GREEN BAY — It was a great run, and the Juda-Albany Panthers brought home some softball hardware from the WIAA Division 4 state tournament. The Panthers lost to Mishicot 6-3 in the Division 4 state championship game, held at King Park on UW-Green Bay’s campus June 29.

“We played a very good game,” Juda-Albany head coach Bill Davis said. “They played hard, they gave me tons of effort, and unfortunately we just ended up on the short side of it. But what a run — what a finish to the season. I’m very proud of silver.”

Boasting zero seniors, Juda-Albany made it’s run to the title game on the backs of underclassmen, including a freshman pitcher.

Avary Briggs tried to brush away the jitters all day long. After needing to adjust to a wet ball in a drizzle in the semifinal win over Blair-Taylor hours earlier, Briggs returned to the diamond with the weather warm and muggy.

“It was a little nerve-wracking. It didn’t even hit me that we were at state until after the first game,” Briggs said. “I just had to keep my calm and let myself work.”

She finished the championship allowing 10 hits and two walks, with five runs earned. She struck out one Mishicot batter.

“She’s doing a great job, but our pitching will get better,” Bill Davis said of Briggs in years to come.

She wasn’t the only young player on the field for Juda-Albany. Her battery mate, catcher Myah Johnson, is also a freshman, as is third baseman Alana Durtschi. Sophomore starters include Ciarrah Davis (LF) and Gracie Freitag (1B) with Jackie Nusbaum swinging a bat off the bench. Junior starters include Brianna Dahl (SS), Anna Skoumal (CF), Libby Jordan (RF), Emileigh Dallman (2B), and designated player Katie Nusbaum.

“It was awesome. The nerves were a little jittery at first, but it was still great. I hope we can get here next year,” Freitag said of the experience of playing in the state tournament.

Skoumal, the club’s leadoff hitter, walked to open the game and later scored on a 2-out RBI single by Durtschi. Johnson then doubled, putting the Panthers ahead 2-0.

In the bottom of the first, Mishicot put two runners on base, but leadoff hitter Abby Garceau was thrown out trying to swipe third. The Indians did tie it at 2-2 in the bottom of the second and made it 3-2 in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Katelyn Callahan, scoring Garceau.

The Panthers scored an equalizer in the next frame, as Freitag singled in Johnson, who had walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt moments earlier.

“I think my first at-bat I was just really nervous. By my second at-bat I was more into my swing and I was ready to hit the ball,” Freitag said.

The score stayed the same until the bottom of the sixth. With storm clouds looming in the distance, Cora Stodola tripled to deep right field to lead off the bottom half of the inning, and scored moments later on a ground out to second. After Cora Nelson walked, Ally McArdle smacked a double to right center, scoring another run. Garceau, the next batter, doubled on a bloop into shallow left near the foul line, bringing home the game’s final run. The next batter hit the ball in almost the same spot, but Ciarrah Davis was able to track it down — and then made a heads up play by doubling off Garceau at second to end the inning.

“I knew that if another came like that, I was going to get it. Then it came right away, and I was like, ‘perfect’,” she said.

Trailing by 3 in the last inning, Ciarrah Davis had one final opportunity to step to the plate.

“I was just taking deep breaths — one breath at a time. I was just thinking, ‘I have to get this down’,” she said. “(The championship) was crazy. All the new experiences, the all-turf field under your feet, the crowd was just so loud — it was an amazing feeling.”

The game ended with Skoumal stranded on third.

It was the first title in program history for Mishicot, which defeated Phillips 2-1 in its semifinal. This past winter, Mishicot also won the state basketball championship. Juda-Albany was playing in its third state tournament in program history. The Panthers won it all in 2017.

Elsewhere at state, Kaukauna defeated Sun Prairie 1-0 in the Division 1 championship game June 30. In Division 2, Waukesha Catholic Memorial knocked off top-ranked Jefferson 4-3 in the semifinal, then edged Baldwin-Woodville 5-4 in the title game.

In Division 3, Dodgeville blew out Lomira 10-4 in the semifinal, then defeated Prescott 5-3 in the championship. Oakfield beat Hurley 8-4 in the Division 5 championship.

The teams and fans rushed off the field after receiving their trophies, with a strong line of storms barreling in into town. The Panthers would then get an entire bus trip to collect their thoughts and emotions after playing in the two biggest games of their career in the same day. Then, the offseason begins.

“We can’t underestimate ourselves. I don’t think anyone really expected to be here. We all talked about it — we never expected to get this far, but now that we are here, we can get so much farther next year and later,” Freitag said.

“It will be really nice to have everyone back next year — and hopefully we can come back to state,” Briggs said.

The Six Rivers East boasts just five teams, but four of the five are stout competitors. Pecatonica surprised teams this spring, led by talented sophomore pitcher Chloe Schraepfer, and stayed in conference title contention into the final week of the regular season. Argyle’s Grace Ganshert, a junior, was the returning player of the year in the conference, and the Orioles tied Barneveld for the league title, ahead of Juda-Albany, which finished third. Barneveld also made a deep run in the postseason, getting knocked out in the sectional final June 23.

“You finish third place in conference and you put a run together like that for the playoffs and finish second in the playoffs — that’s pretty amazing to me,” Bill Davis said. “It just shows how good our conference is, and thanks to them — the competition makes you better. We’re looking forward to the conference next year and the challenges ahead of us.

State Semifinal

Juda-Albany 7, Blair-Taylor 5

Juda-Albany reached the WIAA Division 4 state championship game by defeating previously unbeaten and top-ranked Blair-Taylor.

“I’m very excited. It’s just amazing,” center fielder Anna Skoumal said after the game.

The 2-run victory was the norm for the Panthers in the tournament. Seeded fourth in their regional, the Panthers knocked off Kenosha St. Joseph 4-1 in its only postseason home game. Juda-Albany then clipped Racine Lutheran 6-4 in the regional final, then edged Johnson Creek 6-5 in the sectional semifinal. In the sectional championship against Iowa-Grant in Boscobel, the Panthers scored a run in the top of the first inning, then zeros went up on the board in all the other frames.

“We know what these games are like,” Juda-Albany coach Bill Davis said about his young roster. “Every game in the playoffs has been like this for us. The key is you just have to answer back when they score some runs, and that’s what we did today.”

Defeating the Wildcats was no easy task. Blair-Taylor has reached the state tournament each year dating back to 2017, and the Wildcats knew how to stay in a tight game.

“We had a few jitters the first couple of innings, but we answered it pretty well. When the bats woke up, we were pretty good,” said Juda-Albany coach Bill Davis.

The Panthers collectively strung together timely hits and big plays from up and down the lineup.

“Once we started getting them rolling we were relaxed a little. We could just hit, and we were hitting the gaps, which was really important,” Skoumal said.

A 4-run fourth inning got the offense started, with Dahl and Freitag bookending doubles around singles by Johnson and Briggs. Jackie Nusbaum pinch hit for her sister, Katie, driving in another run.

“It’s knowing your role,” Davis said of his team’s success up and down the lineup. “Jackie is a good hitter for us — she doesn’t run the bases well, but she’s a good hitter for us and she came in and hit; (she) did what she had to do.”

Understanding and filling a role goes beyond just the batter’s box as well.

“Libby (Jordan) out in right made a great catch. Here’s a girl that’s out there not batting, but she knows her role is to play great defense — and she does that for us,” Davis said.

Blair-Taylor gained back two runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning to make it 4-2. In the top of the fifth, Johnson singled to right with two outs, then Briggs doubled down the left field line to drive in another run. 

In the sixth, Skoumal hit a hard grounder down the left field line as well. A poor pursuit angle by the left fielder allowed the speedy Juda junior to round the bases for an inside-the-park home run to make it 6-2.

“When I first hit it, I didn’t know it went into the outfield, so when I got to first they were just saying to ‘round it, round it’. Then Bill at third base was also saying to round it,” Skoumal said. As she turned past second base, the left fielder reached the warning track with the ball along the fence. The relay to the plate was wide, and Skoumal scored easily.

Blair-Taylor did not go down without a fight, however. The Wildcats scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Durtschi was brought in to relieve Briggs at pitcher to get out of a bases-loaded jam.

In the top of the seventh, Durtschi singled to right, and then with one out Briggs hit a shot into the gap in left center to score another insurance run.

“She’s been clutch for us all year,” Davis said of Briggs. “To tell you the truth, when we’ve been struggling this year, it was a couple of those freshmen not hitting — and to have them back hitting again is kind of leading us to this success that we’re having.”

The Wildcats added another run in the bottom of the seventh, but a big grab by Jordan in foul territory in right put a second out on the board. Alvia Boe then popped out Freitag for the game’s final putout, sending Juda-Albany to the championship and Panthers players and fans into a frenzy.

“Libby’s catch was the best thing — I was so relieved when she caught that. That was a big play,” Skoumal said. “It was a nail-biter the last couple of innings. They kept getting on base, and I was a little nervous. But everyone did their jobs and worked really hard.”

Jordan and Freitag join sisters Sara Jordan and Haley Freitag in playing in a state championship game. Sara and Haley won the state title under Bill Davis in 2017. Sara also played at state in 2015.

Briggs finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with 2 RBIs and a run. She also allowed five runs (three earned) in 6.2 innings on the mound. Johnson had a pair of hits and a pair of runs.