Fired-up Rockets don't go down easy

The South Milwaukee girls softball team was the only squad in the WIAA State Tournament field without a slick or gaudy resume.

But despite the fact that these Rockets (17-8) were the lowest sectional seed in the eight-school field, they did leave an impression, despite a heartbreaking 7-5 quarterfinal loss to Watertown last Thursday morning at Goodman Diamond in Madison.

And getting that attention was important, said coach Heather Hanson, as the storied program, with two state titles (1988 and 1998) to its credit, was making its first trip to the tournament in 12 years.

The team had opened some eyes with a 12-inning WIAA sectional semifinal win, 8-6, over area rival Greenfield the previous week and then made another impression in an 11-1 rout of Oak Creek in the sectional final. But respect was not going to come easy in the state event.

"The whole season we've been flying under the radar," Hanson said. "We're in a new conference (the Woodland) and, in the postseason, we were an underdog in almost all those games."

"We also got rumblings (from the Internet) that the Watertown coaching staff was thinking that this would be an easy game. We're glad we made it hard on them."

And that the Rockets did against the Little 10 Conference champion Goslings (24-4).

South Milwaukee largely made the made plays it needed to, before missing a few in the end, in this messy, but wildly entertaining tilt.

Taking an early lead

The Goslings outhit the Rockets 12-5 in the game, but it was South Milwaukee that struck first.

The Rockets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on freshman shortstop Riley Budde's booming RBI double that scored junior second baseman Kelsey Matuszak, who had walked.

But the Goslings hit senior Rocket pitcher Aly Pinkos for three runs on four hits in the top of the second. Two infield errors on the same play helped one run score and extend the rally.

However, the Rockets did not fold, staging a remarkable two-out, three-run rally in the bottom of the second after junior outfielder Nikki Jordan was hit by a pitch (the first of three such times it would happen in the game) and sophomore outfielder Amanda Desotell singled, which was followed by an RBI single by Matuszak.

Watertown catcher Andrea Olson then helped the Rockets by air-mailing a throw to second on a steal by Matuszak. That allowed Desotell to come home, tying the score at 3-3. Budde then came up with her second RBI in as many innings with a single up the middle to give the Rockets a 4-3 lead.

That rally chased Gosling starter Lauren Harris. Genelle McFarland, Watertown's best player, started the third inning, and would wind up getting the win. But Pinkos twice managed to frustrate McFarland, a .594 hitter, who stranded five runners on base in a pair of inning-ending at-bats (strikeout and force out) in the first and the second.

"Aly just has no quit in her," said Hanson. "They weren't hitting her that hard and were struggling against her. They were just getting a lot of little things. "

McFarland gave up another run in the third, increasing the Rockets' lead to 5-3, as sophomore infielder Katie Pratt walked, and eventually came around on a scoring error by the shortstop.

Falling to tough foe

But that would be it for South Milwaukee.

McFarland extracted a bit of revenge for her plate problems as she put down 12 of the next 15 Rocket batters. The Rockets had runners at second and third with one out in the sixth, but a pop-up on the infield and a fly-out ended the threat.

Meanwhile, the Goslings scratched out a run in the fifth on two hits and a groundout to make it 5-4. Amanda Desotell prevented the rally from being much worse, when she made an amazing diving catch of a sinking liner in right.

But those plays caught up with the Rockets in the seventh, as the Goslings staged their own two-out rally. After Amanda Desotell made another nice one-handed catch, there were two out and two runners on.

Pinkos then got infielder Chelsea Gutzdorf to two strikes but when Gutzdorf hit a hard grounder that peeled towards the middle, the Rocket second baseman couldn't handle it allowing the tying run to score.

"That was a great at-bat," said Watertown coach Patty Jansen. "She just put the ball in play hard, they didn't make the play and we got the run. We really needed a break at that point and we got it."

That was followed by Olson hitting a screaming, tailing line-drive to center that ticked off the Rocket outfielder's glove, scoring two more and giving the Goslings the lead at 7-5.

The Rockets got a one-out single from senior catcher Robyn Primrose in their half of the seventh, but McFarland induced successive comebackers to her to end the game.

"We're a veteran team, our kids don't get nervous," said Jansen of her team's comeback.

Hanson gave tearful hugs in the final team meeting under a tree behind Goodman, respect finally having been earned in defeat.

"These kids just know how to battle," he said. "They were hanging on, the proverbial inch-by-inch. I'm just so proud of them. They were a four seed from what was perceived as a weak sectional, but we gave them (the Goslings) a hard time."