August 1, 2014 at 2:41 p.m.
Rhinelander Little League 10Us begin state tournament play Saturday
Rhinelander Little League 10Us begin state tournament play Saturday
Over the next five days the Hodags will be in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale competing for the right to advance to the state championship game. Play begins this morning as Rhinelander takes on Appleton Einstein.
Since winning the District 5 tournament July 18, the Hodags have had a handful of practices and a couple of scrimmages against Rhinelander's 11-year-old traveling team.
"We've just kind of let them relax and not think about it so much," team manager Craig Orth said. "We didn't drill them quite as hard, but let them have some fun for a bit. (Wednesday night's practice) was a little more serious, but I think they are ready to go. We don't have to drill them. I told them we could drill them for two, three, four more weeks and they still might not be any further along. I think they're just ready to go and play."
For a handful of players on this year's roster the trip to state is nothing new. Tim Fox, Isaac Bixby, Joe Schneider and Jacksen Smith were part of last year's team that went 1-4 at the state tournament in Rice Lake and was eliminated after pool play.
Those players said the run to state this year has been different than it was a year ago. For starters, Rhinelander was able to stay home and play all of its district tournament games in the friendly confines of Mel Mode Field at Hodag Park.
"It was nice to have it here to just come to our fields, be able to play some teams and have it be on our home fields," Fox said.
Schneider said he felt like he he's been able to contribute more to this year's squad.
"It was a lot more fun because I could do a lot better than last year," he said. "This year was a lot more fun to help out on the team by being (No.) 4 (in the batting order) and pitching more."
Orth said the team will rely heavily on that experience during the state tournament.
"I'm hoping that's going to pay off down there a little bit," he said. "The kids know what to expect and we've got a good group of core kids who are all leaders. I hope that's going to pay off for us. Having those guys who are leaders on the team and have already been there, they can help the others along."
Among the newbies on this team is Orth's son, Devyn, who said he will likely use his veteran teammates as a sounding board during the event.
"I know that they went down there before so they'll probably talk me through it and make me not uncomfortable," he said.
The rules of engagement will be different for the Hodags at state than they were during the district tournament. At districts, Rhinelander had the luxury of a 13-player roster, which allowed it to skirt the minimum play rules. All the team had to do was make sure each player received one at-bat during the game. The Hodags will be down a player at state, which brings more cumbersome regulations into play. Not only must each player have at least one at-bat, each player must play a minimum of six consecutive outs in the field.
That will mean plenty of moving parts, players potentially playing different spots than they are accustomed to and more thinking on the part of Craig Orth and his fellow coaches - Tom Fox and Kevin Bixby.
"It's a lot more to do in the management department and in the dugout, getting these kids in and making sure they get six outs and one at-bat," Orth said. "Our fielding is typically there. Kids are going to be shifting around more, so it's not going to be just sitting in one spot like they were. We'll see how that plays out."
Those regulations are on top of already stringent pitching limitations. The number of pitches a player throws on any given day determines when he may pitch again. Orth said the team will attempt to keep all its pitchers at 20 pitches or fewer per day so they are eligible to pitch again the following day.
"We've got five games in five days and, with the pitch counts, we've got to manage that well so we don't burn our pitchers out," he said. "Because we've got seven, eight kids that can pitch, I think we can get through with our top six in most games with 20 apiece. That's going to be the strategy until we have to do otherwise."
Rhinelander is far and away the smallest fish in the pond, population-wise, at the state tournament. West Bend, Appleton, Eau Claire, Madison and Kenosha are the other cities represented at state. That fact, however, doesn't seem to faze the players or the coaches.
"This year I'm expecting for maybe the teams to be either a little bit harder or not as hard, but I'm going to be playing my best," Tim Fox said.
Isaac Bixby added: "I'm going to be expecting the teams to be a lot harder because if I underestimate them, some bad things might happen. I'm going to take them as all hard teams."
Craig Orth said if the team is on its game, the size of the opposing team's hometown won't matter much.
"They're all big city teams. We're the smallest (team) in there by far, I think, but I think if we go in there and play our game with the pitching we've got I think we can beat anybody on any given day," he said. "I think it just comes down to how we hit the ball."
Over the next five days, the Hodags will play the other five districts in round robin play. After today's tilt with Appleton Einstein, Rhinelander will play Eau Claire National Sunday, Madison Kennedy Monday, Kenosha Tuesday and West Bend Wednesday. Following pool play, the two teams with the best overall records will play on Thursday for the state championship.
Craig Orth said the team is ready to go.
"I think they just want to get down there and play," he said. "They don't seem to be real nervous our anything right now. Once we get down there and get on the field that first day, it might be a little different. Like any game, once you get out there and start playing, things just kind of start falling in place.
"We're going to represent Rhinelander the best way we can. These kids are a good group of kids. I hope to God we go down there, give it everything we've got and we'll see what happens."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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