It’s been a magical time in the village of Reedsville this high school sports season.
The boys’ basketball team won their first state title in 80 years in March, and it wasn’t long ago (2021) that the football team captured their first and only state championship.
Now it’s time for the baseball team to take the spotlight as they’ll play at the WIAA State baseball tournament for the first time Tuesday morning.
They will play Potosi/Cassville in a WIAA Division Four state semifinal at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.
Senior Jack Schwann plays third base for the Panthers and tells seehafernews.com that these last few months have been “surreal.”
“We lost in the sectionals last year, but I felt we had the team to make a run this year,” he explained. “Several guys stepped up to replace a lot of pitching we lost from last year’s squad. We developed a mindset that if we just stay within ourselves and play to our ability, that we could make a deep run.”
Schwann refers to the Panthers loss to Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah in the 2025 sectional semifinals, which Head Coach Luke Ubersox admits was key to this year’s historical run to state.
“We just put it out there and said ‘Guys, don’t be surprised if we’re playing in June,'” he recalled. “I think that helped a little bit and took the pressure off. It was when we got into the crux of our (Big East) conference schedule in late April and early May is when we really turned it around.”
In fact, the Panthers have lost just twice since May first and have an overall record of 19-6 heading into today’s game.
It was looking a bit bleak for Reedsville last Tuesday in the sectional final at Pecatonica.
They had a 5-3 lead on Barneveld in the top of the sixth inning when a two-run home run tied the game.
Needing a run to retake the lead, the Panthers went to work.
Zach Prochnow reached base to begin the bottom of the sixth inning.
Ben Prochnow sacrificed him to second, setting the stage for Lucas Lodel.
“I saw a fastball that I liked, put a good swing on it, and the ball snuck between the shortstop and third baseman into left field,” the Junior Outfielder and Pitcher recalled. “Zack (Prochnow) is one of the fastest guys on the team, and I had faith that he was going to score.”
The Panthers kept the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning, and with that thrilling 6-5 victory, Reedsville was heading to the state baseball tournament for the first time in school history.
Caleb Schwann, younger brother of Jack, is excited to keep this Panther train rolling.
“It’s just cool to keep this season going with these guys,” he said with a smile. “Talking to members of the community, they told us of how many good trams have played here that never got the chance to play at state. I can’t wait to step out onto the field and represent my school and Panther Nation.”
One young man happy to still be playing is first baseman Carson Preston.
He thought perhaps he’d never realize his dream of playing on the “big stage”.
He broke his left foot twice, which required surgery, keeping him on the sidelines during the state basketball run, but he was thrilled to be able to step on the Kohl Center floor in Madison for what he vividly recalls as 8.9 seconds.
We asked him what the biggest lesson he learned from those trials, and his answer was simple.
“Patience. I love sports so much and just wanted to be out there with my friends. It made me really mad to be sitting on the bench and there was nothing I could do about it.”
What Carson and his teammates will do this morning is play a Potosi/Cassville team that senior Ben Prochnow says will be a tough test.
“They’re a solid team,” he admitted. “You don’t make it to state if you’re not a good team. We’re going to have to prepare for a battle as I feel it’s going to be a close game. We have to play solid defense to give ourselves a chance to win.”
The last school in Manitowoc County to win multiple team state titles in the same year was the Mishicot girls’ basketball and softball teams in 2021.
Catcher Nate Christansen on what it would feel like to have it happen in Reedsville.
“I don’t have the words to say if that were to happen,” he admitted. “If we play solid defense, pitch well and come up with timely hits as we have in the past, I feel we can accomplish anything.”
The first pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 9:00 a.m. with Eric Bauer providing scoring and end-of-inning coverage on the WOMT Facebook page.
