Grafton softball assistant moves up

Grafton High School stayed in the family for its next head softball coach.

Assistant Mike Bergmann will take over next spring after one year under veteran coach Ken Hunt, who led the Black Hawks to their only North Shore Conference title in 2017.

That’s exactly where Bergmann wants to lead the program.

Bergmann has followed his daughter as her youth softball coach the past five years. She is now entering seventh grade.

“Having the opportunity to work with my daughter as she was learning the game is what got my passion going,” he said.

Bergmann also coached junior varsity basketball under former Grafton coach Mike Kalina, coaches boys’ soccer under longtime coach Don Arnold and assisted veteran baseball coach Brian

Durst for nine years, starting when he was in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

That experience working with teens, Bergmann said, is what got him interested in teaching.

Bergmann is going into his 17th year teaching math at Grafton High and is an alumnus of the school, where he played baseball, soccer and basketball all four years.

Bergmann’s experience in coaching, especially in the youth league, should serve the team well, he said. He already knows some of the Black Hawks’ players from last season and from middle school.

Connections made through the youth program and teaching will help build rapport with the players, he said.

He has already sought advice from Durst about building the softball program.

While the season doesn’t start until spring, Bergmann hopes players attend open gyms in winter to stay sharp.

He wants to get back to that 2017 conference championship level by “building the culture, building the program,” he said.

He said he knows replacing star pitcher Kirsten Krause, star center fielder and leadoff hitter Jordyn Case and left fielder Emma Wagner won’t be easy, but said some impressive seniors are coming back and the freshman class is large.

Bergmann is the oldest of four children. His younger sister played softball and both brothers played baseball.

“I basically grew up on a ball diamond,” he said.

Hunt resigned to focus on his career.