New London senior tore ACL in basketball

By Greg Seubert

Not even a serious knee injury could keep Paeton Kringel from enjoying her final season of high school softball.

After tearing an ACL during a girls’ basketball practice in January, the recently graduated New London High School senior missed the rest of the basketball season and most of the Bulldogs’ softball season, which wrapped up with a trip to the WIAA State Softball Tournament in Madison.

Hard work and determination paid off for Kringel, as she was able to pinch hit for New London June 10 in an 11-10 Division 2 state semifinal loss to Freedom at Goodman Diamond in Madison.

“When I went down (with the injury), I didn’t really know for sure,” she said minutes after the Bulldogs’ season ended with a one-run loss to Freedom, which went on to win a Division 2 state championship.

“I went by my trainer and she’s feeling around and I’m like, ‘I don’t think it’s that bad,’” she said. “It got pretty swollen and we went to the doctor and when he told me it was torn, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how?’ I was very upset, but I have a really good family and teammates beside me. Right away, I got in the mindset of how can I get back.”

Bay Conference coaches selected Kringel as the league’s player of the year in 2021 after she posted a 13-4 pitching record as a junior.

“Everybody knows Paeton went out with a blown ACL in basketball,” New London softball co-coach Melinda Hull said. “I got that phone call and that was just heart-wrenching. She has the support of the school, our community, her family, her teammates.”

Kringel attended the team’s practices and games while rehabbing from the injury. She had a single in her only at-bat of the regular season May 17 during a 17-1 win over Green Bay West/East in New London.

“I said, ‘I’m good to go,’” she said. “I started hitting more and more and I felt better in my knee. I said, ‘I’m going to suit up and if I get in, I get in. If I don’t, I’m going to be the best teammate.’”

“She got cleared from her doctor and we really just wanted her to get an at-bat,” Hull said. “I was shaking in my boots the whole time, but it was a good thing for her healing process to have that one at-bat.”

Kringel stepped up to the plate again for the Bulldogs in their loss to Freedom as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, but struck out in her only at-bat.

“To be able to get to bat out there was incredible,” she said. “I have amazing coaches that gave me the opportunity to do it. When I look back to January, I would have never expected this at all. I’m super-grateful that I got to do it and see the field one last time.”

Kringel isn’t finished with the sport, as she had accepted the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s scholarship offer before her injury to play Division 1 softball for the Phoenix.

“She knows her role and that’s what’s so great about Paeton,” Hull said. “She has the heart and the work ethic to come back. She’s been there as a captain and a leader. She’s been at practices and games and she’s put in the work. Green Bay’s getting a good one.”

“Be the best teammate that I could be every day,” Kringel said. “That’s all I could do. I’m happy with everything I did. Everything happens for a reason.”