ALL-EASTERN CLOVERBELT SOFTBALL - Three seniors lead list of Gilman’s All-ECC award winners

Three seniors who have played a lot of innings for the Gilman Pirates the past four springs are leaving their last mark on the program with some final accolades from the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference. Kayleigh James and Abby Chaplinski earned spots on the 2025 All-ECC first team for their play this spring and Kenlyn Kroeplin earned a second-team spot. All three have earned multiple conference awards in softball. This is Chaplinski’s fourth Eastern Cloverbelt award, having been on the first team in 2023, the second team last spring and getting honorable mention as a freshman. For James, this is her second straight year on the first team after she also got honorable mention as a sophomore. Kroeplin was a first-team pick last spring and also got honorable mention two years ago. Those weren’t Gilman’s only players honored in the 2025 coaches’ vote. Junior Allison Olynick moved up a level to land a second-team spot and junior pitcher Scarlett Stuner earned her first All-ECC award by making the honorable mention list. The honors follow a 12-10 season that included a 7-5 mark in the conference under head coach Brian Phelps. The Pirates finished third in the standings behind 12-0 Columbus Catholic and 9-3 Neillsville-Granton. James, the Pirates’ leadoff hitter and second baseman, did not commit an error in conference games for the second straight spring. She hit .514 in conference play with a .609 on-base percentage and a .730 slugging percentage. Overall, she posted a team-best batting average of .443 with an on-base percentage of .564. She hit five doubles, three triples and stole 13 bases. Among her season highlights were a three-for-four outing May 9 in a 20-19 win over Loyal-Greenwood where she drove in three runs, scored three runs and also walked twice. She had two hits, including a double, a run and two stolen bases in 3-2 loss at Neillsville-Granton May 13 and was two for three with a triple and a run scored and an RBI walk in a 12-2 loss to Columbus Catholic May 6. She was three for five with two RBIs in a 24-5 win over Colby-Abbotsford May 1 and had two hits in an 8-4 win at Spencer April 22. Chaplinski, the Pirates’ third baseman for the fourth straight spring, had another big year at the plate. She hit .457 in conference play with a .548 on-base percentage and a high slugging percentage of .849. Overall, she finished with a .393 batting average, a .507 on-base percentage and a .717 slugging percentage, aided by five home runs and a handful of doubles out of the clean-up spot in the batting order. In league play, Chaplinski had a threerun homer and a two-run double in the 20-19 slugfest with Loyal-Greenwood. She was four for five with five runs batted in, including a two-run homer and two-run single, and scored three times in a 14-4 win at Neillsville-Granton in game two of a May 13 doubleheader. She was four for four with a homer and a double in the May 1 win over Colby-Abbotsford, hit a two-run homer while going two for three at Spencer and had two hits against Columbus Catholic ace Akosua Yeboah in game one of a doubleheader between those teams. She had a three-run homer in Gilman’s first game of the season, a 10-7 loss to North Branch, Minn. on March 28. Chaplinski also posted a solid .923 fielding percentage at the hot corner in conference play. Kroeplin, Gilman’s reliable centerfielder and number-three hitter in the order, hit .374 in 12 conference games and a .532 on-base percentage. She stole 11 bases in conference play and, according to team statistics, had an .820 percentage of quality at-bats through the entire season. Phelps said no Pirate hit into harder, tough-luck outs this season than Kroeplin, who hit .345 overall. Kroeplin was three for four in the game-two win at Neillsville-Granton, three for four in the win at Spencer, two for three with a double, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs in the May 1 win over Colby-Abbotsford and two for four with an RBI in a 14-7 loss at Loyal-Greenwood on May 5. She also was two for three with a double in Gilman’s 6-5 loss to Prairie Farm in a May 27 WIAA Division 5 regional semifinal. Olynick, who was the Pirates’ shortstop and settled into the fifth spot in Gilman’s batting order, was another power threat for the Pirates. She hit .481 in conference play and added a .650 on-base percentage and .741 slugging percentage. Overall she finished at .426 with her batting average, a .563 on-base percentage and a .704 slugging percentage boosted by three home runs and six doubles. Olynick put up big numbers in the May 1 rout of Colby-Abbotsford, going four for five with five runs batted in and a home run. She was three for three with a double and three RBIs in the home win over Loyal-Greenwood. She was two for three in game two with Columbus Catholic, hit an RBI triple in the 3-2 loss at Neillsville-Granton and had two hits in the regional semifinal loss. Also in non-conference play, she homered in a home loss to Rib Lake, hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in an 11-2 win over Drummond on May 10 and hit a go-ahead two-run triple in a 5-4 win over Augusta at Poynette on April 5. Stuner got some quality innings a year ago for Gilman behind then All-ECC senior Danielle Mann and used that experience to step into the full-time role as the Pirates’ ace this spring. She went 7-3 in conference games with a 4.97 earned run average in 50 innings pitched. She only walked 25 in those innings and struck out 37. She also hit .287 and had a .500 onbase percentage. Stuner had seven strikeouts and gave up two hits in an 11-0 shutout win over Colby-Abbotsford in the conference opener April 15. She struck out four, walked two in a seven-inning effort in the win at Spencer April 22. She pitched both games of the Neillsville-Granton doubleheader, which might have been her best day of the spring. In game one, despite the 3-2 loss, she allowed just four hits in six innings. She struck out two and worked around nine hits in six innings in the 14-4 game-two win. She walked one batter in those 12 innings. This year’s All-ECC first team is dominated by the champions from Columbus Catholic, who put four players on the squad, Yeboah, senior Ashley Weiler, junior Shelby Spata and sophomore Abby Wojcik. Spata, the Dons’ power-hitting and athletic centerfielder was named the conference’s Player of the Year and eventually earned first-team Division 4/5 All-State honors. Spencer’s Hannah Schreiner, Loyal-Greenwood’s Liv Lucas and Addison Davidson and Neillsville-Granton’s Klarissa Canfield and Keltie Schoen fill out 2025 first team.