By Reagan Hoverman

The odds of hitting a hole-in-one are approximately one in 12,500. Coincidentally enough, the odds of Prescott overcoming a five-shot deficit in the last two holes on the second day of the 2022 WIAA Girls Golf State Tournament were probably similar to those of making an ace – and both of them happened.

After Prescott’s lackluster team score of 352 on the first day of the tournament, the Cardinals found themselves trailing by four shots going into the second day of competition at the University Ridge Golf Course in Madison on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Prescott’s deficit grew as both teams made the turn and at one point, the Cardinals trailed by a dozen shots with less than nine holes left to play. Prescott head coach Chad Salay stated that down the stretch, it looked like The Prairie School, a Racine- based private school, had the Cardinals dead to rights.

“It was a crazy rollercoaster of emotions and I don’t know whether to cry, scream or yell, it was just nuts,” Salay said. “Towards the end it just looked like we had no chance, to be honest.”

Prescott trailed by nearly a half-dozen shots with less than three holes to play on the second and final day of the state tournament. The Cardinals needed something amazing to happen, a spark to get the comeback started and senior Maddie Reiter provided exactly that.

She stepped up to the 17th tee (the eighth hole because Prescott started on the back nine) and struck a perfectly hit wedge that landed on the front of the green, rolled up near the pin and eventually fell into the cup for a hole-in-one. The crowd around the green erupted in celebration and excitement, as with one swing of the golf club, Reiter kept Prescott’s title hopes alive. It was the eighth hole-in-one in state tournament history.

The crowd’s roar after Reiter’s ace echoed throughout all corners of Universi- ty Ridge and signified that something truly special had just happened. Coach Salay spoke about how that shot sparked the improbable comeback.

“We had the hole-in-one and that just turned everything around,” Salay said. “Momentum swung our way. The girls knew she made a hole-in-one, but they didn’t know how much that changed the score complex- ion. They just kept fighting.” Reiter, one of Prescott’s three seniors on the varsity roster, spoke about that hole-in-one, what it felt like and how it turned around a day that looked like it was destined to end in heartbreak.

“I was so nervous all day because I don’t really have a 70-yard shot and I knew it was going to sit right around 70 yards,” Reiter said. “I knew we needed something good. I was thinking about sticking it and making birdie, but it kept going, and then it dropped.”

Reiter helped jumpstart Prescott’s comeback in the closing holes of the tournament. However, Prescott needed more than just Reiter. Senior Rhi Stutz, who played in the tournament’s penultimate pairing, also delivered a career-defining moment. Stutz went to the 18th tee knowing the margin was razor thin and that Prescott need – ed her to birdie to give Ava Salay any chance at either forcing a playou or outright winning the title. Stutz smashed a driver down the middle of the 421-yard par-five 18th hole.

After her second shot landed about 80 yards short of the green in the rough, Stutz hit an outstanding wedge shot approximately six feet past the pin and gave herself a good look at birdie. She read the putt for several minutes before pouring it into the center of the cup for a birdie.

“I knew how important that was going to be. I knew going into the hole that we were down three strokes and that I had to beat my girl,” Stutz said after the tournament. “I hit my third shot and started hearing screams, so I knew it was either close or went in. I knew I had to make it to give Ava (Salay) some wig – gle room and I made it.” While Stutz made birdie on the 18th, Ava Salay’s group was producing fireworks on the 17th green. Ava Salay stuck a wedge close and poured in a birdie to shave another shot ou of the lead. Meanwhile, The Prairie School’s top golfer Sophia Lawler made dou – ble bogey at the 17th, meaning Salay and the Cardinals went to the 18th tee with a one-shot lead.

“I said to Ava when she made a birdie on eight (17) and Sophie (Lawler) made a dou – ble, I told her that was a championship putt,” Chad Salay said. “That gave us the lead and I said that’s why you’re a champion.” By the time both Ava Salay and Lawler had made it to the par-five 18th green, Salay was hitting four from the rough while Lawler was hitting three out of the greenside bunker. Salay chipped to about 10 feet past the hole and Lawler blasted a bunker shot to nearly an identical spot as Salay’s.

Ava Salay took her time reading the putt, stepped up, and poured in the 10-footer to save par and force Lawler to hole the birdie to force a playou, and that’s exactly what she did. Prescott and The Prairie School went to sudden death.

“It was funny because it felt great but I didn’t really know what it meant at the time,” Ava Salay said. “I heard everyone erupt and I didn’t know if we won or what happened. My first impression was that we won and then my dad said that we were going to a team play –

ou.”

Salay’s clutch putting helped force the sudden death playou. Both teams went back to the first tee and had all five players on each roster play the hole at the same time. The lowest cumulative score of each team’s best four scores on that hole would win the title.

Prescott sophomores Gabbi Matzek and Jeanne Rohl both made par, while Ava Salay, Stutz and Reiter all made bogey for a cumu – lative score of 18. The Prairie School’s entire roster made bogey for a score of 20, meaning the Cardinals had completed the improbable comeback and secured a third consecutive state championship.

Prescott’s scores include Ava Salay’s 74, which secured her second consecutive WIAA Division 2 Individual Girls Golf State Cham – pionship, as well as Stutz’s round of 74. Matzek posted an 89, Reiter posted a 95, and Rohl rounded out the scoring with a 101.

The victory moved Prescott into one of the most elite clubs in Wisconsin high school sports history. The Cardinals became the fifth school in state history – for both Division 1 and Division 2 – to win three consecutive golf state championships.

“This is just a legacy changer for these girls and those seniors to get that third,” Chad Salay said of three-peating as state champi – ons. “There can’t be more than 30 girls in the history of golf that have three titles individu- ally. Maddie (Reiter) and Rhi (Stutz) and Ava (Salay) are three of them.” The victory means that some of the most important seniors in program history, includ ing Salay, Stutz, and Reiter, go out on top one final time as state champions. Their contri – butions to the program runs deeper than just the championship-caliber scores they shot. It includes the work ethic they instilled deep in the fibers of the program and the rich tradi tion of success they built in Prescott that will continue for years to come.

Prescott girls golf head coach Chad Salay gives his daughter Ava Salay, Prescott’s #1 golfer, a huge hug after she made a 10-footer for par on the 18th hole to send the state tournament to a sudden death playoff. The Cardinals went on to win their third consecutive state title in the playoff.Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Prescott senior Rhi Stutz gets a high five from head coach Chad Salay after she poured in a long birdie putt on the 14th hole. Stutz’s birdie at 14 helped Prescott start its comeback that led to a third consecutive state title.Photo by Reagan Hoverman