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At some point this season, Whitehall High School senior James Gilbertson has played all of them.
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James Gilbertson practices pitching Thursday in Whitehall, Wis. Gilbertson has played every position this season. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
In fact, in one game this season, Gilbertson played every position.
Gilbertson is Norse’s ace this season as they prepare to make a run for the WIAA State Summer Baseball Tournament.
If Gilbertson isn’t pitching, he’s playing the position of whoever is pitching.
Last Saturday against Melrose-Mindoro at the Metrodome, Whitehall coach Damon Lisowski got every player into the game, and every pitcher on the mound.
In doing so, Gilbertson had to play a bunch of different positions. Eventually, they just decided it would be kind of funny to get him in all nine spots.
“He had six and we made some moves so he could get the last three,” Whitehall coach Damon Lisowski said.
It turned into more of a joke, but what Gilbertson has done for Whitehall this season is not.
“He’s just been completely unselfish and sacrificed himself so we could be the best defensively,” Lisowski said. “He’s a man without a position. He’s played every one. He’s in a different position every night.
“First, short, outfield, he plays them all without complaining. To have a kid like that is an unbelievable advantage for us.”
When Gilbertson was a freshman, the Norse upset top-seeded Arcadia to make it to the state tournament.
This time around, the Norse are in the same situation with the same expectations, and the situation is quite peculiar.
Whitehall is the No. 4 seed and will host a second-round game on Tuesday against the winner of Augusta and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, who play tonight in Galesville, Wis.
If the Norse wins, and top-seeded West Salem wins, that will be the matchup.
West Salem is easily the favorite to get out of the section having gone undefeated in the Dairyland Conference this season.
But West Salem has had some trouble with Whitehall. Twice the two have matched up and twice West Salem has come away with a one-run victory.
“It’s a little frustrating,” Whitehall senior Tim Butler said. “The first time, we blew a three-run lead in the seventh. The last time, at Copeland Park (in La Crosse, Wis.), we were right to the wire until the end and almost got past them.
“It’s disappointing, because we know we can beat them and didn’t, but at the same time, they are undefeated and we didn’t pitch our ace.”
That ace would be Gilbertson, and the last time he faced West Salem, he picked up the win.
That game came at the end of the regular season last year. Over the last two seasons, West Salem is 29-1 against the Dairyland, its one loss coming against Gilbertson.
Lisowski isn’t hinting at what he’ll do to start the playoffs — whether Gilbertson will pitch the first game or, perhaps, save him for a potential matchup with West Salem in the semifinals — but it sure will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Gilbertson is a 6-foot-4 right-hander with an arsenal of pitches.
“He’s hard to catch because we have five or six different calls,” Whitehall catcher Micah Anderson said. “I’ve caught him for three years and he keeps throwing harder and harder.”
With Gilbertson on the mound, Whitehall feels nearly unbeatable — probably because Gilbertson has just one loss in his high school career. It was unclear his exact record, but the overall consensus is he’s about 17-1 with that one loss coming in the playoffs against Arcadia last year.
Gilbertson isn’t just a great pitcher and versatile fielder; he’s also the Norse’s deadliest hitter.
“He’s batting nearly .500 this season,” Anderson said. “He’s our best batter. At one point in the season, though, he didn’t have any home runs, and we giving him crap for it. Then, in the next game, he hit two.”
When it comes to baseball, Gilbertson is the total package — almost.
“No, he’s really slow,” Anderson said. “He’d probably have a lot of triples, but he’s so slow. He gets a lot of standup doubles. He’s got range in the outfield, but he’s just not quick on the bases.”
Well, he can’t have everything, but it’s probably safe to say Gilbertson can hold his own no matter where he plays, and triples are overrated anyway.
