Head Softball Coach Nick Johnson outscored Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau and St. Croix Falls by a combined score of 26-2. The Cardinals pounded Redbird and Saints pitching and the pitching duo of Ella Stewart and Gabby Matzek silenced G-E-T and St. Croix Falls hitters as the Cardinals won in convincing fashion. 

Sophomore pitcher Max Monteith picked up his first career varsity win in game one of last Saturday’s doubleheader against host Lake City. Monteith, along with Ian Leask and Dain Pechacek provided five innings of scoreless relief in the Cardinals’ 3-2 win over the Tigers. Run scoring singles by Owen Bayer, Cole Platson, and Will Rohl in the top of the six gave Prescott a 3-2 lead. Pechacek struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win. In game two, Joaquin Magee, Nik Welter, and Cullen Huppert each had two hits as the Cardinals outscored Dover-Eyota by a score of 10-7. Platson picked up the win in relief with Nolan Thomley garnering the save. Huppert scored three runs in the victory as the Cardinals, after a three-year weather-related and Covid-caused hiatus, returned to the tournament. The formidable Middle Border Conference schedule begins this week for the Cardinals. 

Peter Brookshaw will return to Fargo-Moorhead to play with the Redhawks this summer. The 2018 Cardinal grad and two-time 1st Team All State selection is considering playing winter ball as well this year. 

Hats off to junior and sophomore catchers Joaquin Magee and Brody Temmers. The Cardinal catching combo did a yeoman’s job behind the plate, each receiving for four different pitchers, including left and right-handed pitchers. Temmers threw out two would-be base stealers and Magee went 2-4 in game two. Both signal callers earned game balls in their varsity debuts.  

Junior Dain Pechacek’s pitching line on Saturday: 3 IP, 0 Runs, 0 Hits, and 6 strikeouts. Impressive. 

Another tidbit from last Saturday’s Lake City Invitational Tournament. This season the Cardinal baseball team welcomes statsmen duo of Jason Bayer and Dusty Schommer. Both 1994 Cardinal alumni, Bayer and Schommer were members of the WIAA Division 2 State Championship team. That season, Jason Bayer’s father, Gary, was the statistician for the team. And today, Jason Bayer’s son Owen is a player on the team. Word is Jason’s father Gary is already providing pointers and other sorts of guidance on the ins and outs of stat keeping. 

Megan Gilles and the University of Minnesota Duluth women's track and field team opened their 2024 outdoor campaign last Saturday competing in the Wartburg Select Invitational in Iowa. The 4x100m relay team Megan Gilles, Jacqi Rae, Kate Fitzgerald, and Jordan Grell combined for a 48.45 and finished in second. Gilles also grabbed a silver in 400m hurdles finishing with a personal best time of 1:03.65. The Bulldogs finished fifth in the 13-team invitational meet. Gilles is a 2020 graduate of Prescott High School. 

A big thank you to Bruce Platson, Brady Randolph, and Chuck Block for their extensive volunteer work at Firehall Field last week. The volunteer trio installed turf along the batting cage for hitting drills and repaired fencing above the dugout. Also, a hearty handclasp to Chris Anfang from Anfang Asphalt Plus for allowing CAB Company to use a roller for the infield.  

From the WIAA: The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, in cooperation with Rural Mutual Insurance, has chosen the recipients of the team Sportsmanship Awards for the 2024 winter State Tournaments. The winners of the prestigious sportsmanship recognition are Lakeside Lutheran in boys’ basketball, Cuba City in girls’ basketball, Cumberland in team wrestling, West Bend West in gymnastics, the Sun Prairie West Co-op in girls hockey and Tomahawk in boys hockey. The award is presented to one school and community in each of the state team tournaments that exhibits exemplary sportsmanship. Recipients are determined by the sportsmanship displayed by athletes, coaches, cheer and support groups, mascots, bands and spectators. 

Headshaker of the week. Speaking of sportsmanship, Cardinal baseball fans, players, and coaches noticed the sophomoric behavior in two dugouts last Saturday. Incessant nonsensical chanting and yelling emanated from the dugout in game one, followed by the same, along with barnyard profanity in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader. Amazingly, an umpire admonished the Dover-Eyota dugout during game two for their continual catcalling and flowery language. Bravo! Perhaps this same umpire should work some games in western Wisconsin where idiotic, immature screaming and taunting from the dugout is quite commonplace, including baseball teams in the Middle Border Conference. What makes matters worse is “adult” coaches act with complicity and do nothing. Any team, coaching staff, and school should be embarrassed when an umpire, during the middle of a game, has to scold a group of players and coaches for lack of dugout decorum. It’s a headshaker.