April 29, 2019 at 12:16 p.m.
Hodag softball ends week with win
Rhinelander beats Ashland, falls to Crandon in home triangular
Hodag softball ends week with win
Ella Mullikin homered and had three hits as the Hodag offense finally found its stride in a 14-5 win over Ashland in the last game of the Hodag Triangular at Pioneer Park.
"It was nice to get our first win of the season," Rhinelander coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "I thought we played better today than we did yesterday. We showed a little more spark, a little more drive. We still had some mental errors. Our pitching was better than yesterday yet. It's a work in progress."
Rhinelander dropped the first game of the invite to Crandon, 9-2. The Cardinals won the invite thanks to a 15-1 win over Ashland in the middle game of the day.
Rhinelander (1-4, 0-3 Great Northern) broke a 3-3 tie with Ashland with a five-run fourth inning and scored in every frame after that.
The catalyst for the rally was an error-aided round- tripper for Alex Oestreich, who hit an RBI triple to the gap in right center and came around to score as Ashland had trouble handling the relay throw from the outfield. That gave the Hodags a 5-3 lead in the fourth and sparked a big inning. Alexis Engelking walked and Kylee White reached on an error following the Oestreich triple. Engelking scored on a ground out by Carleene Morien and Mikayla Evenstad drove White home on a single to center. Evenstad later came around to score on a wild pitch.
DeMeyer called it a good response for his team, which took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but gave it all back in the second.
"I was getting nervous. They came back and tied it and I thought, 'Oh boy, are we going to bounce back?' And we did," he said.
White scored on a wild play in the fifth as Engelking took off from third, but Morien didn't from home plate, on a dropped third strike, which led to a strike them out, throw them out double play. White came around from second amid the confusion.
Mullikin doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth and Oestreich later drove in Sophia McGinnis on a two-out single.
Hailey Stefonek scored following an infield fly with the bases loaded in the seventh and Mullikin followed with a two-run homer to straight away center moments later. She and Oestreich combined for five hits and four RBIs in the game.
"Ella and Alex played really well," DeMeyer noted.
Brylee Ridderbusch pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief to pick up the win. She left with one out in the sixth after walking the bases loaded. Oestreich did not allow a hit the rest of the way and struck out the final four batters she faced to close out the game. Ridderbusch, Oestreich and starting pitcher Sophia McGinnis combined to fan 12 Ashland batters in the win.
The big innings that plagued the Hodags in the first three games of the season showed up again during Friday's first game against Crandon. A six-run fourth inning was essentially the difference in the contest for the Cardinals.
Leading 2-1 at the time, two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out for the top of the Crandon order in the fourth. Alexa Neilitz drew a bases loaded walk off Ridderbusch. Autum Schallock hit a run-scoring fielder's choice and Lindsay Littleton cleared the bases with a three-run triple. Littleton later scored on a two-out error.
"I think we had a couple walks and then there was a big double that cleared the bases. The walks hurt us again in the first game," DeMeyer said.
Both teams scored in the first. Makayla Seebers hit an RBI grounder and Sarah Kalkofen followed with an RBI single for Crandon in the first. Rhinelander got one back in the bottom of the inning as Evenstad singled and eventually came around an a sacrifice fly by McGinnis.
Crandon tacked on a run in the fifth on a double by Schallock. Mullikin singled home Hannah Worachek in the sixth for Rhinelander.
"Crandon had a nice team," DeMeyer said. "They had a nice pitcher that kept us off balance. I still thought we should have hit the ball more. We struggled hitting the ball."
Both teams had five hits in the contest. Worachek and Mullikin had two hits each for the Hodags. Ridderbusch took the loss for Rhinelander, allowing six earned runs on four hits with seven walks and six strikeouts in four-plus innings. Oestreich pitched three innings of scoreless relief, with a hit, three strikeouts and no walks.
"Alex has been pitching fantastic," DeMeyer said. "She's not going to blow it by you but if she can locate her pitches and change the speeds the way she can, she can keep us in a game. She's kind of turning into our little closer."
The schedule does not get any lighter for the Hodags this week. The team was scheduled to host Antigo yesterday, but that game was postponed and rescheduled for Friday. Rhinelander hosts Lakeland in a doubleheader today and travels to Eagle River to play two against Northland Pines on Thursday.
"They've been worked hard this week. They've had five games. And we're going to have the same thing next week," DeMeyer said of the taxing schedule. "We only got three pitchers and their stamina isn't there to go 6-7 innings. We're going to have to keep rotating them in and do the best we can."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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