It’s a great time to be a sports fan.
There are the NHL and NBA playoffs, and the WIAA high school postseason is in full swing.
Softball playoffs start this week, and baseball playoffs begin next week.
It’s going to be a crazy time of driving across the area to see marquee matchups to determine who will be left standing at the very top come June.
With the brackets coming out for the baseball and softball teams, I want to take a look at the Burlington area teams and their chances at advancing in the postseason.
Nobody has a more favorable path than the Burlington varsity baseball squad.
When the seeds came out early last week, the Demons were flying high on a long winning streak at 15-1 and unanimously earned a No. 1 seed.
So Burlington gets a bye in the first round before facing the Union Grove-Racine Horlick winner on Thursday, June 1. All it takes is that one win, and the Demons will advance to their second straight sectional, which is Tuesday, June 6 at the friendly confines of Beaumont Field in Burlington.
The No. 1 seed hasn’t fared that well in this sectional, and it’s the first time since 2010 that Burlington has earned the top spot.
The Demons surged to state as a No. 3 last season.
Burlington came down to earth after its hot start with a rough loss at state-ranked Janesville Craig and an 8-3 defeat to Wilmot, the No. 4 seed who would face Burlington in the sectional semifinal.
Personally, I think Wilmot is the most dangerous team. The Panthers have won 10 straight, and they boast Oklahoma State recruit pitcher Troy Hickey and solid right-hander Kyle Gendron.
As Burlington showed last year with ace pitcher Jacob Lindemann and All-Area Player of the Year Aaron Mutter, pitching is everything in the postseason.
Though the Demons fell to Waterford last week Tuesday, 16-7, they bounced back Thursday to beat the Wolverines, 6-5, and win their second straight conference championship.
Waterford is the No. 3 seed and Kenosha Tremper, ranked sixth in the state in Division 1, is No. 2. Burlington is right behind the Trojans at No. 7 in the state at 16-4.
While ace pitcher Zach Campbell, a left-hander, has the ability to shut teams down for Burlington, that second pitching spot in up in the air.
But sophomore left-hander Trey Krause showed against Waterford he’s ready to step up into that spot. He interchanged a fastball, changeup and curveball to keep the powerful Wolverines at bay.
Also, sophomore Trent Turzenski will be relied upon to eat up postseason innings, along with Drew Pesick, Derek Koenen and Riley Nelson.
Campbell is 3-1 with a 1.39 ERA. Pesick is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA, and Turzenski is 3-1 with a 3.72 ERA.
Burlington split with both Wilmot and Waterford this season, but hasn’t faced Tremper.
If the Demons can get past the Horlick-
Grove winner and knock off Wilmot in the sectional semifinal, home-field advantage will help in the sectional final, where anything can happen.
The bats will need to be consistent, and they will be led by Aaron Sturdevant (.430 batting average), Zach Campbell (.356), Dale Damon (.393) and Lindemann (.418).
Grant Tully, Krause, Koenen and Riley Palmquist will need to contribute at the bottom of the order as well.
While last year’s squad boasted dangerous bats one through nine, this year’s squad is still young and gaining experience.
The Demons have enough pitching talent, and if the bats stay consistent, Burlington has a strong chance at returning to state, especially with home-field advantage at sectionals.
“There’s not much difference between the 1 and 9 seeds,” said head coach Scott Staude. “All I know is we play the winner of Horlick and Grove, and both those teams played us really well. We better be ready. It would be nice to be here for sectionals. When you host a sectional, you want to be playing.”
Toppers must play complete game
A team that’s played larger opponents all season, the Catholic Central baseball squad finished the season 9-8 and opens the postseason as a No. 2 seed Tuesday.
The Toppers finally get to play teams their own size, as the WIAA Division 4 playoffs open at home against No. 3 Williams Bay.
If Catholic Central wins, it will potentially travel to unranked No. 1 Johnson Creek. However, the Toppers must knock off Division 4’s No. 1 Pecatonica and No. 6 Almond-Bancroft if they want to get to state.
The Toppers have been riding the hot bats of Frank Koehnke, Charles Robinson and Tyler Rieck, but pitching and defense have been inconsistent.
Catholic Central committed a mind-boggling 13 errors in a loss last week.
Considering the Toppers’ strength of schedule, Division 4 competition will certainly not overwhelm them. But it will simply be a matter of putting together a well-rounded playoffs of hitting, defense and pitching, all at the same time.
“We’ve proven we can play with anyone,” head coach Jim Friend said. “We haven’t played a perfect game yet.”
Softball girls face tough brackets
Both the Catholic Central and Burlington softball teams must open the postseason on the road this week.
In Division 1, the ninth-seeded Lady Demons must travel to No. 8 Oregon Wednesday, and the winner must travel to top-ranked powerhouse Westosha Central.
Burlington finished the regular season 9-13.
“It’s not where I thought we would be, I thought we had the potential to contend for conference, however, it never seemed like we could get all the pieces together to make a run,” said head coach Gary Caliva.
Caliva is happy with the seed, it’s where he figured the team would be, and he knows the Oregon tilt is anyone’s game.
With a rainout Saturday against Fort Atkinson, Caliva gave the girls a night off this week to help recharge the batteries. It’s been hectic stretch of games the last three weeks.
“I think that we are ready and do not need to change anything we’re doing,” he said. “We don’t know a lot about Oregon, but they have a similar record to ours.”
“To make a run, we just have to play solid Demon softball. I don’t think there’s a team we can’t play with in this postseason.”
Catholic Central, the No. 5 seed in a Division 5 Sectional, must travel to No. 4 Argyle Wednesday.
At 12-6, the Lady Toppers earned an honorable mention spot in this week’s state rankings, after both Sydney Robson and Christina Paleka fired one-hit victories last week.
Catholic Central may have to run into 7th-ranked Johnson Creek (18-5) and No. 2 Belmont (24-2) on the road to state.
Haile Weis is the lone senior starter for the Lady Toppers, and head coach Bill Greskiw said Robson along with freshmen Paleka, Izzy Phillips and Anne Fabiani provide a consistent first four hitters.
Weis and Emily Swanson, a lefty who specializes in bunt singles, have been in a slump, but Greskiw said he’s confident they will step up in the playoffs.
He said the Toppers could’ve easily been the No. 4 seed and hosted a playoff game, considering Argyle is only 9-10.
But the teams west of this area don’t really want anything to do with Catholic Central.
“I walked into the seeding meeting, and I might as well have been on the moon,” Greskiw said. “It seems like those teams don’t want to play us. They don’t have a lot of respect for our conference.”
Greskiw said he tried to schedule games with Williams Bay and Johnson Creek this season, but they got postponed.
He said Robson’s breaking ball has been strong, and if she’s on, the team can go far. Consistency in the lineup will be key.
“If we play well, we can compete with anyone,” Greskiw said.
Editor’s Note: This column appears in this week’s Burlington Standard Press. Since it was published, the Catholic Central girls softball team lost their playoff opener, 2-1, on Wednesday.
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