Burlington improves record fourth year in a row
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
You would think that on the highest level of the WIAA season, the playoffs, each game would be blessed with top-notch umpires.
But at the end of the day, umps are humans, and humans make mistakes, too.
It just makes a 4-2 WIAA Division 1 regional final defeat sting a little more when a few of those mistakes may have changed your fate.
So is the case of the Burlington softball squad, which couldn’t muster enough offense May 29 in Janesville.
Questionable calls didn’t help the fact that the Demons only had six hits in seven innings, and the team didn’t really start hitting until it was down 4-0 in the sixth inning.
Perhaps the turning point of the game came in the bottom of the fourth, when a clean, 0-0 pitcher’s duel was dirtied by two missed calls.
The first was a simple routine ground ball. First baseman Lauren Hockman charged for Burlington and turned to throw to second baseman Kira Allen, who was covering nicely.
The slightly high throw forced Allen to stretch vertically, which made it seem like her foot came off the base. Instead, she kept her shoe on the rubber and recorded the out.
However, the umpire, in perfect position, saw it differently and called her safe.
Later in the inning, the Janesville Craig runner had reached third base, and Burlington pitcher Danielle Koenen’s pitch was fouled off, prompting the home-plate ump to raise his hands to signify a dead ball.
The play was very much alive, as the yellow softball rolled all the way to first base, and the runner at third trotted home to score.
The umpires awarded Craig the run and a 2-0 lead.
A livid Gary Caliva, Burlington’s head coach, wasn’t going down without a verbal spat. He debated with the umps for at least 15 minutes, getting quite animated in the process.
Caliva’s insistence that a dead ball call means the runner can’t score changed the umpires’ minds, and the runner was forced to return to third base.
The very next batter, up now with the bases loaded, lined out to Reba Thomsen in right field, but a run scored.
Had the correct call of out been applied to kick off the inning in the bang-bang play at first, this would have been the third out.
Instead, the run scored, and another girl scored on a passed ball to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth, Craig tacked on two more to gain an insurmountable 4-0 cushion.
Thanks to a hit from Tay Lewis, a Jaina Westphal steal and an Allen RBI hit, the Demons cut the lead in half at 4-2 in the sixth.
But the 4-2 final left the Burlington faithful wondering what if that bizarre fourth inning had gone differently?
“Umpires are a part of the game, and it is something you need to overcome,” Caliva said. “I thought it was a game we should have won. I thought out team was mentally strong, as you could feel the confidence in the whole dugout the entire game.”
Allen went 2-for-3, and Hayley Syens and Nicki Lipecki each added a double.
Craig’s pitcher, Brandt, was the first lefty the Demons faced all season. Her slow velocity and unorthodox style kept the Demons from busting out offensively.
Koenen battled for a decent outing on the rubber, striking out six and walking three in six innings.
Instead of a rematch at sectionals with Union Grove, the Demons finished their season 15-11. It was a step up from 13 wins in 2014.
Each of the last four years, Burlington has seen its win total increase.
“Every year, our goal is to contend for the SLC title,” Caliva said. “That never changes, and I think we are closer to that goal than ever before.”
Burlington 4, Oregon 0
In a WIAA regional semifinal May 28 at Burlington High School, Koenen fired a three-hitter, and Josie Klein went a perfect 3-for-3 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
Koenen struck out seven and walked only one.
Burlington managed eight hits and took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Demons added single tallies in the third and fifth innings.
Randee Jackson was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
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