Lake Country This Month
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By Pat Neumuth Freeman Staff WAUKESHA – Baseball purists in Wisconsin have had split opinions on when high school baseball should be played. In 1965, the WIAA offered summer baseball after the sport began in the spring of 1948. Baseball players are often called boys of the summer, and high school baseball players play- ing in the summer is one major factor on what may be killing summer baseball. "We are losing five kids to playing travel ball or AAU teams or whatever you want to call it, instead of playing for the high school team," Catholic Memorial coach Tim Gotzler said. "We only have 650 kids in our high school. We really can't afford to not have our best kids on the field." Summer baseball's num- bers have dwindled for years, but the domino effect keeps coming with Catholic Memorial and Arrowhead's decision to join the spring season beginning in the 2014-15 school year. CMH and Arrowhead will join the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference for baseball only. The league consists of regular members Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Lutheran, Hartford, Slinger, Beaver Dam and Watertown as well as Milwaukee Lutheran, a North Shore Conference team that plays spring ball unlike the rest of the league. Waupun, a for- mer regular member of the WLT, also plays in the league during the spring baseball season. Little Ten members West Bend East and West Bend West play summer baseball in the North Shore. Slinger is also leaving, and St. Francis is expected to switch when the schools moves to the Midwest Clas- sic Conference – a spring baseball conference. While there are mostly summer baseball programs in Waukesha County, there were only 55 summer base- ball teams in the state dur- ing the 2013 season. What has certainly helped with the summer baseball staying afloat is moving the state tournament to Concor- dia University's Kapco Park, but numbers will always be the biggest driving force. "I believe that it is an inevitability that all sum- mer programs will be moved to spring," CMH Athletic Director Greg Gamalski said. "I don't see the WIAA supporting two state tourna- ments for baseball much longer. I think kids would like the opportunity to play in both the spring and the summer." One perk of summer base- ball is having a 30-game sea- son. Spring baseball teams can only play 26. On the sur- face, that's a plus for sum- mer. However, it is looked at as a negative by Arrowhead Athletic Director Kevin Flegner. "For a program like ours that supports two freshman teams, two JV and a varsity, it is more expensive to play during the summer," he said. "Then there's supervi- sion. A 5:30 p.m. game on a summer day, it's hard to have supervision. It really ties up my staff and people that work for us. It is a spon- sored sport that you have to have some type of supervi- sion." Gotzler also made the argument that a baseball player can play more games if he chooses to play high school in the spring and a traveling team in the sum- mer. The WIAA offers one sum- mer baseball championship, and the majority of the schools that play in the sum- mer boast larger enroll- ments. That's not a problem for Arrowhead, but it can be for others. "We would probably be in Division 2 with our enroll- ment," Gotzler said. "We'd be on that Division 3 border, but would be a Division 2 team. We'd play schools our own size." Gamalski said his school will support the baseball program more if it's during the school year. Gamalski said the baseball program was "kind of the odd pro- gram out" when it came to attendance. One of the cons for CMH leaving summer baseball was leaving the Classic 8. However, one stipulation for the move to the Little Ten was both Arrowhead and CMH needed to join togeth- er. Geography was a big fac- tor on why the WLT was tar- geted. "When Kevin and I talked, it would just make life easier to stay together besides going independent or our separate ways," Gamalski said. "I don't want to speak for Arrowhead, but I guess I will: We were looking for a conference close in proximi- ty that would accept us." As the dominoes fall in summer, Gamalski said if he had to guess how much longer summer baseball will survive, he said 2016. He wanted to make it clear that no one has told him that was the exact year. Gamalski just said it's trending in that direction. "This isn't something that has popped up in the last week or the last year," Fleg- ner said. "We've been talk- ing about this for the last four years." Email: pneumuth@conleynet.com Schools will make move beginning in 2015 season Arrowhead, CMH moving to spring baseball FREEMAN & ENTERPRISE LAKE COUNTRY • Page 7A JUNE 2014 Convenient Home Delivery In The first 13 Weeks for just $30 Stay close to Lake Country's most pressing issues in The Freeman Lake Country is your home... READ ALL ABOUT IT! Subscription includes FREE access to Freeman's online edition. 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Box 7 Waukesha, WI 53187 For faster service, call 262/542-2500 or visit www.gmtoday.com/wfpromo SC:housead RC:3M30 MADISON – Dylan Patscot finished his high school golf career with a medal around his neck. The Kettle Moraine High School senior finished sixth at the WIAA Division 1 state tournament at Uni- versity Ridge Golf Course. He was tied for second after the first round, but he shot six-over par and fin- ished sixth. "For coming up here for the first time of my career is good," Patscot said. "I gave myself a good oppor- tunity to go out and play better. Unfortunately, things just didn't go my way." Patscot, a two-time Clas- sic 8 Conference Player of the Year, qualified for his first state tournament shot a 79 in a sectional at Edge- wood Golf Course. Patscot said he could have shot better but he admitted, "If I had not made it to state, I would have left high school feel- ing as if I really missed something, so overall I'll take the positives from my round, work on some things and celebrate the fact that I made it." Patscot led the Lasers to a second-place finish in a Division 1 regional at Naga-Waukee Golf Course. All five players placed within the top 25 at the regional for KM, which totaled 322 to finish nine strokes behind first-place Waterford. Patscot, who fired a 4- over-par 76 to place second overall, demonstrated his mental toughness and con- sistency throughout the 18- hole competition, carding a 37 on front nine and a 39 on the back portion of the challenging course. "Individually, I really didn't feel a lot of pressure, so it was just a matter of staying focused and doing my best to play a steady, consistent round," said Patscot, the two-time reign- ing Classic 8 Conference Player of the Year. "With the biggest meets of the season on the horizon, I've just taken each challenge like it's an ordinary day at the office and it's paid off with good results. Having a great group of teammates to back me up, I was able to go out and play another decent round." Patscot was quick to point out that it was great to advance to the sectional level, but he emphasized that everyone would have to play up to their potential to attain the goal of a state- tournament berth. "Teamwise it wasn't our best day, so finishing only nine shots back was still encouraging and should act as a good motivator heading into the next round," Patscot said. "We're happy with a solid second-place finish but realize there's a lot of work to do if we want to accom- plish the goal of making it to state as a team. We'll just try to make the most of the experience and move forward to the next chal- lenge." KM junior J.T. Naumann tied for third with a 78, junior Nick Bateson tied for 16th with an 83, fresh- man Matthew Schilling tied for 18th at 85 and sophomore David Phillips was 23rd with an 87 for the Lasers, whose last state tour nament appearance came in 2012. KM coach Rob Elliott was encouraged by his team's determined effort through- out the day. "I was very proud of how the kids responded to the challenge and did a nice job," Elliott said. "For the most part, we were able to work through the pressure, stayed within the moment and played one shot a time. Throughout the day, every- one in the lineup had their moments, delivered big shots and worked hard to respond with a consistent finish. That patient approach played a big role in our success today." Patscot had a comfort- able lead in the season medalist standings enter- ing the Classic 8 Confer- ence Tournament at Naga- Waukee. He finished with a 78 to claim Player of the Year honors for a second straight season – an accom- plishment claimed by few players. His season average of 37.5 edged Waukesha North junior Gavin Stutz (37.63), who finished with a 76 in the league finale. "It was definitely a goal of mine to come in here and win it," Patscot said. "It was a priority and a big milestone." The 78 tied for the sev- enth-best round of the day. "Two in a row is a great accomplishment," Elliott said. "He's fun to coach and easy to coach because he's such a great young man." – Freeman Staff Patscot enjoys impressive postseason run KM senior sixth at state, wins Classic 8 Player of Year PREP BOYS GOLF Charles Auer/Freeman Staff Kettle Moraine senior Dylan Patscot putts during a WIAA Division 1 regional at Edgewood Golf Course. FAMILY TAE KWON DO CHAMPIONS is offering a free birthday party to the FIRST 25 CALLERS Great fun learning confidence, disipline, respect while doing fun drills, everyone breaks a board! 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