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The Appleton North softball team is, on the surface, an inexperienced team with just one senior and five juniors.
But that won’t fool any of the other coaches whose teams may have to face the Lightning at this week’s WIAA state softball tournament in Madison.
The Lightning, which put together a 12-4 Fox Valley Association record good for second place and is 19-7 overall, is a talented and hard-working group.
“These girls work incredibly hard,” second-year Appleton North coach Chris Nissen said. “They’ve been in the weight room three days a week since September.”
The Lightning is back at the state tournament for the first time since 2018 and for the seventh time overall. North was given the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 seed Stevens Point (25-4) at approximately 1:30 p.m. June 10 in a Division 1 quarterfinal.
After falling behind 2-0 to Kimberly in the sectional final when the first two Papermakers batters hit first-inning home runs, it may have been easy for the North players to get down on themselves.
Nissen said that is something they do not allow on this team.
“We don’t have that,” Nissen said. “We don’t allow it. We don’t have that in this program.”
Alyssa Wald, the lone senior on the Lightning roster, said it’s all about the team working together.
“We’ve got the whole team on the same page,” Wald said. “You know, it’s difficult once in a while, but I think our connection really helps that. We just know that we’re all here for the same reason, to win and to have fun.”
While the Lightning have the aforementioned young roster, sophomore Charlotte Radtke doesn’t feel like she and her teammates lack experience.
“I think the young folks here have experience that is good for us,” said Radtke, who closed out the 9-8 sectional final win over Kimberly in the circle in relief of starter Evelyn Frega. “As a freshman, I felt like an upperclassman.
“I was so used to high-stress situations through my travel ball teams that, you know, I was ready for anything. I felt more prepared than maybe upperclassmen who didn’t have that opportunity.”
Next up for Appleton North is the Panthers, who won the Wisconsin Valley Conference with a 9-1 record and have won 10 consecutive games. They beat Hortonville 10-5 in a sectional semifinal and then edged Green Bay Preble 7-6 in the sectional final.
The Panthers average just over nine runs per game, while having a team ERA of 2.59. Appleton North averages just over 6.5 runs per game, while allowing just under 2.7 runs per game.
It’s no doubt a tough task for North, but Nissen said the players are prepared for it after playing in the FVA and then navigating a challenging sectional bracket.
“I do think this is the toughest D1 sectional with all the teams in the Fox Valley Association in it,” Nissen said.
As for preparing for the game, there will be the standard practice routine but there also will be mental preparation to make sure the Lightning players are nervous in a good way.
“We do a lot of mental imagery,” Nissen said. “We, you know, believe in ourselves, self-talk. We don’t worry about the outcome. We worry about the process instead of the results.”
Junior Claire Therkildsen said the team has good mojo right now.
“We’ve just got to keep it going,” she said. “I think we’ll do very well. I don’t have a doubt in my mind with this team. I think we are good to go and we’ll come out as competitors and we’ll play the way we need to.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton North heads to WIAA high school state softball tournament
Continue reading...
But that won’t fool any of the other coaches whose teams may have to face the Lightning at this week’s WIAA state softball tournament in Madison.
The Lightning, which put together a 12-4 Fox Valley Association record good for second place and is 19-7 overall, is a talented and hard-working group.
“These girls work incredibly hard,” second-year Appleton North coach Chris Nissen said. “They’ve been in the weight room three days a week since September.”
The Lightning is back at the state tournament for the first time since 2018 and for the seventh time overall. North was given the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 seed Stevens Point (25-4) at approximately 1:30 p.m. June 10 in a Division 1 quarterfinal.
After falling behind 2-0 to Kimberly in the sectional final when the first two Papermakers batters hit first-inning home runs, it may have been easy for the North players to get down on themselves.
Nissen said that is something they do not allow on this team.
“We don’t have that,” Nissen said. “We don’t allow it. We don’t have that in this program.”
Alyssa Wald, the lone senior on the Lightning roster, said it’s all about the team working together.
“We’ve got the whole team on the same page,” Wald said. “You know, it’s difficult once in a while, but I think our connection really helps that. We just know that we’re all here for the same reason, to win and to have fun.”
While the Lightning have the aforementioned young roster, sophomore Charlotte Radtke doesn’t feel like she and her teammates lack experience.
“I think the young folks here have experience that is good for us,” said Radtke, who closed out the 9-8 sectional final win over Kimberly in the circle in relief of starter Evelyn Frega. “As a freshman, I felt like an upperclassman.
“I was so used to high-stress situations through my travel ball teams that, you know, I was ready for anything. I felt more prepared than maybe upperclassmen who didn’t have that opportunity.”
Next up for Appleton North is the Panthers, who won the Wisconsin Valley Conference with a 9-1 record and have won 10 consecutive games. They beat Hortonville 10-5 in a sectional semifinal and then edged Green Bay Preble 7-6 in the sectional final.
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The Panthers average just over nine runs per game, while having a team ERA of 2.59. Appleton North averages just over 6.5 runs per game, while allowing just under 2.7 runs per game.
It’s no doubt a tough task for North, but Nissen said the players are prepared for it after playing in the FVA and then navigating a challenging sectional bracket.
“I do think this is the toughest D1 sectional with all the teams in the Fox Valley Association in it,” Nissen said.
As for preparing for the game, there will be the standard practice routine but there also will be mental preparation to make sure the Lightning players are nervous in a good way.
“We do a lot of mental imagery,” Nissen said. “We, you know, believe in ourselves, self-talk. We don’t worry about the outcome. We worry about the process instead of the results.”
Junior Claire Therkildsen said the team has good mojo right now.
“We’ve just got to keep it going,” she said. “I think we’ll do very well. I don’t have a doubt in my mind with this team. I think we are good to go and we’ll come out as competitors and we’ll play the way we need to.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton North heads to WIAA high school state softball tournament
Continue reading...
