July 17, 2020 at 11:03 a.m.
Northwoods Fastpitch goes 1-3 in Wausau
Northwoods Fastpitch goes 1-3 in Wausau
By by Brett LaBore-
Northwoods - comprised of players from the greater Rhinelander, Lakeland and Eagle River areas - played a total of four games at the softball fields at Wausau West High School and went 1-3.
"It was a good tune-up for the Dells," coach Mike Richie said. "It was a great experience for us, an all-day practice and we got to do a lot of stuff. But we'll be at full strength so that'll make a big difference."
Onalaska
In the bottom of the third, Maddie Marino hit a double to center field to set Northwoods up with a runner in scoring position. The team already had a 1-0 lead.
Next up Saylor Timmerman also hit a double, this one to right field to score Marino and give Northwoods a 2-0 lead.
Onalaska put together their own inning with multiple runs in the top of the fourth. A couple of errors led to two separate runs. In addition to that, a couple of singles to center and right field increased Onalaska's lead to 4-2.
In the bottom half of the inning, Hannah Worachek singled to start the inning. After a walk, there were runners on first and second.
Then, Kylee White singled to center to score Worachek and get one of the runs back. Onalaska still led 4-3.
Another error led to another Onalaska run in the top of the fifth to increase the lead to 5-3.
Sisters Bella and Maddie Marino led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a walk and single to center respectively. Eventually they made their way to second and third with no outs.
Timmerman later drove in Bella Marino on a sacrifice fly. The score was now 5-4.
The big swing came courtesy of Naomi Hamerla. She hit a two-run home run over the left field fence to give Northwoods a 6-5 lead. That ended up being the difference.
Pitching for Northwoods was Timmerman. She had a clean sixth inning, capped off by a diving catch by Bella Marino at second base. Timmerman added a perfect seventh to close out the victory.
"(Saylor) did a nice job. She's pretty consistent and it's nice to have that consistency when she throws," Richie said. "When she's focused, she's tough to hit."
Thorp
This contest did not go in Northwoods' favor as Thorp won 16-1 after three and a half innings.
Maddie Marino was in the pitching circle.
Immediately in the top of the first, Thorp put pressure on Northwoods with a 5-0 lead. There were three walks in the inning.
"We got behind 5-0 and (Maddie) was the only pitcher we had available for that game," Richie said.
Marino came back for a great second inning, issuing multiple strikeouts and no runs.
The bats went quiet for Northwoods. After two innings, there were no runs and just a couple of hits. Thorp had a big inning in the top of the third. There were at least five hits in the inning and Thorp was dominating the game.
Hamerla got things going in the bottom of the third with a hit to center that got past the outfielder. Hamerla found herself on third base.
Worachek singled her in for the first run for Northwoods. She also stole a base.
Medford
Game three was against Medford. It was more competitive, but Medford won 6-2. Both Maddie Marino and Timmerman pitched in the game.
"Maddie started pitching again and got a little bit tired and then we brought (Saylor) in and it was a good game," Richie said. "We didn't hit the ball all that well, played much better defensively, we just got beat."
Wausau West
The final game was against Wausau West and it was a close game. The WildFire snuck away with a 4-1 win.
The highlight of the game came when Maddie Marino hit the top of the fence twice. Northwoods was inches away from having a couple of more runs.
Wausau West was one of the best teams in the field and Richie was proud of his team's effort.
"That was by far the best team that was there," Richie said. "We gave them a great game."
Both Northwoods' 14U and 17U teams played in Wisconsin Dells over the weekend. Coverage of that tournament will be published in an upcoming edition of the River News.
Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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