Senior infielder/pitcher Jackson Matzek was named 1st Team All Conference by head coaches of the Middle Border Conference. Matzek finished with a .316 batting average coupled with a 2-1 record on the mound with three saves and a sparkling 0.50 earned run average. Senior infielder Max Monteith was named to the 2nd Team, the third consecutive year Monteith has been named All Conference.  Senior Brody Temmers, junior Griffin Westberg, and sophomore Zach Murphy all were named Honorable Mention. The Player of the Year was Somerset pitcher Mason Schmidt who led the Spartans to a berth in the WIAA State Tournament. 

Congratulations to Cadyn Hillebrand and Izzy Thoen on being named 1st Team All Conference last week. The lethal senior and junior combination led the Cardinals in several offensive categories this spring. Infielder/catcherT alli Roth, who plans to play at UW-Stout next season, was named to the second team. Junior Grace Ptacek and sophomore Quinn Unser were both named Honorable Mention. The Cardinals bowed to Spooner in the sectional finals, returning the majority of their roster next season. 

Speaking of the WIAA State Tournament, this is Somerset’s first trip to the WIAA State Spring Baseball Tournament. Back in 2004, the Spartans advanced to the state tournament when the WIAA also sponsored a summer state tournament which was discontinued in 2018. The summer baseball tournament series began in 1965 and reached its participating school pinnacle in 1990 with 110 schools participating in the single season tournament series. The River Falls Wildcats are making their third trip to the state tournament and the second under 300-game winning Head Coach Ryan Bishop. The Wildcats advanced to the Division I Semifinals in 2015 and also qualified for the state tournament in 1976. 

Usually, we associate Ptacek’s cheese and sausage link trays with NFL Sundays, not soccer matches. But after the United States’ 4-1 victory over Paraguay in its World Cup opener, a new wave of American soccer enthusiasts has emerged. Suddenly, fans who may not know the difference between a drop kick and a corner kick are decked out in red, white, and blue, belting out terrace chants as if they’ve spent a lifetime following clubs in England, Spain, or Italy. With the World Cup being played on American soil for the first time in more than three decades, soccer fever has arrived in full force. Along with it comes the atmosphere that makes the tournament unlike any other sporting event in the world: passionate crowds, nonstop singing, colorful displays, and fans whose enthusiasm can range from spirited to downright unruly. The words raucous, intense, and rowdy often accompany discussions of World Cup supporters, and the term “hooligan” has occasionally found its way into the conversation as well. Then there is Japan. After matches, regardless of whether their team wins or loses, Japanese supporters remain behind to clean up their section of the stadium. Bags come out, trash is collected, and the area is often left cleaner than they found it. Respect, politeness, decorum, and consideration for others are as much a part of their fan culture as cheering for their team. It makes one wonder what our own sporting venues might look like if that mindset caught on. Imagine high school, college, and professional events where some spectators view placing trash in a receptacle as a simple responsibility rather than an unreasonable burden. The Japanese have once again provided a reminder that being a passionate fan and being a respectful citizen are not mutually exclusive. There is a lesson there worth learning.

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The DNR reminds landowners who are interested in sponsoring a gun deer hunt for hunters with disabilities to enroll their properties, by July 1, 2026. There have been some changes to the program dates for fall 2026. For the first seven days of the Gun Deer Hunt for Hunters with Disabilities, Oct. 3-9, hunts will need to be conducted on a property that is sponsored and enrolled in the program. On the weekend of Oct. 10-11, the same weekend as the Youth Deer Hunt, eligible hunters may hunt statewide on public land or any private property they have permission to hunt regardless of if the land is enrolled in the program. To be part of the Gun Deer Hunt For Hunters With Disabilities program, landowners must have at least 60 acres available, be able to host at least three hunters and complete an online application by July 1, 2026. The DNR asks interested landowners to fill in all the property information fields on the application.  

Headshaker of the Week. Hopefully local baseball fans are cheering on Somerset and River Falls this week at the WIAA State Baseball Tournament in Appleton. Of course, that assumes some fans can survive rooting for a team other than their own. For some people, that's asking far too much. Some sports fans and players have developed an amazing ability to watch their team get completely dominated and still refuse to acknowledge the opponent did anything well. Take a hypothetical 13-1 baseball game. One team collects 17 hits, strikes out twice, and ends the contest early via the 10-run rule after six innings. The response? "They weren't ready to play." "We didn't play our game." That’s interesting. Because from where most people were sitting, it looked like the other team was pretty good. Some fans today treat giving credit to an opponent as though it's a violation of team loyalty or some form of treachery. They would rather invent excuses than admit the opponent earned the victory. It's the same crowd that begins every game by informing everyone that the opponent "is awful” or “they suck.” Two hours later the game ends in a 42-0 loss, somehow the opponent remains terrible despite winning by six touchdowns. At some point, reality has to enter the conversation. One of my favorite traits in sports is when a losing head coach says during a post-game press conference, "They were better than us today." Not forever. Not historically. Not for all eternity. Just today. That's called perspective. Unfortunately, excuses often travel faster than perspective. The officials were bad. The weather was unfair. The field conditions were terrible. The announcers were biased. The sun and the moon were in their eyes. Western Wisconsin Packer fans know this routine by heart. According to some of them, the Packers haven't actually lost a football game in decades. They've merely been victims of an endless series of unfortunate circumstances and game day conspiracies. Sometimes, though, the explanation is much simpler. The other team played better. And there shouldn't be anything difficult about saying so. Not giving credit to your opponents when credit is due? That’s a headshaker.