CMH softball wins state in memorable fashion
WAUKESHA, Wis. (BVM) — June 30 was a day that many Catholic Memorial High School softball fans will not soon forget. It was a day filled with nail–bitingly close games in which it all came down to one pitch or one play. In the end, it was worth the stress and strain on the heart as the Crusaders finished the day as Division 2 state champions.
“It just feels really special,” senior captain Abby Arend said.
“It feels great,” CMH Coach Brian Johnson said. “It’s still a bit surreal because nobody thought we’d be in that position except us.”
The motto all year for the Crusaders was, ‘No one believes in us, so we have to believe in ourselves.’ And they did — all 13 of them.
“It is a lot cooler and I think people didn’t expect it,” senior captain Abby Smith said. “We only have 13 girls in the whole program. We don’t have a JV, we haven’t since I was a freshman.”
Add to that the year-long hiatus due to COVID and that meant any freshmen or sophomores on the team had never played varsity. Even the juniors on the team had only one year of experience under their belts. When CMH took the field at the start of the season, three of its starters had no varsity experience.
It took time for the girls and the coaches to put it all together, but once they did, things began running smoothly.
“Once they started to get comfortable they were amazing,” Smith said.
That moment seemed to come in a game against Oconomowoc in which the Crusaders won 8-5. Up to that point CMH was 2-6 and after that game they would only lose three more games the entire season, all of which were just by one run.
Besides players getting the game experience they needed, the team made personnel changes that set them up for success. Moving Smith’s younger sister, Cassie, from shortstop to catcher and then placing senior Maria Serb at shortstop optimized the Crusaders defense.
The team also began to build a strong relationship with each other.
We all just got along really well together as a team,” Arend said. “We had that team chemistry that really helped us execute during games.”
Johnson and his coaching staff helped with this by giving the girls time to just talk and hangout at the beginning of practice and before games. The girls needed this after more than a year away from the sport just to build the camaraderie they had been missing.
All of this put together allowed the Crusaders to enter the playoffs with some momentum even if they finished fifth in the Classic Eight Conference. Entering as a No. 3 seed the team knew they were good but relished in being the underdog.
“I think being seeded lower almost gave us more of a reason to fight as hard as we did,” Cassie said. “I think it’s what motivated us to beat these extremely good teams and it really helped us come together.”
“Let’s just fly under the radar and stun some people,” Johnson said.
The first to get stunned were Whitnall, the No. 2-seed in their region. It was the Crusaders second game of the playoffs but a close one that they won 3-1. This was the turning point for CMH.
“They were really really good and when we beat them I think our team just clicked,” Abby said. “We had shown promise throughout the year… but I think when we beat Whitnall that was just the moment when we were all thinking we might actually have a shot.”
“That was the game I felt we could do it,” Arend said.
From there they beat Martin Luther and then New Berlin West in the Sectional finals to secure their spot in the state tournament as the No. 4 seed.
“I think everyone just felt that it was a fun run, a fun ride, don’t let it get too big,” Johnson said. “Keep in mind we thought it was huge. We thought ‘Oh my goodness we’re in the state tournament or we’re going to the state tournament or we just beat a ranked team or in the state tournament we have to beat two teams that are a combined 48-0, OK, that’s OK we can do that.’”
They would face the No. 1-seeded Jefferson team in the state semifinals and in their first state tournament game the nerves started to play a factor.
“The Jefferson game at state was definitely harsh… I think it was a lot of nerves,” Abby said.
Even with the nerves, the Crusaders found themselves up one against Jefferson with a chance to win the game. All they needed was for Abby to pitch one last strike with a full count and the bases loaded. In what was at the time the biggest pitch of her career Abby delivered the final strike and CMH moved on to the finals.
In the state championship against Baldwin-Woodville, the game once again was tight with each team taking the lead. In the bottom of the sixth inning, CMH mishandled two bunts and it looked like the Crusaders may fall apart but that was when Johnson went to the mound to calm his team.
“My role is to keep everyone calm and positive,” Johnson said.
Johnson told his team that it was ok if they went down a run heading into the seventh because they were going to get it back, that is how much he believed in their offense. His belief was well supported. In the playoffs the Crusaders as a team were batting .324 with an OPS of .812. Five of the girls had batting averages that were over .300.
“We were all like, ‘let’s get this done,’” Cassie said.
Against a Baldwin pitcher that had had 18 strikeouts in the game before, the Crusaders delivered just like their coach believed they would, scoring both the tying and go ahead runs in the seventh. Now all that was left was getting three outs.
With one out and a runner on first Cassie decided to help her sister out and end the game a little faster than expected. Noticing the runner on first was a little too far away and that she was kind of slipping on the wet ground Cassie picked her off. First baseman Amelia Menheer laid down the tag and all of a sudden CMH just needed one strike to win.
“It felt amazing to be able to get that second out to give Abby a little more relief for the last batter,” Cassie said.
Abby, who through 42 innings had 46 strikeouts and a 1.33 ERA, got the strike she needed and with that the Crusaders won state. The first ever in program history and the first ever from the Classic Eight to do so.
Memorial flew under the radar but after June 30 everyone knows about the 13 girls that brought home a state championship.
