Young Panthers keep winning tradition going

PLYMOUTH – A potent offense and strong pitching were the keys to another successful season for the Plymouth softball program.

The Panthers, who sported a school-record .347 team batting average, finished third in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference with a 10-4 mark and were 15-6 overall. PHS won its Division 2 regional opener over North Fond du Lac and lost to Ripon in the semifinals.

A young Panther squad, which included only two seniors this year, will return four All-EWC first-team players next season – juniors Emma Olig (pitcher), Sydney Holdridge (catcher), Shyanne Heimerl (first baseman) and Kaitlyn Hoffmann (center fielder).

Another all-league selection who will be back is sophomore Sophia Kiel (shortstop) who earned secondteam honors.

“We have 10 returning letter winners, so the outlook is good,” said Panther head coach Gale Grahn about the 2011 season.

“We will need to improve, defensively. Our .903 fielding percentage is too low with 70 errors.

“Our hitting and pitching should be strong again as we look to move up in the [EWC] standings and challenge Waupun for the top spot,” Grahn said.

Waupun captured its third straight league title this year.

Grahn was pleased with the season, especially considering the team was young.

“We met three goals: winning season, top three in EWC and at least one win in the WIAA tourney,” he said.

The Panthers also set single-season school records for total hits with 228 and extra-base hits, 58. This year marked the 15th straight winning season for the Panthers and included a seven-game winning streak in the middle of the campaign.

“It was a good solid season. Fifteen wins is a good season and winning 10 EWC games is an accomplishment,” said Grahn who has an outstanding 260-139 record (.652 winning percentage) in the 20 years as the Panthers’ coach.

“We had solid pitching with excellent offense.”

The coach said the highlight of the season was scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning to edge Kewaskum which took second in the league.

Grahn commented on each his players.

“Kaitlyn set a team record for hits (38). She has excellent range in center field. She moved to shortstop the last eight games after the injury to Sophia,” he said.

“Emma had a solid junior year. She made some mechanical adjustments and finished strong – winning 10 of the last 12. She had an excellent offensive year.

“Sydney hit a solid .321 and threw out over 50 percent of the base stealers. She was excellent on bunt defense.

“Shyanne had an excellent power year with a .457 average and 28 RBIs,” Grahn noted.

“Sophia was hitting .405 with 16-for-16 on stolen bases when a knee injury ended her season. She has great range at shortstop and is becoming a team leader on the infield.

“Stephanie Hunter [sophomore second baseman] switched to left-handed batting and became a very good slapper/bunter with her speed. She hit .343 with 20 runs from the No. 9 spot in the lineup.

“Sara Thompson [freshman third baseman] hit .300 for the year and over .350 in the last 10 games.

“Taylor Tischauser [senior right fielder] had an injury-plagued season. She tried to play through shoulder issues – hitting .250 with three extra-base hits,” the coach said.

“Kayla Schneider [junior right fielder] hit .279 and played a solid right field after Taylor’s injury.

“Sammi Sippel [junior left fielder] had 17 runs scored and had a couple of nice running catches.

“Megan Romps [sophomore center fielder] played the last eight games in center field after Hoffmann moved to shortstop. She had a great learning experience directing the outfield,” Grahn said.

Romps was called up from the junior varsity after Kiela was injured.

AWARDS, FINAL STATS

Hoffmann and Olig were voted the Panthers’ “Co-Most Valuable Players” by their teammates for the season. It’s the third consecutive season that Olig has been named the team’s MVP.

Hoffmann had an outstanding season at the plate. She led PHS in batting with a .469 average; hits, 38; slugging percentage, .790; runs, 33; doubles, 13; and triples, five. She also had 26 RBIs and one home run.

She was also selected to the All-District first team by the Wisconsin Fast-pitch Softball Coaches Association. Hoffmann, who had a 21-game hitting streak [every game] this past season, is the only area player named All-District.

Olig was strong on the mound with a 2.70 ERA, 15-6 record and 108 strikeouts in 141 innings. She was also impressive on offense with a .402 batting average and a team-high 29 RBIs and two homers.

The other award-winners were Hoffmann, “Top Offensive Player;” Hunter, “Most Improved;” Holdridge, “Top Defensive Player;” and Olig, Hoffmann, Holdridge and Tischauser, team captains.

The varsity letter winners are all of the players on the squad. Kiela led PHS in on-base percentage with an impressive .552, steals, 16 and walks, 14.
FINAL PLYMOUTH
SOFTBALL STATISTICS
Batting Leaders
Avg.
Kaitlyn Hoffmann……………………..….. .469
Shyanne Heimerl……………………….... .457
Sophia Kiela…………………………....….. .405
Emma Olig……………………………....….. .402
RBI
Olig………………………………………………….29
Heimerl…………………………………….….….28
Hoffmann…………………………………….….26
Pitching Leader
W L ERA
Olig……………………..……….….15 6 2.68