Kaukauna softball team prepares for WIAA state tournament
Kaukauna seniors Karly Meredith and Summer Schmidt talk about the Ghosts returning to the WIAA state softball tournament.
- Top-ranked Kaukauna defeated Sussex Hamilton 2-0 in the WIAA Division 1 state softball semifinal.
- Karly Meredith, three-time Gatorade Wisconsin player of the year, pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts.
- Kaukauna advances to their fourth state title game in five years.
MADISON − Close, grind-it-out games are nothing new for the Kaukauna softball team.
The state’s top-ranked team bolted to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and hung on for the win by that score over Sussex Hamilton in a WIAA Division 1 state semifinal June 12 at Goodman Diamond.
The Ghosts (26-0) will play either D.C. Everest or defending Division 1 champion Kenosha Bradford in the title game June 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Kaukauna advanced to the state tournament with a 2-1 nail-biter in eight innings against Green Bay Preble. It also had close wins over Kimberly and Neenah in Fox Valley Association play, as well as a 3-0 victory over Ashwaubenon in the postseason.
The win puts Kaukauna in the D1 state title game for the fourth time in the last five years. It was also the team’s 134th victory in 135 games. That one loss was to Milton in last year’s semifinals.
“For the kids, it’s awesome,” Kaukauna coach Tim Roehrig said. “They’ve been working since we lost that last game. They’ve been working to get back right here. They wanted this, so they’re ready to go.
“So now we got to focus in. We’re going to go celebrate. We told them, ‘We’re going back to the hotel, and we are going to order food, and we are going to celebrate this one.’ “
Kaukauna’s two runs were unearned as it took advantage of its team speed and two Sussex Hamilton errors to grab the 2-0 lead in the first.
Lead-off hitter Paige Bodenheimer reached base on a walk and a sacrifice bunt from Karly Meredith led to an errant throw that allowed Bodenheimer to race home for a 1-0 lead. Meredith stole third and another Chargers error on the throw allowed her to score for the two-run advantage.
“Right off the bat, we told them we were going to be aggressive,” Roehrig said. “We noticed some things on film that we could take advantage of and we did it right off the bat. And once Paige got on and then Karly’s coming up, we knew what we could do there.”
Meredith and the team’s airtight defense did the rest. Meredith, who recently won her third consecutive Gatorade Wisconsin state player of the year award, struck out 11 and allowed three hits.
“(The 2-0 lead) allowed everybody to relax,” Meredith said. “Even me, I knew that I could take a deep breath and we knew we got it. Just focus on one out at a time, one inning at a time and not look too far ahead.”
Sussex Hamilton (26-4) did get runners in scoring position in the final two innings, but Meredith was able to work her way out of the jams.
In the sixth, she got a strikeout and groundout to end the inning. In the seventh, a leadoff double by the Chargers’ Ashley Hunt offered them a prime opportunity to score, but Meredith responded with back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to preserve the win.
Jozy Ebben, a senior first baseman, said the team was excited about getting back to the championship game.
“Honestly, there’s no better feeling,” she said. “We’ve worked so hard and have been wanting this game, waiting for this game and it’s such a relief. … We knew we could do it and we’re just happy we finally did it.”
Sussex Hamilton coach Kaylee Gendrich said her team made it a point to practice defending bunts and prepared for the Ghosts’ team speed.
“At practice today, we covered so many bunts and tried to simulate how they run and how they create pressure,” Gendrich said. “And you know, if we don’t have that first inning then we’re still playing right now.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t get a timely hit and they got some untimely errors. That’s the game.”
Roehrig said the Ghosts are ready for whoever they will play in the title game Saturday.
“It does not matter who we’re playing,” he said. “We know what we have to do. We have a full scout report, just like we did (against Sussex Hamilton).”