Kaukauna softball enters season with sights set on 4-peat
KAUKAUNA, Wis. (WFRV) – The last time Kaukauna softball lost a game was on May 18, 2021, and since then, the Ghosts have rattled off 82 straight victories, including Monday afternoon’s 14-4 season opening win against Appleton North (check out the highlights below).
With 82 consecutive W’s comes hardware, which Kaukauna has collected along the way. The Ghosts have won three straight state championships. But entering this season, the reigning champs lost three starters, a pair of which are playing at the division one level. Nonetheless, that hasn’t changed the team’s belief in accomplishing four state crowns.
“We don’t work and do what we do to take second, third, or fourth, we come out here to take first,” said Kaukauna head coach Tim Roehrig. “I think we’re sitting in a good spot right now with some kids that really want to win and know how to win.”
Plus, a group that loves playing together.
“There are no other girls I’d rather be playing with,” said Kaukauna senior Taryn Christopher. “Everyone is here to win and everyone is here for each other.”
“We’ve been playing with each other for a while,” added junior Karly Meredith. “There are some new faces but I think they’ve stepped up well for the people that left.”
Even without last year’s senior stars, Kaukauna enters 2024 with a bevy of experience. The Ghosts boast two seniors and six juniors on their roster of 11. It’s also a squad that knows how to flat-out win. Between the 11 girls featured on Kaukauna, only two of its players have suffered a loss in their high school careers.
Though that comes with a lot of pressure, the Ghosts know that staying grounded and focused on the task at hand will lead to success this season.
“Ultimately for us it’s just focusing on what we do,” said Roehrig. “We’re not really focused on what anyone else is doing because honestly we don’t care. We’re focused on what we do, and we’re going to do what we do better than everybody else.”
A mentality that each player on Kaukauna’s roster has embodied since they first started playing softball.
“I feel like we’ve just been playing such great competition our entire lives, I mean ever since I was ten we were traveling all over the country,” said Christopher, one of the two seniors for the Ghosts. “So, it’s ultimately (about) coming back to our roots and working hard every single day.”
“It’s definitely difficult knowing you have a target (on your back), and everyone wants to beat you,” said Meredith, last season’s Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the year. “But (we) just have to take it a game at a time and keep working hard, and focus on each other and not what’s all around or going around.”
As the ’24 season continues to roll on, so does Kaukauna’s winning streak. The Ghosts have the state’s longest streak of victories and try to extend the number, which currently sits at 82, with four more games this week – Tuesday, April 9, at Fond Du Lac, Thursday, April 11, at Appleton West, Friday, April 12, at Brookfield East, and Saturday, April 13, vs Middleton.
