May 22, 2017 at 4:15 p.m.
Hodag softball looks to shrug off close losses entering playoffs
Hodag softball looks to shrug off close losses entering playoffs
There's no margin for error for the Hodags, who open the WIAA tournament Wednesday at home against Merrill in a 4-5 matchup in a Division 2 regional semifinal. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m.
The Hodags have seen seven-inning leads slip away four times already this month. Rhinelander went on to lose three of those contests, including a 6-5 nine-inning loss to close out the regular season last Thursday at Tomahawk. The Hodags roared ahead in that contest thanks to Makayla Kuester's grand
slam in the top of the seventh, but
gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning and eventually lost it on a walk-off two-out hit by Holley Winker in the ninth.
That loss is on top of a walk-off homer the Hodags surrendered in a 3-2 loss to then third-ranked (Division 1) Kaukauna back on May 6 and a 5-4 loss at Mosinee two days later in eight innings after giving up a 4-1 lead in the seventh.
One couldn't blame a coach for losing some sleep over all these close losses and Hodag skipper D.J. DeMeyer admitted that he has.
"I sat up Thursday night trying to figure out what are we doing (wrong) that we're losing these games," he said. "Last year we were winning these games."
DeMeyer pointed to execution - in particular in the bunt game - as one reason for the team's late struggles and said the team spent plenty of time in the cage working on bunting Friday. DeMeyer also pointed to his taxed pitching staff. Since returning to the lineup May 8 at Mosinee, No. 1 option Ali Schickert has been able to make it a full seven innings only twice - losses to Mosinee and Orangeville, Ill.
"We know Ali's not at 100 percent, but she's getting there and we're hoping by Wednesday's she's there," he said. "We'll keep working. She felt pretty good on Friday. We get her back at 100 percent, that changes the outlook of a lot of games."
The Hodags enter Wednesday's game 12-9 overall. Merrill was 8-11 overall, entering a make-up game against Wisconsin Rapids Monday. The Hodags and the Bluejays were supposed to meet to open the season back on March 28, but that game was nixed due to soft field conditions and the teams never rescheduled the non-conference contest.
The Bluejays are coached by Matt Ellenbecker, brother of RHS wrestling coach Paul Ellenbecker. Merrill also knows a thing or two about painful last-inning defeats. Last year, the Bluejays were one out away from advancing to the WIAA state tournament before Northwestern rallied for a 4-3 win in the sectional semifinals.
"They're very well-coached. They're a team a lot like us. I think matching up, their record shows they're right around us," DeMeyer said. "They had a major injury before the season started. They lost one of their best players to an ACL injury in basketball, but they play in a tough conference. Mr. Ellenbecker, he'd rather go play the tough teams and get them ready for the playoffs."
The Bluejays were 4-7 in the Wisconsin Valley entering Monday's contest, but had the third-best offense at 73 runs. They were fourth in runs allowed (43), team batting average (.281) and team ERA (4.16).
Offensively, Patience Pyan (.441, 1 HR, 14 RBIs), Maddix Bonnell (.419, 0, 8) and Kelsie Belfiori (.389, 0, 3) led the squad in WVC play. Taylor Krueger has logged the bulk of the innings in the circle, going 4-6 with a 3.04 ERA. She has 20 strikeouts, but has only allowed four walks in 55 1/3 innings over work in the Valley.
"Merrill's a very solid team," DeMeyer said. "They can hit the ball. They're sound defensively. They don't have a pitcher that's going to blow it by us, but she lives on the corners. We have to adjust, take the outside pitch to right center and the inside pitch, attack it."
The winner of Wednesday's game will face either top-seeded Rice Lake or the winner of the Ashland-Hayward play-in game on Friday. With a pair of wins last week against Antigo, the second seed in the regional, DeMeyer said he's not afraid of any potential matchup in the bracket.
"I told the girls, I don't think there's a team in the regional we can't beat," he said. "I haven't seen anything on Rice Lake, but they don't know anything about us either. They're going to look at our record and probably say, 'Oh, they're not that good. They're average.' I think really we're starting to see more girls making solid contact. Even on Thursday we had girls who were struggling to make contact start hitting the ball. Lindsay Juedes is really starting to hit the ball. Erica Counter's starting to make good, solid contact again. Hopefully, this translates into everyone putting the ball in play and hitting it hard."
One of Rhinelander's blown seventh-inning leads this month came in the first inning of the doubleheader against Antigo on May 16, but the Hodags won it 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh when Ivy Packard's bunt single turned into a round-tripper thanks to a three-base error. After that game, DeMeyer said Packard just did what she normally does, which may be the key for the entire team if the Hodags find themselves in another seventh-inning nailbiter.
"Ali just needs to keep the ball down, (we need to) play sound defense and be aggressive in the batter's box," DeMeyer said. "Just hit the ball hard and I think everything else will take care of itself."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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