1999
Back row: Assistant coach John Serene, Steph Marcks, Rachel
Marcks, Carley Anderson, Jessica Stein, Jesy Haines, Amanda
Church, assistant coach Mel Westberg.
Middle row: Head coach Jim Haines, Jesi Johnson, Lesley
Fayerweather, Carin Anderson, Anna Ziecheck, Becky Riesgraf,
Amanda Marcks. Front row: Carrie Seifert, Mesa Moline, Leigh
Seifert, Anna Grippo, and Molly Peters.
Perhaps the only thing that is more difficult than winning a
championship is defending a championship. This is was what the 1999
Lady Lakers would be up against. Of coarse there are worse things
right? Being in this position is after all what everybody wants. Trying
to win a championship when every other team in the state wants to
beat you so bad, so that they can go home and tell everybody, hey
we just beat the defending state champs, is not an easy task.   I think
the focus when defending has to be elevated, because the target on
you is huge. Every team that you play you have to think is going to
give a little more effort because of what you accomplished the
previous year.  1999 would test the mental toughness of the team and
with the loss of Brooke Kosok, Jenny Wallin, and Beth Peters the new
seniors would have to be the new leaders. Having a junior pitcher that
had started as a sophomore and won the state championship the
previous year did not hurt. Amanda Church and the 1999 squad would
show championship character all season long, as they would capture
their 4th straight Dunn St. Croix conference championship! When the
regional started it looked like they should be the hands down favorite
to repeat as regional champions. The first game would be against a
talented Thorp team. Nothing levels the competition more than bad
weather, this would be the case at Thorp that afternoon. Cold, windy,
and rainy will never work in favor of the better team. We did not want
a repeat of 1997. When the game ended the Lady Lakers had
squeaked one out 3-1.  After beating Greenwood 10-0 in the next
game they would face Fall Creek for the Regional title. Another 10 -0
win and they were once again off to sectionals. The semifinal game
would be a battle against Tri County, but after the 2-0 hard fought
victory they would find themselves in a sectional final against a
familiar foe. Yep, there was Diane Yager and her Seneca team
drooling over the  opportunity to take out the defending state champs.
You can bet that she had that rule book in her back pocket. Different
season, same results, Pepin would win its 4th sectional championship
and we would be headed back to Waukesha to defend. But not
before the girls took those famous 5 steps hand in hand across the
middle of the diamond. A tradition that started this year,  after every
tournament victory they would take one step as a team hand in hand.
The sectional championship was their 5th tournament win. 5 wins, 5
steps.  The following week in Waukesha the girls would face a tough
Hurley team. These girls came to hit the ball. It was the  1st time
anyone had knocked Amanda Church around like that. Our girls
matched them hit for hit and played like the defending state champs!  
After Jessica Stein pounded a triple in the 6th inning to put us up 10-7
we had outlasted a great Hurley team and would get a chance to
defend our state title. 1 game left, to bad for us it was against  a
team that had been waiting a year for redemption! As I said in the
article about the 1995 team I am a firm believer in fate, its just to bad
that fate will sometimes work against you. Amherst would steal our
quest for back to back titles with a 5-1 win over our girls. Watching
the team celebrate on the field that a year ago had seen us celebrate
seemed a little surreal.   
There is no shame in losing in a state championship game; somebody
has to. The 1999 Lady Lakers played like champions all year long
under the extreme pressure of defending a championship. We will
always appreciate their effort and the way they conducted themselves
on and off the field. They represented themselves, their school and
their community like champions all year!



Thanks Ladies!!!