By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
A freshman who became a force this past season and started tapping her potential helped lead the Elkhorn Area High School softball team to the best season in program history.
The cheers might only grow louder for Rachel Gosh and the rest of the Elks if their recently established trend toward winning continues.
Gosh is the Elks’ 2015 Most Valuable Player. The freshman also earned Second Team All-Southern Lakes Conference honors as a pitcher.
Gosh pitched in 18 games with 13 starts. She finished with a record of 1-2 and struck out 70 in 91 innings. Most impressively, she finished with an earned run average of 2.75.
Gosh hit .401 with an on-base percentage of .460 and a slugging percentage of .559. Gosh drove in 18 runs and scored 32 runs in 29 games. She also tallied 13 doubles.
Seniors Jasmine Bogart-Falbo and Payton Barker served as the Elks’ co-captains this past season, and are also co-recipients of the Lady Elk award.
The Lady Elk award is an award based on contributions to the program on the field and as a leader and mentor to teammates.
Bogart-Falbo earned Honorable Mention All-SLC recognition. The senior hit .364 with 19 runs and 12 RBI.
Union Grove and Westosha Central each placed three players on the All-Southern Lakes Conference First Team. Wilmot placed two.
Catcher Kayla Konwent, pitcher Alyssa Hrncar and shortstop Kara Mickelson earned First Team honors for Westosha.
Westosha beat Watertown 3-0 June 13 at Goodman Diamond in Madison in the WIAA Division 1 state championship game.
Representing Union Grove on the First Team are pitcher Brittany Moore, first baseman Claire Ryan and outfielder Alexandra Trudeau.
Wilmot’s Justin Schattner earned First Team honors at third base and Kalyssa Koehn earned First Team honors at shortstop.
Burlington shortstop Talyn Lewis and Delavan-Darien pitcher Jenna Speth also earned First Team honors.
Union Grove placed four players on the second team – catcher Kalista Hribar, second baseman Bailey Thur, first baseman Brooklyn Otterlien and third baseman Alyssa McClelland.
Wilmot outfielder Kiana Vazquez, Delavan-Darien catcher Katelyn Gonzalez, Badger shortstop Cayleen Ryan, Waterford outfielder Alyssa Schimelfenyg and Westosha first baseman Olivia Klean also earned Second Team honors.
Konwent is the SLC Player of the Year.
A dominant pitching performance brought the Elkhorn Area High School softball team’s 2015 season to a close June 2 in a WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal game at Delavan-Darien High School.
Beloit Turner’s Kelsie Packard no-hit the Elks and Turner beat Elkhorn 5-2 and advanced to the sectional final.
The Elks finished the season with a record of 14-15 overall. Elkhorn finished 3-10 and in seventh place in the Southern Lakes Conference.
Coach Jacob Schueller, in his fourth season with the program, said all involved were emotional following the loss to Turner.
“It was good emotion, happy emotion,” Schueller said. “I’m just so full of pride and happy for these kids and the work they put in and what they’ve done for this program.”
Schueller said he’ll always consider graduating seniors Meghan Etten, Abbie Kolacke, Barker and Bogart-Falbo, with whom he spent four years, as “the group that pulled Elkhorn softball out of the gutter.”
