May 9, 2018 at 1:41 p.m.
Softball: Inconsistent Hodags split with Lakeland
Softball: Inconsistent Hodags split with Lakeland
Rhinelander's wildly inconsistent season continued Monday with another doubleheader split at the hands of a traditional Great Northern Conference underling. The Hodags suffered their first loss to Lakeland since joining the GNC, falling 4-1 in game 1 of a doubleheader at Lenz Field. Rhinelander then turned around and defeated the T-Birds 15-0 in the nightcap.
"I don't have any explanation for it," Hodag softball coach D.J. DeMeyer said of his team's inconsistency. "We have the talent. I don't know if they were nervous for the game. I just told the girls in the second game to go out and have some fun. I said, 'It's on you guys, I can't do anything else.'"
The Hodags, who shelled Lakeland's Tatum Morris in a 12-1 non-conference win in Rhinelander April 26, tallied only five hits off her in game 1 Monday. The Lakeland sophomore responded with three hits of her own at the plate, including a single in the sixth inning that provided Lakeland with some key insurance.
"We were off our front foot again and couldn't make the adjustment to the slower speed. We just didn't play well, didn't have any spark or anything like that," DeMeyer said.
Rhinelander's own miscues spotted Lakeland a pair of runs in the first inning of game one. Britta Salquist drew a bases-loaded two-out walk for the T-Birds first run and Callin Lenz later scored on a wild pitch.
The Hodags got one back in the fourth as Ella Mullikin singled and scored on a Hope Wissbroecker sacrifice fly, but Morris shut down Rhinelander from there, retiring the last 12 batters she faced.
Lakeland tacked on two more in the sixth as Morris' single drove in a run and then Wagler issued a walk to load the bases. Wagler was relieved in the circle by Stephanie Kuester at that point, but Kuester walked Caitlin Hartigan to force in another run before finally putting out the fire.
Wagler walked six batters and allowed eight hits in the game 1 loss.
"Molly struggled a little bit. Maybe she was a little tired from Saturday," DeMeyer said. "I think she had five or six walks and then, of course, they have their timely bloop hits. That was the story other than we didn't hit the ball. Defensively, we were sound. They just found some holes."
Game 2
Fortunes changed for the Hodags in the second game. The team pounded out 12 hits, including nine from the top four in the order, as they routed Lakeland in four innings.
Rhinelander scored six in the second, six more in the third and invoked the 15-run mercy rule with three runs in the fourth.
"We come back the second game, they throw a different pitcher who might be just a smidgen faster and we're lights out," DeMeyer said.
Bryce Ridderbusch's two-run single set off a string of RBIs for the Hodags in the second. Stephanie Kuester followed with her first of two doubles in the game, Mikayla Evenstad added an RBI single and Makayla Kuester drove in a run on a ground out as Rhinelander sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
Stephanie Kuester singled in a run in the third, followed by a two-run double by Makayla Kuester and an RBI single by Mullikin before two more runs scored via an error.
A wild pitch and an error accounted for Rhinelander first two runs in the fourth before Mullikin ended it with an RBI double.
Stephanie Kuester only allowed a first-inning single to Morris. She struck out five and walked two in the shutout.
With the split, Rhinelander fell two games behind Mosinee in the loss column for first place the GNC standings. The teams will play a doubleheader this afternoon at Pioneer Park.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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