April 30, 2018 at 1:05 p.m.
Wausau West cools off Hodag softball
Wausau West cools off Hodag softball
Rhinelander and West both had seven hits, but the Warriors were able to string theirs together and the Hodags were not. Shaelyn Talley had a five-RBI game for West including a grand slam in the seventh inning that put the game out of reach.
"We just didn't have any lucky bounces," said Hodag coach D.J. DeMeyer, whose team had scored 12 or more runs in each of its first three contests. "Every time we hit the ball we hit it right at them. This is the way some games go sometimes. I think we had only three strikeouts, so we were hitting the ball. We lined out I don't know how many times. They got some lucky bounces and we didn't. That's just the way the game goes."
Talley put West on the board early and late. Her RBI single in the first scored Cassie Oelke, who led off the game with a double. She came back up on the seventh with the bases loaded, one out and took Molly Wagler's 0-1 offering to straightaway center.
"It was a good pitch. It wasn't a bad pitch. It was low and she golfed it out of center field," DeMeyer said.
West got a two-run single from Elise Brown in the third inning as it led from wire to wire. The Hodags had runners on base in every inning but were not able to score until the seventh inning when Sophia McGinnis reached on an error and came around on a ground out by Stephanie Kuester.
Cami Buchmann had two hits for the Hodags out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup. Makayla Kuester just missed a home run in the first, putting a line drive off the top of the fence in center before settling for a double.
"They're a nice team, a very solid team defensively and I give them credit. We just couldn't find the holes," DeMeyer said.
Stephanie Kuester took the loss for Rhinelander, allowing one earned run on four hits over four innings. Wagler came on in the fifth and didn't allow a hit until the seventh, when she surrendered a pair of singles and a walk prior to Talley's slam.
"They hit Steph a little harder than they did Molly, though Molly gave up the grand slam," DeMeyer said. "I think we had one throwing error (in the third inning) that cost us a run and that's about it. This team has made it hard for me to define starters in positions where I need to define starters. Everyone's been performing well."
Abby Schilling added a pair of hits for Wausau West. Nicole Brice allowed an unearned run on seven hits over seven innings to pick up the victory.
Rhinelander (3-1) played Wausau East Monday in a non-conference game that concluded after deadline. The Hodags face Northland Pines in a doubleheader today at Pioneer Park.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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