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High hopes for Edgerton softball

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Members of the close knit Edgerton High softball team share a laugh while waiting to have team photos taken.

EDGERTON — A solid youth program laid the foundation.

Now, the Edgerton High varsity softball program is building on that foundation.

The Crimson Tide, 16-2 overall and at 13-1 in the Rock Valley North, has clinched at least a share of the title in the inaugural season of the conference. The Wisconsin Softball Coaches Association currently ranks Edgerton eighth in the state in Division 2.

“As far as the future goes, the core of our team is still pretty much sophomores and juniors, so you hope we’re only going to get better,” Edgerton coach Tony DeWar said.

“We’ve got to get the bats going, and hopefully we will, but defensively we’ve been rock solid all season.

“I don’t put a lot of stock into ratings, but what I know is that we’ve had a strong youth program for a number of years. And now some of those kids are at the high school level and it’s paying off.”

Edgerton saw a 13-game winning streak snapped Tuesday with a 1-0 loss to conference foe McFarland. The Tide’s only other loss was to Division 1 Milton.

Senior Cassie Morrison said the loss to McFarland will serve as a valuable lesson.

“It was like a slap in the face,” Morrison said of the loss. “We were kind of thinking that we would find some kind of magical way to win, and it didn’t happen.

“We should’ve won the game, but we left too many runners on base and didn’t hit very well.”

The team, led by the glove of third baseman Anne Tronnes, has committed only 19 errors in 18 games. With three-year starter Jenna Pope in center and two-year starter Allison DeWar in right, the Crimson Tide enters today’s Rock Valley tilt with Evansville with a .950 fielding percentage.

How good is the Tronnes-led Tide defense? Not one team has successfully bunted on Edgerton the entire season.

Edgerton starts three sophomores and a junior on the infield, and DeWar calls Tronnes the best third baseman in the Rock—bar none.

Pitcher Caitlin Johnson had been nearly unbeatable on the mound.

Johnson has 87 strikeouts in 101 innings of work and a stellar ERA of 1.24. She’s walked only 15 all season and has three shutouts among her 15 complete games.

Tia Cleveland is the No. 2 pitcher and is 3-0 on the season, including a 17-strikeout performance in a nonconference win over Lakeside Lutheran on Tuesday.

“I don’t think it was a case of being too confident before the season started,” sophomore shortstop Meggie Schmidt said of the team’s expectations, “but we did feel like we could play with anybody on the schedule.

“Once we beat Brodhead (1-0), that really showed what we were capable of. But we do have to start hitting the ball better, especially in the tournament.

The Crimson Tide, according to coach DeWar, has relied too much on defense and pitching. Edgerton is batting a respectable .307 as a team, but has left 89 runners on base.

First baseman Kelsey LaVelle leads the team with a .411 batting average, while Tronnes and catcher Jaid Downing share the team-lead with 14 RBIs apiece.

The Tide can clinch the Rock North title today with a win over 1-12 Evansville.

With McFarland and Brodhead both in the Division 2 tournament regional, DeWar knows his No. 1-seeded team will be a target.

“Our goal coming into the season was to get to the regional final,” DeWar said. “And if we do, it will have to go through one of those two teams.

“Our kids just have to go into the tournament thinking, ‘why not us.’”

With a state ranking and a likely Rock Valley North undisputed title, why not the Crimson Tide?