Saturday State Sports Briefs: Greinke pitches well but Dodger beat Brewers 6-3

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PHOENIX - Zack Greinke was dominant, as he has been all spring, but it wasn’t enough in a 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

Greinke held Los Angeles to two hits in five and a half innings, with nine strikeouts. The Angels won the game by scoring four unearned runs on two hits, an error and a walk while closer John Axford was on the mound. Mark Trumbo pounded a home run in the eighth inning of Francisco Rodriguez.

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The Green Bay Packers replaced a valued member of the offensive line and added some depth on the defensive side Friday. The signing of veteran center Jeff Saturday was announced yesterday afternoon. Scott Wells had left to sign with the Rams. Saturday signed a two-year deal after playing with Indianapolis for 13 seasons. The Packers improved their defensive line depth by signing another Colt, Daniel Muir. He appeared in three games for Green Bay in the 2007 season.

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Oostburg will play Kewaunee today for the state girls’ high school Division-Three basketball championship. Both teams won their semi-final games today in Madison. Oostburg eliminated East Troy 54-38, after Kewaunee defeated Barron 38-18. Oostburg had an eight-point lead after three quarters, and then pulled away with an eight-point scoring edge in the final period. Oostburg out-shot its challengers 50-to-26 percent. And the winners forced 22 turnovers to 19 for East Troy. Breanna Gaspervich had 15 points and six rebounds for East Troy, which ended its season at 24-3. Abby Van Stelle scored 18 for Oostburg, which improved to 23-4.

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Kewaunee advanced to the Division-Three title game of the girls’ state high school basketball tournament. Kewaunee easily defeated Barron 38-18 in the day’s first semi-final at the Kohl Center in Madison. Kewaunee led 23-9 at the half and rolled from there. Barron made 4-of-32 shots, or 12-and-a-half-percent. Kewaunee shot 31-percent, while taking advantage of 21 Barron turnovers. Gina Forehand scored seven points for Barron, which ended its season at 21-6. Jill Kleiman was the game’s only player to score in double figures. She had 11, as Kewaunee improved to 23-4.

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Owen-Withee was the first to advance to the state girls’ high school basketball tournament in Madison. Owen-Withee edged defending champion Wausau Newman 49-46 in the first Division-Five semi-final. Owen-Withee was up by 11 at the half, but Newman got to within three after three quarters – and the Blackhawks hung on to win by three. Owen-Withee out-shot Newman 46-to-23, as Newman put up 79 shots for 46 for the Blackhawks. Grace Kennedy had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Wausau Newman, which ended its season at 25-2.

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Sarah Albert of Marian University in Fond du Lac is the nation’s most accurate women’s three-point shooter. The sophomore guard hit 49-point-six-percent from beyond-the-arc this season. That’s currently the best in all three NCAA divisions. Albert made 62-of-125 shots from three-point-range this season. She shattered the Marian school record of 41-point-nine percent, held by Kerri Huebel Holtz in 2001. Defenses began to key on Albert as the season went on – and she still managed to hit an average of two-point-four shots per game from downtown. That was second in the Northern Athletics Conference this year.

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UW-Eau Claire has five players on the WIAC’s 20-member All-Time Softball Team. The conference announced the team as part of its 100th anniversary celebration. All but a couple of the honorees had played since 1995. Eau Claire’s five representatives are Heidi Bergstrom, Casey Leisgang, Mallory McKinney, Jill Schoenike, and Lisa Schueler. Oshkosh has four softball players on the all-time squad – Jamie Ziegel, Whitney Tornow, Ronessa Stampfli, and Nina Gruenewald. Also named were Amy Gahl, Valerie Kerkman, and Jessica Stang of Whitewater – Kelly Rutta and Dena Zajdel of Stevens Point – Sarah Tarasewicz and Erin Kegley of Superior – Susanne Brion and Erin O’Connell of Stout – Jenna Ahnen of La Crosse – and Emily Howlett of River Falls.

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Nazar Kulchytskyy of UW-Oshkosh has been named the WIAC’s Wrestler-of-the-Year. The league’s coaches selected him, after he went 45-2 and won both the WIAC and the NCAA Division III competitions at 157 pounds. He had a 34-matching winning streak broken in January.

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Ryan Herrmann has stepped down as the head women’s soccer coach at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee. He went 14-60-1 in four seasons at his alma mater. Wisconsin Lutheran went 3-15 overall in 2011.

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The all-time leading rusher in Packers’ history has bought part of an Indoor Football League team in Green Bay. Ahman Green was introduced this week as the newest member of the Blizzard’s ownership group. Part-owner Matt Umentum first contacted Green about a month to see if he’d like to get involved with the team. Green said he checked with Packers’ Hall-of-Famer Gilbert Brown, who has been involved with indoor football teams in the recent past—and he called it a good deal. The 35-year-old Green helped coach the De Pere High School football team last fall – and he’s been involved in other community ventures since retiring from the NFL at the start of last year. Blizzard coach Robert Fuller said Green has connections and experiences as an NFL player that would be a great benefit to the Blizzard and its players. Green is not the first ex-Packer to be involved with the Blizzard. Former Packers’ linebacker Brian Noble and former NFL quarterback Dave Krieg from Schofield were part of an ownership group that sold the team in 2009.

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SCORES

GIRLS WIAA HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL STATE TOURNAMENT

--Division 1 Semifinals

De Pere 49, Oshkosh West 37

Milwaukee Rufus King 78, Middleton 73

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--Division 2 Semifinals

New Berlin Eisenhower 47, Reedsburg 28

New London 52, Green Bay Notre Dame 34

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--Division 3 Semifinals

Kewaunee 38, Barron 18

Oostburg 54, East Troy 38

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--Division 4 Semifinals

Neillsville 53, Howards Grove 41

Oshkosh Lourdes 70, Eau Claire Regis 63

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--Division 5 Semifinals

Milwaukee Heritage Christian 50, Seneca 41

Owen-Withee 49, Wausau Newman 46

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WIAA State Finals (starting at 11:05 a.m. at the Kohl Center)

--Division 5 Championship

Milwaukee Heritage Christian (23-4) vs. Owen-Withee

--Division 4 Championship

Neillsville (27-0) vs. Oshkosh Lourdes (26-1)

--Division 3 Championship

Kewaunee (23-4) vs. Oostburg (23-4)

--Division 2 Championship

New Berlin Eisenhower (27-0) vs. New London (27-0)

--Division 1 Championship

De Pere (23-4) vs. Milwaukee Rufus King (21-6)

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