Wilmot loses title game, proves point
MADISON – Wilmot didn’t win the game, but it proved its point.
After playing in the shadow of the power programs like Westosha Central and Union Grove in recent years, the Panthers softball team entered the season believing they could meet the high expectations set for them. And after a 3-3 start, they did.
Wilmot closed the regular season with 11 straight victories and then rolled through its foes in the tournament with a combination of impressive power and strong pitching. The Panthers used that blend to reach the state final for the first time since 2011, but on Saturday the team met its match.
Kaukauna, led by senior pitcher Haley Hestekin, scored a 3-1 victory over Wilmot in the Division 1 final of the WIAA state tournament at Goodman Diamond.
Hestekin, a University of Wisconsin recruit, struck out 11 hitters and held the Panthers’ potent lineup to its lowest run total since a 14-1 loss to Wilmot in the third game of the year.
The championship was Kaukauna’s first since 2010 and second overall.
The Galloping Ghosts finished 29-2. Wilmot finished 22-5.
“We just couldn’t get going” Wilmot coach Jenny Jacobson said. “We’re one of those teams that when one of us gets hot, we all start to get hot. We just weren’t consistent. …
"Their pitcher pitches heat. We just couldn’t catch up.”
Wilmot senior pitcher Sarah Hutchinson had a quality outing in the loss, allowing just six hits and striking out two, but Hestekin, who entered the state tournament with a 0.41 earned run average, didn’t leave much room for error. She allowed six hits. Seniors Montana Platts and Kayssa Koehn had two each.
“I think it was mostly her rise balls that got the team and how fast she was,” said Koehn, a shortstop who will play at North Dakota State. “I think we caught on after a while, but it was mostly her rise balls.”
Both teams started fast.
Wilmot got on the board with a two-out double by Koehn in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Kaukauna got a oneout triple by junior Sidney Miller, who scored on an error by the second baseman. Two innings later, Kaukauna struck again. Junior Taylor Kuske’s two-out double to left center brought home senior Megan Huss.
Hestekin, meanwhile, settled in. She sent Wilmot down in order in the second and faced just four batters in the third. At one point she struck out six straight batters and through three innings she had mowed down eight batters.
Her ability to make the Panthers miss was key in the fourth.
Koehn opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch and took third when senior Riley Regnier bounced back to the pitcher. The threat ended quietly, though, as junior Anna Devall struck out on three pitches to end the inning.
The next inning Wilmot junior Madi Zerr reached on a single but was easily caught stealing when the batter missed the signal to bunt.
Kaukauna did a better job of cashing in on its chances.
In the bottom of the fifth, Hutchinson retired the first two hitters, but Huss, the team’s leadoff hitter, singled to right and a double by Miller put runners on second and third with two outs. The run crossed the plate without benefit of a hit when Hutchinson uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Huss to score and give her team a 3-1 lead.
Wilmot was down to its final six outs and it didn’t help its cause with another base running mistake. This time Platts was picked off first by junior catcher Micheala Meehl after leading off the inning with a single.
The Panthers didn’t put another runner on base and the team was left to savor a season in which they reached the state tournament for the first time in six years and reach the sixth state final in school history.
“We just had a great season,” Koehn said. “We’ve come together as a team. The ending wasn’t so great, but I think by the end we’d become a family.”