CEDARBURG — Cedarburg pitcher Paytn Monticelli has played a critical role in the success of the Bulldogs fastpitch softball team in recent years, but senior catcher Sammy Brobst has been at the other end of that equation the past two seasons as the club has clinched two North Shore Conference championships and won a WIAA Div. 1 sectional title that allowed the program to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2004.
Monticelli said she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“She has caught the majority of my pitches and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Sammy is my catcher of choice every time, and the pitcher and catcher bond we have is nearly unbreakable,” Monticelli said, noting that the dynamic duo have been playing together dating back to their time with the Cedarburg Crush youth program. “She is a huge part of building this program from the ground up, and I know I truly wouldn’t be where I am today without her constant support. Her loyalty to both myself, the team and all of our collective goals is what sets her apart from most.
“She is the definition of a player who won’t give up without a fight. She has the grit and relentless competitive attitude that most coaches with their girls had,” the star right-handed pitcher added. “These characteristics, alongside many other things, make her an amazing person, athlete and teammate. I am so proud to have her as my catcher and I am so honored to be her pitcher.”
If you have seen the Bulldogs play with Monticelli in the pitcher’s circle, you probably would not jump at the opportunity to set up shop behind the plate with the UW-Madison recruit firing fastballs that speed in at 70-plus miles per hour.
“We think it looks easy, but we’re not behind the plate, and it’s coming in that fast with that much movement,” Cedarburg co-head coach Mark Jessup said, dispelling any notion that it is an easy role. “She (Brobst) keeps improving and her confidence keeps growing.”
As for the one in that line of fire, the catcher added that Monticelli has made her job easier by hitting her spots.
“There’s not much reaction time, but she is getting very, very accurate and it’s nice just knowing that I know where the pitch is going to be,” Brobst said.
“There’s a good connection there, that we’ve had for the past year or two, and all throughout our history together. You get that connection and you can kind of just go with it and it works.”
Brobst had hoped to earn the job behind the plate at some point during her high school years, but was content to learn from Grace Vornsand, an upperclassman.
“She was catching full-time for Paytn and I was very timid as a freshman. I thought, OK, that’s her place, I’ll let her do what she does and I’ll just observe and take in the information,” Brobst recalled.
She was called up to the varsity team as a freshman to be a base runner and eventually earned some starts at second base when Lily Englebert went on an exchange trip to France.
“I was like, ‘OK, whatever. I’ll do what you need me to do.’” Brobst said about her debut.”
The timeline changed when the 2020 season was canceled. Brobst got to work with Monticelli heading into last season, but admitted the whole thing felt rushed.
“I felt like I wasn’t prepared to really see the players again and work against batters and all the technical little issues. I was definitely freaked out, but then I feel like we really got our footing after the first couple games and it was easy going from there,” she said about last season. “I feel like I found my place.”
Brobst feels like she has found her place off the field as well. She will be attending her dream school in the fall, when she starts classes at UW-Madison.
“Ever since I was a kid, Madison was the goal. I love the environment there,” she said. “Madison was always the goal.”
She plans to study nutritional science and has some lofty ambitions.
“I want to help everybody that has food complications and make food that would taste like other things that they can’t have anymore,” she explained.
However, before starting on that path she would like to take one extra college visit, specifically a trip to Goodman Diamond in Madison for the state softball tournament next month.
