Green Bay Press-Gazette from Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 25

www.greenbaypressgazette.com Bay Press-Gazette Wednesday, April 6, 2005 C-5 Sports Inexperience, Williquette lifts Bay Port injuries derail mmmwwu. lPiiui jpui.ppuwwu mmmmmmmm.um.jmmm mmimmimmm Mmp 1 rising Gamblers Prep softball Ashwaubenon softball players gather in the dugout before their Bay Conference game against Seymour. Corey WilsonPress-Gazette jans (0-1 overall). Press-Gazette Rachel Williquette's hit in the top of the eighth inning drove in the winning run as Bay Port edged Green Bay Notre Dame 2-1 in a non-conference softball game on Tuesday. The game was scoreless until the seventh inning, when both teams scored to send the game into extra innings.

Megan Miller led off the bottom of the seventh with a double for the Tritons (0-1 overall), and Gabby Albers drove her in with a single to tie the game. Miranda Sczcepanski had 10 strikeouts for the Pirates (1-0 overall). Bay Port 000000112 4 2 Green Bay Notre Dame 000000 1 0 130 WP: Miranda Sczcepanski. LP: Tiffany Magnu-son. Leading hitters: BP Rachel Williquette, 2x4; Tiffany Topel, 2x4.

Strikeout leader: Sczcepanski, 10. Bay Ashwaubenon 3, Seymour 0 SEYMOUR Rati Harty was 3-for-4, and Kristi Doucette earned the win with five shutout innings for the Jaguars in the opener for both teams. Mallorie Bluma struck out six and had two hits for the Thunder. Ashwaubenon 000 201 0 3 7 1 Seymour 0000000 0 4 0 WP: Kristi Doucette. LP: Mallorie Bluma.

Leading hitters: A Kati Harty, 3x4; Kathryn Roethle, 2x3. Bluma, 2x3. Strikeout leader: Bluma 6. De Pere 6, West De Pere 1 Kristina Barone struck out five and Tiffany Van Veghel had SoftballDoucette Green Bay Gamblers 2004-05 season wrapup pretty darn predictable." The inability to win the special teams battle directly led to losses for Green Bay When the Gamblers scored more or had as many power-play goals as their opponent, they were 16-10-2. When they scored fewer man-advantage goals, they were a dismal 5-27.

"That hurt us immensely," said Mazzoleni, whose team finished with the last-ranked scoring offense (2.4 goals per game) and second-to-last scoring defense (3.7). Despite all the player movement, Mazzoleni managed to keep the same number of draft picks the Gamblers started the season with. The Gamblers expect to have eight to 11 players back from this season's team, Mazzoleni said. Green Bay will return both of its goalies (Dan Rosen and Zane Kalemba), its second-leading scorer (Mark Stockdale, 17 goals, 21 assists for 38 points), its third-leading scorer (Mark Magnowski, 15-17 32), Roloff, and defensemen Jeremy Dehner and Chris Stansik. "When you look at where we were last year, it's a much larger base to begin to build on," Mazzoleni said.

One player the Gamblers will miss is forward Blake Wheeler, the highest NHL draft pick to play in the USHL. He was drafted fifth overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2004 and led Green Bay with 19 goals, 28 assists and 47 points. However, Wheeler's decision to play in Green Bay could prove beneficial in the future. "Having a kid like Blake coming here and having a such a positive experience Mazzoleni said. "He and his parents will be great salespersons for us when we are taking this particular guy and we have Blake and his parents call them and let them know what we are about as an organization.

(It) will lend a tremendous credibility to it and will allow us to continue to try to bring the best type of talent we can to Green Bay." Mazzoleni said he will try to bring in more players that will be 19 or 20 next season to add some experience. With up to 11 players returning next season, the Gamblers should be much more experienced, which Mazzoleni says will lead to a "very improved" team. "To have the opportunity to re turn eight or 11 kids that have played under me, know the way I conduct my business and trying to supplement that with a couple of diamonds in the rough out there and then do a real good job in the draft, I think we're going to take a major step forward," Mazzoleni said. Noteworthy: Awards were handed out at the season-ending team awards banquet on Sunday. Earning honors were: Stockdale (MVP), Wheeler (rookie of the year); John Mitchell (most improved); Ryan Petersen (hardest worker); and Corey Couturier (community service).

for a victory over Green Bay West (0-1 overall). She finished with nine strikeouts. Freedom 2001000 351 Green Bay West 1000001271 WP: Amanda Abel. LP: Cassie Felton. Leading hitters: GBW Elizabeth LeClaire, 2x4; Kelly Schoen, 2x3.

Brittany Stellingeher, 2x3. Strikeout leader: Abel, 9. Green Bay East 7, Appleton Xavier 0 Emily Strong pitched a two-hitter and drove in two runs to help Green Bay East shut out Appleton Xavier. Kayla Hana-mann also had two RBIs for the Red Devils. Appleton Xavier 000000 021 Green Bay East 001 042 7 5 0 WP: Emily Strong.

LP: Conrad. East's leading hitters: Kayla Hanamann, 2x4; Emily Strong, 2x4. Strikeout leaders: GBE Strong, Conrad, 7. Green Bay Southwest 6, Oconto Falls 0 Amanda Bostedt had a triple and drove in three runs as Green Bay Southwest shut out Oconto Falls at John Muir Park. Jessica Balthazor added three hits and two RBIs for the Tro is ace for players Sara Junion, Sevastopol: A first-team Packerland pick as a freshman.

Elizabeth LeClaire, Green Bay West: Had a .444 on-base percentage in the Fox River Valley Conference last season, and plays flawless defense in the outfield. Tammy Loritz, Denmark: Will help lead a Vikings team picked by some to win the Packer-land this year. Kathryn Roethle, Ashwaubenon: The Jaguars' catcher hit .250 last season and drove in nine runs. Cassie Vandevoorde, Green Bay Preble: The FRVC player of the year last season. Went 8-0 in the conference.

Tiffany VanVeghel, De Pere: Second baseman hit .296 and committed just four errors last season. much harder. "Terra and Kayla are great pitchers," she said. "When you look at them, and you see they are so good, you want to be just as good as them. Everyone wants to go out there and get that start on the mound.

It's just something to work a little harder for." It's not all about pitching for the Jaguars, though. Ashwaubenon advanced to the state BY JASON LAUREN laurengreenbaypressgazette.com Green Bay Gamblers coach Mark Mazzoleni made multiple trades this season in an attempt to get his team to the playoffs, but in the end, the team's inexperience and multiple injuries proved to be too much to overcome. The Gamblers finished the season with a 21-37-2 record, the second-worst mark in the 11-team United States Hockey League, and 15 points worse than last season. Green Bay, however, started the season with just four returning players and struggled to a 5-14 start. Toward the end of the season, the Gamblers sustained numerous injuries to key players and stumbled to a 3-10 finish, falling three points shy of the Clark Cup playoffs.

'In all my years of coaching, I've never had that many in juries in that short of a period of time to so many key people, said Mazzoleni, who's had just three losing seasons in 16 years of coaching at the college level. "Every week we had to re-ad just, and these guys never said boo. They just kept trying. Mazzoleni made six trades and several other player movements, adding 11 of the final 24 roster players after the start of the season. At the beginning of the year when we started, boy, after a few games I was just holding my breath," Maz zoleni said.

"Are we going to compete? Do our guys know how to Mazzoleni compete? It just seemed like our guys were overwhelmed. At the end of the year, I mean, we competed. We would battle with people." The trades began paying off in January and February, when Green Bay got back into the playoff race with a 10-8 record. But injuries to forwards Brad Miller, Joe Long, Brian Roloff and defensemen Justin Johnson and Chris Stansik forced the Gamblers to play with a short-handed lineup for the playoff push in March. Going into our weekend se ries against Sioux Falls on (Feb.

25), I never felt better about our team," Mazzoleni said. "Then we started to have some season-ending injuries to key people. We were a team that struggled to create offense and defend our net, and with some of the people we lost, it just made it all more challenging. The injuries made an already weak special teams unit struggle even more. The Gamblers finished the season with the USHL's last-ranked power play (10.2 percent) and penalty kill (76.4 percent).

Miller and Roloff anchored the half-boards on the two power-play lines, which were essentially equals. After the duo went down, it forced Mazzoleni to juggle his man-advantage lines, which already were inex perienced with rookies Chris Stansik and Jeremy Dehner quarterbacking the power plays at the point. "It hurt our power play, said Mazzoleni of the injuries to Miller and Roloff. "We had to go back to doing things that were proUp winc JL 1 VU1V nJ Ji Press Gazette MANITOWOC Anne-Marie Boyd won two titles and set a meet record in the run to lead Green Bay Preble to the Fox River Valley Conference Indoor Meet title on Tuesday three hits for De Pere. Jackie Lee was 3-for-4 for the Phantoms.

DePere 0110202 6116 West De Pere 0001000 1 82 WP: Kristina Barone. LP: Jackie Lee. Leading hitters: Sarah Luberda, 2x4; Tiffany VanVeg-hel, 3x4; Bailee Brazeau, 2x4. WD Lee, 3x4; Samantha Soderland, 2x3; Cindy Gildernick, 2x3. Strikeout leaders: Barone, 5.

Pulaski 6, Marinette 0 Denise Heuser pitched a shutout and added a two-run double to lead Pulaski. Lyndsey Wilcox also drove in two runs for the Red Raiders. Marinette 0000000 0 5 5 Pulaski 0020220 6132 WP: Denise Heuser. LP: Jenni Rich. Leading hitters: Brooke Basten, 3x3; Nona Danforth, 2x4; Lyndsey Wilcox, 2x4; Becca Merritt, 2x3.

Strikeout leaders: Heuser, 5. New London 6, Shawano 5 SHAWANO Tracy Palmer went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs to help New London hold off Shawano. Jenny Powers had two RBIs for Shawano. New London 010 0140 661 Shawano 110 100 2 5 8 3 WP: Megan Johnson. LP: Mandy Bero.

Leading hitters: Brittany Schwartz, 2x4; Jenny Powers, 2x4; NL Tracy Palmer, 2x4. More non-conference Freedom 3, Green Bay West 2 Amanda Abel struck out the last two batters with runners on second and third to help Freedom (2-0 overall) hold on 2004 all-area softball Kristen Blizel, Southern Door: One of the best catchers in the Packerland Conference last season. Tera Burr, Shawano: Second baseman hit .366 last season and is a standout on defense. Nona Danforth, Pulaski: Was a freshman sensation in the outfield last year. Heather Farley, Algoma: Went 11-3 with a 0.41 earned-run average in 2004.

Struck out 61 batters in 55.3 innings. Kati Harty, Ashwaubenon: Shortstop led the Jaguars with 11 steals and scored 14 runs in 2004. Denise Heuser, Pulaski: Will try to pitch the Red Raiders to a fourth consecutive Bay title. Lauren Juncer, Bay Port: A first-team Bay selection last season. the offseason.

They are all going to get a chance to pitch this spring, and hopefully one of the three separates themselves. That is the one we are going to end up going with." Despite being one of the most dominating pitchers in the area last season, Doucette has no problem earning her playing time all over again. If anything, it makes the three competitors work that Prep baseball was 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two home runs to lead Coleman in a game shortened to six innings by the 10-run rule. Brady Olson was 2-for-2 for Gibraltar. Coleman 201606- 15101 Gibraltar 000104 5 3 5 WP: Josh Kilmer.

LP: Justin Reynalds. Leading hitters: Luke Swenty, 4x5. Brady Olson, 2x2. Home run: Swenty, 2. Wrightstown 11, Sevastopol 5 INSTITUTE Jordyn Pues struck out five and reliever Stephan Williams struck out six to lead Wrightstown past Sevastopol.

Cody Bauer had two hits, including a three-run homer, on his way to four RBIs for the Pioneers. Wrightstown 001 007 3 1 1 1 0 0 Sevastopol 001 030 1 5 3 3 WP: Jordyn Pues. LP: Cody Bauer. Leading hitters: Kevin Rotzenberg, 2x3; Pues 2x3. Cody Bauer, 2x4; Home runs: Bauer, 1 Strikeout leaders; Stephan Williams, Pues, 5.

From C-1 "Pulaski is always going to be tough competition," Doucette said. "You can't get around that." The return of Doucette and Halron could be the extra boost needed for Ashwaubenon. The 5-foot-9 Doucette was the ace of the pitching staff last season, going 9-2 with a 0.18 earned-run average and tossing six shutouts. In 77 innings of work, she walked just one batter and struck out 36. Halron, who is considered one of the best players in the state, hit .438 and had team-highs of 15 runs and 13 RBIs in 20 games.

She also served as the Jaguars' No. 2 pitcher, going 6-3 with a 1.75 ERA. The duo has spent the early part of spring competing with junior Kayla Kastenmier for the top spot in the rotation. "It's a good problem and a bad problem," Van Laanen said. "The bad problem is trying to get enough innings for those kids.

The good problem is that we don't have to worry about pitching. "What I have told the kids, and what I have told the parents, is that there are three girls who have worked very hard in Oconto Falls 000000 0 0 4 2 Green Bay Southwest 2001201641 WP: Holly Nuthals. LP: Ashley Magnin. Leading hitters: SW Jessica Balthazor, 3x4; Amanda Bostedt, 2x4. Gibraltar 11, Coleman 0 FISH CREEK Amanda Peissig was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a double to lead Gibraltar in a game shortened by the 10-run rule.

Molly Dixon and Katie Sawyer had inside-the-park homers for the Vikings (1-0 overall). Coleman 000 00 0 1 5 Gibraltar 512 3x 1180 WP: Katie Sawyer. LP: Ruth Tucker. Leading ters: Amanda Peissig, 2x3. Home runs: Katie Sawyer, Molly uixon.

Wrightstown 6, Sevastopol 3 INSTITUTE Cory Notz homered, and Wrightstown used a three-run sixth inning to pull away from Sevastopol. Wrightstown 200 0130 642 Sevastopol 10100013 3 6 WP: Amanda Wruck. LP: Carissa Neinan. Home run: Cory Notz. Strikeout leader: Wruck, 4.

Jaguars title game last season because of its ability to manufacture runs. It was one of the best hit ting teams in the Bay, and aver aged 3.7 runs per game. With a veteran team, Van Laanen hasn't done much tinkering to his starting lineup. The only change has been moving last year's first baseman, junior Shanan Guerts, to right field and inserting junior Jamie Kivi at first. "I think my job as a coach is to get the best nine girls on the field," Van Laanen said.

"That's why we are doing this. I explained that to Shanan, and she has been very receptive to the change." When it comes to the players, they don't care who is playing or where. As long as they are winning and having fun, that's all that matters. That, and get ting back to state to erase the memories of last season's 5-0 loss to Stevens Point in the title game. "I have used that as motiva tion," Doucette said.

"As a team, everyone wants to go back to state. It always has been a goal of ours. The seniors have been playing together (since middle school). It has been a long jour ney, and something we really want to accomplish. Prep soccer ond half to give Bay Port the victory Carmen Fiordellisi scored in the first half, and Sam Hermsen made eight saves for the Pi rates.

Ashwaubenon 4, Green Bay East 1 ASHWAUBENON Fresh man Lauren Heim scored two tn lead Ashwaubenon. Allie Maas and Christine Pearson each added one goal for the Jaguars. Annie Putman scored Green Bay East's goal. Wrightstown 7, Freedom 0 WRIGHTSTOWN Sarah Zarter had three goals to lead the Tigers (1-1) to their first win of the season. Sandra Capella, Cassandra Gerrits, Emily Curry and Katie Weise also scored for Wright stown.

while keeper Katie Krueger had two saves. Freedom falls to 0-1-1. Mumper mows down 11 in Kewaunee win Maki helps De Pere get past Southwest UDVf lllHnnr Prep track and field Tuesday's results, C-4 She ran the 1,600 in 5 minutes, 29.5 seconds and also won the 3,200 run. Preble edged East 131-116. Call for Details WJ 1 Press-Gazette DE PERE Ann Maki scored two goals to lead the De Pere girls soccer team to a 5-3 non-conference victory over Green Bay Southwest on Tuesday in the opener for both teams.

Emily Thompson, Louise Vraney and Jen Anderson each added a goal for the Redbirds. Laura Bartingale, Allison Dallich and Brittany Galvin scored for the Trojans. Seymour 3, Luxemburg-Casco 2 SEYMOUR Perry Heyn notched two goals for the Thunder in the season opener for both teams. Kay Bierdz had Seymour's other goal, while keeper Aisling Eisner had six saves. Ashley DeKeyser and Deanna Malfroid scored for the Spartans.

Bay Port 2, Manitowoc 1 SUAMICO Lana Bannow scored the only goal of the sec- Press-Gazette KEWAUNEE Casey Mumper threw a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts as Kewaunee shut out Mishicot 3-0 in a non-conference high school baseball game on Tuesday. Mishicot 000 0000 021 Kewaunee 101 100 352 WP: Casey Mumper. LP: Chris Weber. Strikeout leaders: Mumper 1 1 Zac Krause 5. More non-conference West De Pere 14, Freedom 2 FREEDOM Andy Van Remortel and Dustin Willems each went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Adam Tollefson and Michael Brunette each drove in two runs in West De Pere's five-inning rout.

West De Pere 026 24- 14124 Freedom 10100 2 3 6 WP- Andy Van Remortel. LP: Sean Carlson. Leading hitters: WDP VanRemortel. 3x4; Dustin Willems, 3x4; Nick VanLanen, 2x3. Chris Rockey, 2x2.

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