August 12, 2021 at 10:30 a.m.
Snowhawks use early lead to beat The Lakeland Times
Snowhawks use early lead to beat The Lakeland Times
By By Brett LaBore-
The Snowhawks ended up winning the game 17-11 and extending their win streak to five.
"It was a lot of fun. Glad you guys could come out, glad you had a nice team," coach Jeff Smith said. "We couldn't take you too lightly. But we want to make it fun for us, both teams and the fans. We had a blast, we really did."
The Times didn't get out to the best start. Offensively, we got one hit and put up zero runs. Meanwhile, the Snowhawks came to play and scored a couple of early runs.
The Snowhawks got hit after hit starting with Smith. Then Todd Niemuth reached on a hit. Jesse Robinson, Cole Punches and Derek Young all contributed with hits. Smith and Niemuth both scored to make it 2-0. Then Robinson scored to make it 3-0 after one inning.
Again, we went cold in the top of the second with a one-two-three inning. I grounded out in my first at-bat but was determined to make up for it later with a hit.
The Snowhawks kept expanding their lead, this time scoring the maximum of five runs in the second inning. We only recorded one out and it came off the bat of Nick Merckz on a fielder's choice.
I played catcher for the first two innings and I felt like I was seeing a carousel. Round and round batters went and I didn't see any action. After two innings, the Snowhawks led 8-0.
"We (got) another lead again and it kind of sets the tone when you do that," Smith said.
The Times finally got on the board in the third inning thanks to Melissa Redman who hit Adam Redman home after he reached base with a big dive. It was an 8-1 game now.
In the bottom of the third, Ryan Schowalter added to the Snowhawks score with a home run. However, pitcher Craig Holmquist did record his second strikeout of the day.
The Snowhawks now led 12-1 after three innings.
The tide finally turned for The Lakeland Times in the fourth. I got my first hit of the day on a base hit up the middle. Sandwiched in-between that were singles by Billy Kuchler and Dick Lee. River News sports editor Jeremy Mayo walked to score a run.
"I thought you guys did really good for the first time. Some of these guys have never been on skis," Smith said.
It got a little bizarre with Metzger's at-bat, which he lined to first, off of Mayo's ankle. Initially, the Snowhawks thought they had an inning-ending double play, but the play was dead after Mayo was hit by the batted ball, so my run counted and the inning went on. Adam and Melissa Redman got hits to extend the inning as did Eddie Rynders.
We scored the maximum five runs and now it was a 12-6 game.
"We didn't want to get it too out of hand but you guys started hammering the ball," Smith said. "We had to get start getting serious again. It was kind of fun. It brought the competitiveness out again."
The fourth inning featured arguably the defensive play of the game. Two runs scored on a ball smashed to deep left by Robinson, who tried to leg out an inside-the-park home run. But Lee relayed to shortstop Walker Hartman who threw to Mayo in time to get Robinson at the plate.
"I just closed my eyes, stretched out and the ball stuck," Mayo said, playfully, of the relay throw he grabbed while falling to the sawdust and trying to keep a snowshoe on home plate.
The Snowhawks made it 14-6, but we were improving.
The comeback kept going in the fifth. Jack Eldred got his first hit of the game with a single up the middle. Hartman and Holmquist also got hits. Kuchler drove in a run as did Dick Lee. The score was 14-9 now.
We shut the Snowhawks down in the fifth inning. They were limited to the three batters which included a double play off the bat of Ryan Schowalter. So we were plus-three in the inning.
Adam and Melissa Redman got their third hits each in the sixth inning. Rynders, Eldred and Hartman got them home with some hits.
"You have some guys that can run like crazy, you beat out some throws to first, beat out a couple throws to second," Smith said. "I'm kind of impressed, I really am."
The Lakeland Times were on a 10-2 run and down just 14-11 now.
Moving to the bottom of the seventh, the Snowhawks got back in the run column as Jacob Hodgden and Smith scored.
We were running out of time to put up some runs in the eighth. It was not our best inning which included a strikeout by Eldred on two foul balls.
In the bottom of the ninth now, we were down 17-11. Hartman, Holmquist and Kuchler started the inning off with hits to load the bases. Unfortunately, I ran out of magic and didn't get another hit all game. I hit into a fielder's choice for the first out. Next up, Lee grounded into a double play to end the game.
"They put me on second the last inning so I was able to catch a ball way off to my right and give it to first," Smith said. "But it was fun, give guys a chance to move around a little bit and see what it is to play other positions."
Up next, the Snowhawks take on Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) on Monday, Aug. 16 at Snowshoe Park in Lake Tomahawk. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.
"They have a pretty decent team normally," Smith said. "We don't know exactly what all the players are going to be cause they change around but they bring players from Wausau, Stevens Point, some of the guys from here."
Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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