This is it folks!  The softball, soccer and tennis team state tournaments are this week and the spring sport season is officially over.

Brookfield and Tosa have no softball teams at state once again (I never get to cover state softball). But Brookfield Central will be in the soccer tournament and the team tennis tournament.

The Lady Lancer kickers open at 5 p.m. against De Pere at Uihlein Soccer Park. Record-wise they have the worse record in the field, but don't tell that to Brookfield East and Homestead. The Lancers have been working their magic.

The Lancer boys will square off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium against Homestead. Central has beat the Highlanders twice, but anything can happen because all the matches were close. The winner will face top-ranked Marquette (you can count on it). When asked the key to beating the Hilltoppers, Central's veteran coach Dave Steinbach replied "Beating Homestead first."

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Both Brookfield baseball teams should be fun to watch this year as they both are off to good starts. Central always seems to reload instead of rebuild and coach Tim Granger has the pitching to make the Spartans a contender this year also.

Over in Wauwatosa, the Red Raiders are better and it all starts with the talented Danny Sayles and catcher Tyler O'Brien. Both players are fun to watch. Coach Matt Dahlstrom will have a better team in his second season.

Coach Chad Mateske has plenty of Wauwatosa West arms to call on, but he will be looking for the ones with the most strikes in them. Mateske hopes to use the first part of the season to see what kind of talent he has and then hopefully get his team ready for the playoff run.

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The Lady Lancers finished second at state this year - anyone who complains should have their head examined. Kudos to Katelyn Malcore who came home with four medals. Bradley Tech was very talented team and Central would have had to have been perfect to beat them.

As impressive as it was for Collin Taylor taking home the only state title - winning the high jump at 6-10 - his efforts helped boost the Spartans to sixth place in state along with the second-place finish of the 1,600 relay team which only had one senior (Andrew Amato) on the team. Big Mitch Aprahaniam finished his high school sports career with a third in the shot.

Also congrats to Drew Lied, who finished third for the Spartans at the state individual tennis tournament.

Tosa East's Hannah Weinberg-Kinsey and Tosa West's Ashlee Ballinger finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

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I hope to see you out at a local baseball game this summer.

10 Things to share...

• Congrats to Brookfield East's Taylor Conway for breaking the school record in the 3,200 meter run in the Lady Spartan/House of Speed Invite on April 22.
  
• How would you like to be Brookfield East hurdler Dan Osgood, the third-best hurdler in the Greater Metro Conference?  Matt Widule, who had perhaps the state's best time in the highs on Friday, and Justin Hodges, who spent the indoor chasing Widule, are all Danny has to beat.
  
• Phil Bartel of Brookfield Central and Mike Herrmann of Brookfield East shared medalist honors at the second Greater Metro Conference mini-meet on April 27. Each shot a 35.
  
• Weird ending to the Spartan Tennis Invitational last Saturday. The tourney lost three hours as it was moved inside because of poor weather conditions. Brookfield Central, like some other schools, had prom scheduled for Saturday night, so the title match with Marquette was postponed. Marquette was willing to play and Brook East tournament director Linda Lied was also ready to play because the courts were paid for. Top-ranked MUHS nipped Central, 4-3, three days earlier.
  
• Congrats to Brookfield East freshman Amanda Kalupa, who tossed her first prep no-hitter against DSHA last week. Catcher Katie Benz gets as assist for the game she called and SS Lexi Sotiros and RF Kennedy Curtis made two nice plays early in the game.
  
• Sometimes you have to take little steps first. The Tosa East softball team has struggled the past few years. Last week they lost to West Allis Central and played a complete game for the first time in two years. In high school there is a 10-run rule, where the game ends after 5 innings (4 ½ if the home team is winning) when a 10-run advantage is reached.
  
• Too bad the stormy weather rained out the Tosa Tennis Invitational last Saturday. It will not be rescheduled.
  
• Stats are fun and sometimes they tell the truth. The Trojans' girls soccer team allowed 13 goals and were 0-4. In three matches where their defense came through, they didn't allow a goal and went 2-0-1.
  
• Last week's story on Tosa West senior Allison Gonzales touched a lot of people. People who have suffered similar problems have contacted me, including one doctor, looking to share their stories with the Gonzales family and help out. The day it came our on the NOW web sites we had 2,500 hits, by far more than any other story on the NOW sites.
  
• I hate spring in Wisconsin. Mom Nature is a big tease.

 Brookfield East girls track coach Jeff Ferguson mentioned it the other day - "There seems to be a renaissance going on in track in Brookfield."

Ya think?

The Brookfield Central girls are the defending state champ and they won the GMC Indoor Championships by 70.5 points, beating out Brookfield East, who finished second over Menomonee Falls by 45 points.

The boys weren't left out either, as Brookfield East won the boys indoor and Brookfield Central, led by their talented throwers, finished fourth.

The week before in Wauwatosa, The Trojan girls won their 13th straight Woodland Conference title and the boys won their first title in four years. This past week Tosa East's girls finished fourth behind Hannah Weinberg-Kinsey's great performance, scoring 30 of her team's 74 points.

Give Kathy and Dave Weinberg-Kinsey some credit for their daughter Hannah's big day in the Greater Metro Conference Indoor Championships on April 8. After finishing her field events - she set a GMC and school record by winning the high jump (5 feet, 5 inches) and taking third in the long jump (15-9 1/2) - Hannah saw that her shoe was ripped and she had two races to run.

So mom and dad came to the rescue and raced to the local shoe store and returned in time to finish second in the 400-meter dash and third in the 200.

Enjoy spring break.

Be a hit and have a ball!

I hate - yes - hate - spring in Wisconsin. I have lived here my entire life and spring ranks third on my list of fall seasons behind Fall and our two months of summer.

Mother Nature is a big tease. She will 'wow' you with warm temperatures and then dump six inches of snow on you. Just when you relax and think, "Winter might be over," Mother Nature laughs in our face.

I'm sure the spring coaches in the area also feel the same way. Most of my Community Watches have been reporting postponed games/matches/meets.

But some of the early performances are encouraging for some of the team's able to play.

The Brookfield Central soccer team, who played DSHA Tuesday night, got off to a 2-0 start. Sophomore Gina Scaffidi, who was instant offense off the bench last year, scored three goals in the 5-0 win over Tosa West last Saturday.

Brookfield East, which could contend for the state title, has a load of talent coming back, hopes to host Nicolet Wednesday night.

Brookfield Central's state champion girls track team, led by Chidera Obasih, the 100 and 200 meter state champ. Coach Lorie Lewis has an impressive newcomer in Rubie Nordling (triple jump, 60 high hurdles and mile relay team). Brookfield East should also contend, as Jeff Ferguson's team has excellent depth.

Look for the Brookfield East boys to contend for the GMC title, as Justin Hodges and Collin Taylor will be leading the way for coach Mike Steiner's talented squad.

Hannah Weinberg-Kinsey of Tosa East should once again lead the Red Raiders girls track team, whether she is running or jumping.

Kevin Gorman and Mark Wesson have led the Tosa West boys early, but Ira Howard will be back soon as the Woodland Indoor approaches. The Trojans might have had a huge blow when Jimmy Bonkowski blow out his knee on his last jump on Saturday after winning the long jump.

Grace Shelstad, Laura Bavlnka, Christina Compton and Ashley Ballinger had good efforts in the Chris Wilson Invite on Saturday for the Tosa West girls.

Now if Mother Nature can give us all a break, maybe we can get this season started.

Be a hit and have a ball.