Head Boys and Girls Track Coach Emily Calabrese and her thinclads will open the season this Friday at the Knowles Center on the University of Wisconsin-River Falls campus. Prescott will compete against fellow Middle Border Conference schools Amery, Baldwin-Woodville, Ellsworth, Somerset, Saint Croix Central, Altoona, and Osceola. Action begins at 4 p.m. on Friday. 

The Prescott girls softball team began practice this week. Head Coach Nick Johnson and the Cardinals are coming off a 21-8 season and are expected to finish in the top half of the Middle Border Conference this year. Senior Talli Roth, a First Team All-Conference selection last year, along with Honorable Mention All-Conference senior Cadyn Hillebrand, are expected to lead the pitching rich Cardinals. Defending champion Somerset, along with Baldwin-Woodville and Altoona are expected to challenge for the podium in the Middle Border. Incidentally, Johnson has an overall coaching record of 106-34.

Head Baseball Coach Brad Matzek and assistants Duane Miller, Jake Hintz, and Mike Westberg will monitor pitchers and catchers this week as both ready their arms for the 2026 season. Returning pitchers from last year's 21-5 team include seniors Evan Kochendorfer, Zac Matzek, Jackson Matzek and Brody Temmers. The Cardinals also expect senior Max Monteith to return to the mound after missing last season due to injury. Monteith, a two-time All-Conference selection, had surgery last fall and is expected to log innings this spring. 

From the Department of Natural Resources: The DNR will begin selling bonus harvest authorizations for the 2026 spring turkey season on Monday, March 16, with a designated sale date for each zone. Previously known as leftover permits, bonus harvest authorizations will be available online through the Go Wild license portal and at all license sales agents. Sales will begin at 10 a.m. and run through midnight each day. Anyone still seeking harvest authorizations may purchase bonus authorizations at this time. 

Pitcher/outfielder Cole Platson and the Dakota County Knights went 4-5 against Iowa Community Colleges in Ellsworth, Des Moines, and Iowa Central. The Blue Knights head to Fort Kansas College this weekend to take on the Greyhounds for a four-game series. Meanwhile, Central Lakes College outfielder Joaquin Magee and his Raiders teammates are playing their spring games in Arizona. Platson and Magee are 2025 Prescott High School graduates.

Speaking of alumni, Leah French is playing softball at Division 2 Concordia St. Paul. French and her Saints teammates played a series of games in Florida and will open the North Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this Saturday in South Dakota with a doubleheader against the University of Mary.  

Congratulations to the Middle Border Conference Co-Champion St. Croix Central Panthers on advancing to next week’s WIAA Boys State Basketball Tournament next Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison. It will be the second time in school history the Panthers have made the final four, but the first time St. Croix Central will play at the Kohl Center. The school advanced to the state tournament for the first time in school history in 2021, but due to Covid-19, the games were held at the La Crosse Center. And congratulations to the Prentice Buccaneers who also advanced to the state tournament for the seventh time in school history. Prentice has the smallest enrollment of any team in the tournament with 105 students. 

Bart Matzek, a 1989 Prescott grad, and a WIAA Basketball officiating fixture in western Wisconsin was selected to referee in last week’s WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament. Matzek officiated the Division 5 Semi-Final game between eventual champion Stevens Point Pacelli and Barneveld. Also a member of the officiating crew was Ellsworth Superintendent Brian Nadeau.  

Led by volunteers Jacque Hawkins and Tom Schommer, the Prescott CAB Company is giving the Firehall Field Concession and Media Shed an extensive facelift. Championship and field donor board signs have been removed and replaced with windows on both sides of the structure. 

Headshaker of the week. The World Baseball Classic, the timeless showcase of the finest baseball talent from everywhere…except Italy. True, last week the Italian baseball team became the “darlings” of WBC fans. Doffing Armani Jackets and downing shots of espresso in the dugout after game successes, it’s no secret that most of the team roster is Italian American. However, out of 30 players, 24 were born in the United States, three were born in Italy, and the rest are scattered around the Americas. In other words, if you close your eyes during the national anthem, it’s basically a spring training split-squad game with better uniforms. Of course, this has prompted a quick debate about who exactly counts as an Italian. Is it someone born in Italy? Someone raised in Italy? Someone who has eaten spaghetti while gesturing with their hands? Fortunately, the WBC rulebook clears things up with the kind of precision you’d expect from international sports governance. According to tournament rules, players can represent a country if they meet any of seven eligibility criteria, including the very rigorous standard of being able to produce enough paperwork to show they could theoretically obtain citizenship if they ever decided to apply for it. That’s right: no actual passport required. Just feelings, paperwork potential, and perhaps a distant relative who once pointed at a map of Europe. The “requirements” to play for the Italian WBC team? Now that’s a headshaker.