SHOTS from the Hip

Congratulations to mem bers of Cardinals girls and boys track and field teams who qualified for this week’s WIAA State Meet at the Uni

versity of Wisconsin La Crosse.

Bravo to Aiden Russell who qualified in both the high jump and long jump. A senior, Russell will be attending Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D. Last week the multi

talented Russell was named Prescott High School’s Outstanding Male Athlete. Also, congratulations to the

4×100 relay team of Grant Stanton, Josh Peterson, An

drew Lee, and Aiden Russell as well as the 4×200 meter relay team of Stanton, Peter

son, Lee, and Dylan Bier

brauer. Logan Stewart will be an alternate in the 4×200 relay. For the girls, bravo to the

4×800 relay team of Sophie Ripley, Ava Budworth, Madi son Matzek, and Ella Jonson for qualifying for the state meet.

This season the Prescott boys track and field team set six team records and the girls team set two team records.

Three of the four regional champions in the Cumberland Softball Sectional, include the Prescott Cardinals, Bloomer Blackhawks (bird) and Bald win

Woodville Blackhawks. All three teams have been ranked in the top 10 in Divi

sion 3 all season. On paper it is by far the most difficult Di

vision III sectional grouping in the state.

The astonishing walk off winner for the Prescott base

ball team last Thursday was the third this season for the Cardinals and second against Amery. Prescott baseball afi

cionados remembered another regional tournament walk off winner back in 2007. In the bottom of the eighth, senior outfielder Kevin Erickson sin

gled to right center to score Andrew Schneider as the Car

dinals defeated Cumberland by a score of 6

5 in a regional semifinal at Firehall Field.

From the Wisconsin De partment of Natural Re

sources: The department invites the public to join us for the 10th annual Free Fun Weekend, June 4

5, 2022. State park admission fees, fishing licenses and trail passes are waived for all visi

tors. Grab your family and friends and head outdoors for Free Fun Weekend and find your adventure. Wisconsin is home to 49 state parks, 15 state forests, 44 state trails,

84,000 miles of rivers and streams, roughly 15,000 lakes and more. The DNR encour ages Wisconsinites to discover a new favorite park, trail, for

est or recreation area or try a new activity over the week end. Share your adventures during Fun Free Weekend using the hashtag #OutWiGo on Instagram.

The North Dakota State baseball season ended prema turely last weekend as the Bison were ousted from the Summit League Conference Baseball Tournament. The #1 seeded Bison were upset by #4 seed Omaha in the opening game on Thursday. North Dakota State rebounded by de

feating South Dakota State by a score of 7

4, a game that in

cluded Peter Brookshaw’s eighth homerun of the season. A rematch with Omaha on Sat

urday ended with the Maver icks defeating the Summit League regular season cham pions by a score of 5

3. North Dakota State finishes the sea

son with an overall record of

31

19 on the year.

North Dakota State short

stop Peter Brookshaw was named Summit League Sec

ond Team All Conference last week. The junior shortstop fin

ished the season with a batting average of .275 and a team leading 46 runs batted in. This summer the 2018 Prescott alumnus will be playing with the Eau Claire Express of the Northwoods League.

Longtime WIAA and NCAA Umpire Dennis White side was behind the plate dur

ing Thursday’s regional semifinal baseball game at Firehall Field. Prior to the game the longtime veteran umpire said this about the playing surface at Firehall Field. “Other than Carson Park in Eau Claire, this facility has the best natural grass playing surface in all of western Wis

consin.” Hats off to Dallas Eg

gers, Randy Hansen, and Dennis Gagnier for their con

tinued stellar field mainte

nance work.

The University of Wiscon

sin

Stevens Point advanced to the NCAA Division III World Series by winning two games in last weekend’s super re

gional at UW Whitewater. The Pointers won game one of the three

game series by a score of

10

9 on Friday and beat the Warhawks 11

7 to advance to Cedar Rapids, Iowa next week. It is the sixth time UW Stevens Point has advanced to the Division III World Series. In game two, River Falls High School graduate Lucas Luedtke slammed three home runs for the Pointers and has now hit 14 round trippers for the Pointers this season.

Amery left

handed pitcher Kale Hooke has been chosen to play in the Wisconsin Base ball Coaches Association All Star Classic this month in Oshkosh. The two day, four

team event features the best 72 seniors from around the state. Twenty one Prescott players have participated in the event since its inception 39 years ago, the first being 1989 grad

uate Dan Sterud and the most recent being 2018 grad Peter Brookshaw. On three occa sions the Cardinals have had two players selected the same year. Those duos included Brad Matzek and Brent Pat

tridge in 1990, Nick Johnson and Nick Thoen in 1999, and Nick Schommer and Alex Ross in 2004.

Headshaker of the week: San Francisco Giants out

fielder Joc Pederson said Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham slapped him be

fore a game last week over a dispute about their fantasy football league during the

2021 season. While the Giants warmed up in the outfield, Pham confronted Pederson and smacked him in the cheek before the pair were separated by players. Dumb. Idiotic. Moronic. Asinine. A fantasy football league dispute from a year ago. You have got to be kidding me. Grow up. Now that’s a headshaker.

By Cripe Olson