Tickets for the Prescott Hall of Fame Induction Banquet can now purchased at  https://prescottcardinals.com. Go to tickets and scroll down to find the Prescott Hall of Fame link. Doors for the event at the high school open at 6 p.m. with dinner served at 6:45 p.m. The induction program of the 2023 class of Steve Block, Jaci Kosin, and Ryan Berg will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 with a limited number sold at the door. 

The Prescott girls golf team opened their 2023 season at the Reedsburg Scramble Invitational Tournament last weekend. Four Cardinal teams finished in the top 10 with varsity newcomers Layla Salay and Macy Reiter leading the way with a second-place score of 70. Juniors Gabbi Matzek and Jeanne Rohl finished the tournament in third place with a score of 71. Fifth place honors went to Anika Fredericks and Kendra Ogilvie and finishing the day in seventh place was Ava Franco and Lydia Feran. Head Coach Chad Salay and the three-time defending state champions begin the season as the #1 ranked team in Division 2. The favorite to repeat as Middle Border Conference Champions, the Cardinals will open play against conference opponents this Thursday at Pheasant Hills Golf Course in Hammond.

Head Volleyball Coach Tracey Budworth and her charges begin practice this week. The Cardinals return all but one player from their first rotation from a year ago and feature one of, if not the tallest lineup in the Middle Border Conference. Back is University of Kansas recruit senior Reese Ptacek, fellow senior Lila Posthuma and juniors Natalie Ptacek, Aubryn Ennenga, and Leah French providing formidable play at the net. The back line is expected to be anchored by seniors Kianna Severson and Megan Richter. Junior Marisa Cogan and sophomore Amanda Miller will add considerable depth to the Cardinals. Coach Budworth is expecting around 35 girls out for volleyball this season including 14 ninth graders. 

Senior Reese Ptacek is ranked the #4 volleyball player in the state of Wisconsin and sister Natalie, a junior, is ranked a #19. 

Speaking of volleyball, the Cardinals will participate in the UW-Whitewater Invitational Tournament Aug. 26-27. The tournament pool the Cardinals will play in includes Monona Grove, Whitewater, and Union Grove. Incidentally, Prescott Athletic Director Andrew Caudill is a graduate of Union Grove High School. 

UW-Whitewater Assistant Coach Steve Bartlein will be the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Pat Reilly will take over as the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for baseball. Bartlein will take over the reins of a program that was eliminated in 2002. Baseball officially returns to UW-River Falls in the spring of 2025. Reilly, an assistant coach at Winona State, takes over a Blugold program that struggled mightily over the last three years. Now the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the only college without an NCAA baseball program. Embarrassing. 

How about the playing surface at Laney Field? Hats off to the Prescott custodial staff, especially Bob Feyereisen and Adam Rohl, for a tremendous job readying the football field for the upcoming 2023 season. Like a just waxed floor, it’s almost too nice to walk on. Bravo!

According to Head Football Coach Jordan Hansen the Cardinals finished last Saturday’s scrimmage in Osceola 100% healthy and are ready to open the season against the Eau Claire Regis Ramblers at David Smith Field on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The Ramblers finished 14-0 last season and won the Division 7 State Title with a 41-7 victory over Shiocton. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. this Friday.

Head Coach Tim Phillips and approximately 40 Prescott High School runners will begin running through the fields and woods of area cross country courses. Cardinal harriers will open their 2023 season with the Prescott Invitational Tournament on Saturday, Aug. 26. Competing teams will include Prescott High School, Amery, Baldwin-Woodville, Cannon Falls, Ellsworth, Osceola, Saint Croix Central, Somerset, and Spring Valley.

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: Remember, bonus antlerless harvest authorizations for the 2023 gun began online this week at the Go Wild license portal and at license sales locations around the state. 

Bonus authorizations are sold at a rate of one per person per day until sold out or until the 2023 deer hunting season ends. Bonus authorizations are $12 each for Wisconsin residents, $20 each for non-residents and $5 each for youth ages 11 and under.

Did you know, when it comes to baseball, there are two game traditions whose origins are connected to William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States? A big baseball fan, all 300+ pounds of him, Taft threw the first pitch of the 1910 season on April 14 to Washington Senators starting pitcher Walter Johnson. Thus, the tradition of the first pitch was born. It has also been argued that during that game Taft rose to stretch his legs in the middle of the seventh inning, prompting hundreds of fans near the president to stand out of respect believing the president was about to leave the stadium. Baseball historians have long debated the true origins of the sevemth inning stretch. And,“Take Me Out To the Ball Game,” written by Jack Norworth in 1908, is the third most popular song of all time, behind only the Star Spangled Banner and Happy Birthday. 

Headshaker of the week. While attending a St. Paul Saints game recently, I witnessed another display of adult meatheadism in sports. While scores of youngsters were taking batting practice and catching fly balls on the outfield grass, a youth coach from a St. Paul area school proceeded to grab a bat and begin to attempt to hit the restricted flight baseballs over the fence in right field. The backwards hat, sunglasses-wearing buffoon accomplished the less than impressive feat three times and doffed his hat each time the ball went over the fence. What made it even more embarrassing was his fellow coaching pants-wearing, stopwatch cord-dangling assistant coaches were cheering him on. It was a headshaker.