Head Coach Nick Johnson and the Prescott softball team have a busy week ahead of them. After playing three conference games to begin the week, the top 10 ranked Cardinals will host a pair of top 10 ranked teams on Thursday and Friday. Prescott will take on #5 ranked Fall Creek on Thursday and then welcome the #1 ranked Grantsburg Pirates to Jackie Riley Field. The two non-conference games are expected to have huge implications when it comes to tournament seeding. 

The Prescott baseball team players, parents and coaches watched the film “Field of Dreams” last Sunday as they prepare for their trip to Dyersville, Iowa next week. Starring Kevin Costner, the film is based on the 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe” written by Canadian W.P. Kinsella. On Friday, May 16, Prescott will practice on the very field used in the Academy Award-nominated film. Approximately 50,000 people visit the field each year. On Saturday, May 17, the Cardinals will play at Platteville in a doubleheader. 

Regular season champion UW-Whitewater will play UW-Platteville in the opening game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament this Thursday.  Game two will feature UW-La Crosse taking on UW-Oshkosh. The winner of the double-elimination tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The UW-Whitewater women’s softball team also won the regular season title and will enter this week's single elimination conference tournament as the #1 seed. UW-Oshkosh will be the #2 seed. Other WIAC teams qualifying for the single elimination tournament that begins this Friday include Eau Clare, La Crosse, Platteville, and Stevens Point.  The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA III National Tournament. 

Second baseman Peter Brookshaw and the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks open their season this Friday when they host Sioux Falls with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. Brookshaw returns to the RedHawks for his second full season. Last year the North Dakota State star and Prescott alumnus played in 80 games for the RedHawks and tied for the team lead in home runs. 

This Saturday there will be lots of action at Firehall Field as Elk Mound, Ashland, and La Crosse Logan come to town. Prescott will play Elk Mound, the #1 ranked team in Division 3 at 10 a.m. Ashland will play La Crosse Logan at noon, followed by Elk Mound vs. Ashland in game three. The final game between La Crosse Logan and Prescott is slated to begin at approximately 4 p.m. Ashland Hall of Fame Coach Chris Kempf comes to town with an overall record of 480-206 and Elk Mound Head Coach Paul Andrea has an impressive career coaching mark of 336-156. Andrea is also on a path for future induction into the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. Additionally, the varsity seniors will be recognized before the game between Prescott and La Crosse Logan. 

Prescott alumnus and UW-Superior track and field thin clad Jayde Canfield finished fifth in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase and sixth in the 5,000 meters to help the Yellowjackets finish second in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend at the University of Minnesota-Morris. The Yellowjackets finished second to Martin Luther in the overall standings. Canfield is a 2024 graduate of Prescott High School. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: With the conclusion of the 2024 deer hunting seasons, the DNR last week shared a summary of the year’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) sampling efforts. For the 2024 season, the DNR focused its efforts on increasing sample collection in designated 2024 Fall Priority Areas. In total, 17,399 deer were sampled throughout the state during the 2024 CWD year, with 1,786 samples testing positive. Most (89%) of these detections were in the Southern Farmland Zone. A full breakdown of sampled and positive totals by zone and year is available on the department website. 

Headshaker of the week. Now that the NBA playoffs are in full swing, it is difficult to discern where there is more contact - an NBA playoff game or within the interior of an NFL offensive or defensive line. Nary is there an NBA half court possession void of hand checking, full body backdowns, or players being “mugged” by a defensive player on the way to the basket. With the amount of contact allowed in the NBA postseason I would suggest the teams don new uniforms. The teams should ditch their traditional game attire and switch to wrestling singlets. That look would be more representative of the type of play that is embraced during the NBA playoffs. The thuggish style of play likely brings a smile to the faces of retired players Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer, and Dennis Rodman. But for the diminishing number of remaining basketball purists, the backyard bully, junkyard style of play is way over the top. And it’s a headshaker.