Klaviter

receives

WPSL

accolade

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The dominance of New Ulmite Steph Klaviter has been rewarded.

The pitcher for the Florida Wahoos of the Women's Professional Softball League has been rewarded as Klaviter has been named the Pitcher of the Year in the WPSL this year.

The former New Ulm Cathedral and Minnesota athlete has been the top pitcher for the past two seasons in the WPSL.

This year, she is 10-2 with an ERA of 0.20. Both are league bests.

She has 10 complete games and a league-high seven shutouts. In 83.1 innings, she has given up only 31 hits and six runs -- three earned. Klaviter has struck out 68 and opposing hitters have a miniscule .111 batting average against her.

"I wasn't surprised that I won the award towards the end of this year," she said. "Just because our team was so successful. It wasn't something that I was shooting for or thinking about. But towards the end of the season, it is something that everyone thinks and talks about."

Now, Klaviter and her Florida Wahoos, gear up for the WPSL playoffs where the Wahoos and the Ohio Pride will square off beginning Friday.

"We have done well against them this year," Klaviter said. "We have lost only two games to them this year so the chances of us winning a (WPSL) title are pretty good."

But when the playoffs are over, that will not be the end of softball for Klaviter.

She will be heading over to Hawaii after the playoffs where she will play against the United States Olympic team. The last time she faced the US team, she lost 2-0 with the two Olympic runs coming on errors by her defense.

"You always want to play your best against the best and give them the best game that you can," she said. "We want to give them three really good games before they go off to the Olympics so that they are ready to play. It would be pretty satisfying if we can beat them."

When that ends, Klaviter will still be involved in softball for the WPSL.

She will head to Denver where she will do camps and clinics for the WPSL.

"There is a lot going on now with the league," she said. "They are talking to a lot of big sponsors like Major League Baseball, ESPN, Budweiser ... hopefully, things will continue to go well for the WPSL."

She said next season she hopes to return to the Wahoos. "I am enjoying playing there now and want to do it as long as I can," said Klaviter. "Hopefully, the WPSL will open up some opportunities for me career-wise after softball. I would like also to try coaching at the collegiate level when I am done playing. But I will always do pitching lessons and camps.

RUPERT KEY TO KAISERHOFF: One of the big reasons New Ulm Kaiserhoff is a strong contender in the Class B tournament has been left-hander Chris Rupert, who is in his first season with Kaiserhoff

And he has made quite an impression in his "rookie season," so to speak.

The southpaw from Bozeman, Mont., and Minnesota State-Mankato has compiled a 12-0 record following an 8-2 win over Bemidji in the first round of the Class B tournament last week in Sleepy Eye and Fairfax.

"I didn't expect to do as well as I have been," said Rupert who, with 13 strikeouts against the Mudcats passed the 100-strikeout mark for the season. He now stands at 112.

"I came over to New Ulm expecting to play some baseball and have a good time," Rupert said. "I know that this team (Kaiserhoff) wins a lot. I was just trying to help the team win."

Rupert became familiar with New Ulm and Kaiserhoff through his roommate in college, New Ulm native Aaron Heitzman, who is also a member of the Kaiserhoff and has a 7-5 pitching record. "He told me I should come play because it is a blast and it has been."

Rupert did not play high school baseball in Montana as it is not offered there. Rather, he played American Legion ball for Bozeman.

"My sophomore year, we took third in the state (legion tournament) but I really wasn't much a part of that," Rupert said. "My junior year, I was 6-4 and we were third again. And my senior season, I went 9-4 and we finished fifth."

Rupert returned home to Montana after last year's college season before coming to New Ulm this summer.

"The team chemistry is good here," Rupert said. "I knew a few of the players here in Brady and Cory Ranweiler, and Aaron, and I knew Josh Hinson. I fit in right away,"

Rupert will be a junior next season and will be draft-eligible. "I try not to think about that (draft) and my dad has talked to me about it, but I try not to put too much into that right now."

Coming over to New Ulm also has given him the chance to pitch to Terry Steinbach. Rupert said that has been a big plus for him.

"It was an unbelievable difference," said Rupert. "The catcher that I had in college (Scott Geiger) is good, but just having Terry back there. He knows so much about the game and I learned so much from him just by pitching to him.

"One of the things that he taught me was to just get a curve ball across the plate. You don't have to throw a good curve ball, and he worked with me on a slider and now it is one of my best pitches."

Rupert said he is not sure about next season. "I wanted to get hooked up into a wooden bat league, but I am really considering coming back to the Kaiserhoff and playing here again. The experience is good and the competition is good."

Rupert, who is majoring in secondary education, wants to teach and coach after graduation.

TOUGH LOSS FOR INDIANS: One of the most heart-breaking losses in recent years happened Sunday night when Perham -- on one swing of the bat -- erased a 3-1 Sleepy Eye lead and gave Perham a 5-3 win in the last of the ninth inning, ending Sleepy Eye' season.

"It was a disappointing loss when you consider that it was one of the finest games that I have seen Brian (Hertling) throw," said Indian manager Ralph Zwaschka. " His pitch count was down. He had good location and had his curve ball working well. It was just a situation where they (Perham) just bunched together a bunch of on-base people and one swing of the bat took away what was in our grasp.

Zwaschka said while it was a disappointing loss, it was not the most difficult. "That would have been when he were playing in the state title game against Jordan on a bloop single in the bottom of the ninth."

Zwaschka said he did not even think about changing pitchers in that last inning. "Brian's pitch count was down; he was not even at 100 pitches yet and his count on a normal night is 125-130. Brian was throwing well and was still strong."

POOR BRACKETING: One has to wonder what whoever made out the Class C tournament brackets was thinking. If Sleepy Eye had beaten Perham they would have played the rest of their games in Fairfax. Why not keep a host team in their hometown for as long as possible?

RECORD FALLS: While Hinckley broke the error record for one game with 11 (breaking the old record of nine) another record bit the dust on Saturday.

Mac Zachow of Arlington threw 211 pitches in one game, breaking the old record of 210 set by John Stainbrook in 1995. In fact, Zachow and his counterpart for Brainerd, Tony Whitlock, combined for 400 pitches between the two.