
Duellman, who was a second-team All-ECC pick as a junior, again did damage as a slap hitter at the top of the order. Her .314 batting average and .596 on-base percentage allowed her to use her speed and steal 22 bases in conference play. She also had a .917 fielding percentage in centerfi eld. Duellman filled a large leadership role as the team’s only senior.
She had multi-hit games against Neillsville and Spencer in league play and finished her prep career last week at the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coach- es Association’s Senior All-Star Games in Wisconsin Dells.
Chaplinski hit .310 in league play and posted a .427 on-base percentage in her freshman season. She had 24 assists and eight putouts from the hot corner and finished with an .823 fielding percentage at that tough position.
She came up with some clutch hits during the season, including a key tworun single that sparked a 14-12 non-conference win at Flambeau on April 22, had a two-run single that broke open a 12-0 win at Owen-Withee on May 5 and had three total RBIs in that game and was two for two with a walk and three runs scored in a 12-0 game-two win at Spencer on May 9.