Kenosha Bradford won the first state championship in school history

After nearly 50 years of high school softball at Mary D. Bradford, the Red Devils won the title in dominant fashion Saturday night in Madison.

Kicking off the WIAA Division 1 state championship game around 8 p.m. and not even finishing the team celebrations and festivities until early Sunday morning, the Red Devils didn’t care how late it was as they defeated Milton, 9 -3, to take home the first gold ball in school history.

“We’re packing up and heading home,” Bradford head coach John Ruffolo joked over the phone around midnight Saturday night. “We’re looking for Taco Bell. We’re still in the hotel lobby, but that’s probably coming up.”

All jokes aside, Saturday night will be one the Red Devils will never forget.

They brought the goods early and often with a collective hitting effort from seven players and another virtuoso performance from the 1-2 punch of Aubrey Strelow and Brooklyn Danielson. They posted three big innings of offense, clutch, game-changing defense, and finally a team tackle and mound-side huddle around 10:42 PM to celebrate the monumental victory.

Everything came together to help the Bradford girls win it all.

“We had probably one of our best offensive nights of the season,” Ruffolo said. “Leaving butts, moving runners, it was 1 for 9. Running the bases aggressively, getting big hits, taking the outfield the other way … it was a complete team effort offensively.

“It feels great, just to see the kids enjoy it,” Ruffolo said. “We had a huge turnout from Bradford fans, teachers, students, alumni. To see them so proud of our school and enjoying it, that was probably the most gratifying thing.”

Lauren Jeanblanc and Danielson led off the second inning with singles, and then Bradford showed his ability to score in more ways than one. An error drove in a run, then an RBI fielder’s choice made it a 2-0 game. A sacrifice bunt by Morgan Smith and Strelow RBI made it 4-0.

Milton answered with a run in the fourth, but again the Red Devils put on a lopsided three-run inning in the bottom of the fourth.

Celia May’s two-run single pushed the lead to 6-1 in the fourth, and then the Red Devils extended it to 7-1 thanks to a sacrifice fly by Angela Parker.

Parker’s RBI single and Jeanblanc’s RBI groundout made it 9-3 after five innings, and then Bradford went to work on the mound.

Strelow pitched 5-1/3 innings, struck out eight and scattered six hits, walking just one. Danielson followed with 1-2/3 innings of one-hit, scoreless softball.

Strelow, Parker and Smith each collected two hits to lead the Red Devils.

Lauren Jeanblanc, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI, is the team’s senior captain and says this team is very close.

“I think it’s great to win, just having all my best friends on the court with me,” she said. “We work with them and make sure everyone is awake at all times. We won because we put everything together. It was a group effort.”

For Strelow, a left-handed pitcher, the win meant everything. She effectively shifted gears all night Saturday and got out of a bases-loaded jam by hitting the side.

Every time there was even a hint of trouble or concern with multiple Milton base runners, Strelow dug deep and got out of it.

Aubrey said she was tired after throwing 14⅓ innings in three state tournaments Thursday, Friday and Saturday, striking out 23 batters and walking just four.

“I ice my arm, my shoulder, my back, my legs, everything,” Strelow joked. “I’m still in shock, I don’t understand that I just won, but it feels pretty great. Everyone helped out and did their job. We’ve been practicing a lot lately and I think we all came together. It was pretty special and we all had something to do with it.”

Strelow added that her pitches moved Saturday night, especially her changeup, which she says was her pitch.

“When I’m out there, I see what works, what gets batters out and see if my coach is going to go with that plan,” Strelow said. “It was really stressful when I had to get out of that bases-loaded jam. But I had some movement for the curveball, and my changeup is my favorite pitch. I love throwing that. That really worked for me tonight .

“We knew we were going to play a good team and we had to come out and play our hardest. We’re playing the team that beat Kaukauna, so we knew it was going to be tough,” she said. “Things are totally different at the state tournament. There were a lot of distractions. It’s really cool out there. There’s a lot of people watching you play and it’s a little nerve-wracking. I was like, ‘Oh my God. ‘I’ve never played in in front of so many people and it was quite exciting.”

According to the WIAA State Tournament, the Milton-Bradford game set a single-game attendance record at the Goodman Softball Complex with 1,315 fans.

Smith, the team’s junior captain, had a diving stop at shortstop that saved two runs and kept the Red Hawks from making an immediate comeback. The play proved to change the momentum of the game.

Smith said he stopped her with the bases loaded, and the bases were still loaded after she stabbed him, preventing at least two runs in that inning.

“This is the team that won Bradford’s first softball title and it’s amazing,” Smith said. “Everybody on the team is so close and it got us to where we were tonight. Defense is probably my biggest asset and I’m known for it.”

Bradford players stayed focused at the state tournament.

The Red Devils weren’t at the Goodman Softball Complex Friday night when history was made as Kaukauna was upset by Milton, 5-3, and the Galloping Ghosts saw their state record 108-game winning streak snapped.

There was no talk of relaxation as the Red Devils didn’t have to play Kaukauna, a team that beat them 8-0 just weeks earlier.

“We weren’t there, we were eating ice cream and we were all looking at our phones,” Jeanblanc said. “We were ready for whatever was going to happen. We had a new challenge in the next game.”

“It’s huge, just knowing that this is my last high school season and playing with my best friends, it’s just awesome,” Jeanblanc said.

Ruffolo was more than ready to return home to Kenosha late Saturday night and get some rest, with games ending close to midnight Saturday and close to 10:00 pm Friday night.

He emphasized sleep on Sunday morning.

“We went one-for-nine, so I’d say it was one of our best offensive efforts of the season,” Ruffolo said. “From top to bottom, everyone contributed.”

As for Strelow and Danielson, the “thunder and lightning” combo was definitely a thing.

While Strelow emphasized finesse with her favorite pitch, changeup, keeping kids off balance and a sneak curve that can fool power hitters, Danielson, a righty, attacked the strike zone with power.

“It’s a gift to have two great arms like that, but two very different approaches,” Ruffolo said. “They’re very complimentary to each other. Aubrey uses the changeup to keep them from getting aggressive swings, and Brooklynn has a swing that’s ridiculous. She just pitches fast. One’s lefty, one’s righty, it’s a gift.

“We needed both of them in the last two games to get the job done, and they both stepped up and gave us everything they had,” he said.