COLEMAN, Wis. (NBC 26) – A high school known for its wrestling prowess has become a softball sensation.
With a 4-2 victory over Random Lake in the WIAA sectional final round last week, Coleman softball secured its ticket to the WIAA state tournament for the first time in program history.
- This will be Coleman’s first appearance at the WIAA state softball tournament.
- According to the team’s head coach, this is only the third time the Coleman girls team has qualified for state competition in any sport.
- The Cougars previously competed in the girls’ volleyball state tournament in 1984 and 1996.
- Coleman won state championships in several boys sports – most notably wrestling, where the Cougars won 11 team state titles.
- The Cougars softball team will begin tournament play on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the WIAA Division 4 state semifinals when they face top-seeded Fall Creek.
“It’s crazy because our guys always manage to do it. And I said, ‘I want the girls team to do that,'” junior outfielder Annabelle Markiewicz said. “We work very hard too. You never saw it… but now I think, ‘Wow, we worked so hard and now we’ve made it.’
Head coach Jean LeVash is one of the few who has been there before; she coached the Cougars at the 1996 state volleyball tournament.
“It was exciting,” LeVash said. “It was a great ride.”
“I was able to coach both of them, so that was really special,” she added. “It’s nice to see that we’ve been able to grow the sport of softball here.”
“I think softball has always held a special place in her heart,” Markiewicz said of her head coach. “After so many years of coming this far and failing… now it’s finally happening.”
LeVash is the leader, but she said pitcher Courtney DenRuyter is the driving force.
“She took it upon herself to just carry the team whenever she could,” LeVash said of her ace.
DenRuyter, the program’s all-time leader in strikeouts, has an ERA of 1.70 in 23 appearances this season. according to WisSports.net. So far this season, she is 20-2, making her responsible for every win for the Cougars.
“I’m very confident,” DenRuyter said. “I don’t want (the season) to end in defeat. So we might as well just go to state and win. And then everyone just followed me and thought, ‘Well, let’s go to state.’ “
DenRuyter helped inspire confidence in the team, but the work wasn’t done yet.
Coleman is two wins away from becoming the first high school girls team to win a WIAA state championship.
“We’re going there and it’s really cool because only four teams can go,” DenRuyter said. “Winning is really not everything. But we’ll go there and play our best.”
“I just hope that we can — and I know we can — get through these games and just play as a team and that we can just do it,” Markiewicz said.
The Cougars are fourth in WIAA Division 4. They will play top-seeded Fall Creek on Thursday in the state semifinals; the first whistle is scheduled for 4:30 p.m
The tournament is played at the Goodman Softball Complex on the UW-Madison campus.
Kaukauna, Waupun, Mishicot, Laconia and Oakfield also qualified for state softball.
