from the Hip

Congratulations to Head Coach Owen Hamilton and the Prescott Cardinals girls basketball team on assuring themselves no less than a tie for the Middle Border Conference championship. With two conference games remaining, the 10-2 Cardinals can win the title outright, winning one of their last two Middle Border contests. This is the fourth league title in a row for the Cardinals.

Senior wrestler Benny Olson qualified for the WIAA Division 2 Sectional Meet this Saturday after finishing second in Saturday’s regional tournament in Neillsville. Olson enters the weekend with an impressive overall record of 39-10 and will face junior Presley Gutbroad from Tomahawk who enters the sectional with an overall record of 34-6. Cardinal junior Nolan Thomley also qualified for the Saturday sectional and will carry an overall record 26-8 into his first-round match against Freshmen Alex Hoff of St. Croix Falls. Hoff enters the tournament with an overall record of 19-9.

With the #2 seed, the Cardinals will face the winner of the #10 seed Bloomer Blackhawks and the #7 seed Ellsworth Panthers. In the upper part of the regional bracket, #3 seed St. Croix Falls will play the winner of #6 seed Baldwin-Woodville hosting the #11 seed St. Croix Central Panthers. Somerset received the #1 seed in the upper half of the sectional bracket. In the bottom half sectional bracket Elk Mound grabbed the #1 seed and West Salem the #2.

Michigan Tech defeated Davenport (Iowa) 63-48 on Saturday afternoon in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball. Prescott grad Isabella Lenz scored 10 points apiece as the 24th ranked Huskies reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth time in the past seven seasons. Lenz leads the Huskies in scoring, averaging 14.4 points a game. Lenz also leads the team in assists and is second in steals.

Senior St. Mary’s (Winona) infielder Mackenzie Carey and the rest of her Cardinal teammates open the 2023 season this weekend playing four games at the Mankato Dome in Mankato, Minn. Carey has a three-year career batting average of .283 and last year hit .325 for the Cardinals. St. Mary’s will play Crown College, Nebraska-Wesleyan, North Central College, and Bethany Lutheran College in the four-game set. Carey is a 2020 graduate of Prescott High School.

Peter Brookshaw and the North Dakota State Bison Baseball team will open their 2023 season at Sacramento State in a four-game series with the Hornets. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. this Friday.

Haylee Yaeger pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds and scored seven points, but it wasn’t enough as the UW-Stout Blue Devils fell on the road to 19th ranked Whitewater by a score of 78-75 in a battle for sole possession of first place. The Blue Devils close out the regular season when they host UW-Eau Claire. Heading into the regular season finale Stout is 9-4 in conference play and 17-7 overall.

The Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association released their 2023 preseason state rankings last week. Middle Border Conference favorite Altoona is ranked #5 in Division 2. Additionally, several other Prescott Cardinal opponents are ranked among the top 20 in their respective Divisions. In Division 1, the Hudson Raiders and River Falls Wildcats are ranked #10 and #18 respectively. West Salem, another non-conference opponent, is ranked #20 in Division 2 and the Division 3 Elk Mound Mounders are slotted at #13. And as expected two Prescott opponents will enter the 2023 season as the #1 ranked team in their division, St. Croix Falls in Division 3 and Eau Claire Regis in Division 4.

Incidentally, reports are that only two Middle Border Conference head baseball coaches attended the WBCA Clinic in Madison. WBCA Executive Board Member and Clinic Supervisor Mark Fuller was ecstatic to get former Major League Pitching Coach Dave Wallace to speak for Friday and Saturday in Madison. A former Major League pitcher, Wallace was the pitching coach for the Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Orioles, and Braves. The Connecticut native won World Series rings with the Dodgers and the Red Sox and has worked with the likes of Pedro Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Curt Schilling, and David Cone. According to Fuller, during his presentation Wallace asked the 400 people in attendance if they remember or had heard of Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson. About 20 hands went up. After a long pregnant pause, Wallace’s response was a simple “Aye yi yi.”

St. Croix Falls, Ashland, and Elk Mound will be playing in the Prescott Invitational Baseball Tournament on Saturday, May 13. Prescott will open against Ashland, Elk Mound will then play Ashland, St. Croix Falls will play Elk Mound, and Prescott will play St. Croix Falls. The day will feature St. Croix Falls player Brayden Olson who has committed to Purdue University and as a junior was the WBCA Division III Player of the Year. The hard-throwing right hander was 10-0 on the mound last season with an ERA of 0.00. The Ashland Oredockers will feature hard-throwing right hander Marcus Kruzan, a University of. St. Thomas recruit.

Headshaker of the week. In my mind we don’t always have to mimic or copy the college game. Uniforms, three pointer celebrations, and theatrical player introductions have percolated into the high school game. This past weekend I became aware teams around Wisconsin are hosting “WIAA Tournament Seeding Reveal Parties.” Huh? Remember, every high school team makes the tournament. Perhaps this is just another example of the high school game passing me by. That being said, readers who believe such can take solace in my admonition. For me it’s just another high school bridge too far. It’s a headshaker.