July 12, 2021 at 9:02 a.m.
Team review: RHS softball
Young Hodag fastpitch team makes incremental gains
Team review: RHS softball
The Hodags showed flashes of greatness - beating perennial conference power Mosinee twice and playing Antigo to a pair of one-run games - but those moments didn't occur often enough for Rhinelander to emerge from the bottom half of the Great Northern Conference standings.
The end result was a 6-15 mark with a roster chock full of underclassmen.
"Our team from Day 1 to now has improved so much, and I hope the fans and the parents understand that," coach D.J. DeMeyer said following a season-ending playoff loss at Antigo. "They really, really improved. Unfortunately we weren't able to put it together all the time, but the future looks bright for Rhinelander when it comes to fastpitch."
Here are five storylines from the season.
Growing pains
Youth was served on this year's team. Of the Hodags' roster of 16 players, 10 of them were freshmen or sophomores who had never played at the high school level before due to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 season.
The Hodags, essentially, had only three returning players from their 2019 squad. By season's end the starting lineup featured four sophomores and two freshmen, with only one junior and two seniors.
Those struggles especially showed on the defensive end as 40% of the 155 runs allowed this year were unearned.
"We again had errors. We beat ourselves again and that's been the case all season long," DeMeyer said following a 10-0 home loss to eventual GNC-champion Medford. "If our team just makes the plays that are in front of us, I know I sound like a broken record, but the capability's there."
Mosinee wins
There were some bright moments though. The Hodags won all three games it played this year against a rebuilding Lakeland program and routed Three Lakes in a non-conference contest. But the team's two biggest - and most surprising - wins came against a long-time nemesis.
Rhinelander stunned Mosinee 6-1 May 18 at Pioneer Park, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead and holding off Mosinee down the stretch.
The win was Rhinelander's first over Mosinee since sweeping a doubleheader from the Indians on May 20, 2014, and the first victory for D.J. DeMeyer as the Hodags' head coach.
"It feels good. It feels really good," he said.
Rhinelander would offer up an encore a couple of weeks later in Mosinee, scoring four runs in the eighth after Mosinee tied it in the last of the seventh to win in extra innings, 8-4. It was Rhinelander's first win in Mosinee since sharing the GNC title with the Indians in 2012.
Dome debut
The other big moment for Rhinelander took place in the season opener on April 27 which, due to the threat of rain, was moved inside to the Hodag Dome.
The RHS softball team christened the 128,000-square-foot complex with a 15-0 rout of Lakeland, which ended up being part of a season-opening tripleheader inside the dome as Antigo, Merrill, Medford and Northland Pines also played.
"We had six varsity teams here and four JV teams, because of weather and we were able to use it," DeMeyer said. "This is what it's meant for. This is what it's built for, spring sports."
Rhinelander used the dome a second time during the season when thunderstorms suspended a home game against Medford at Pioneer Park. Following a delay of roughly an hour, the game resumed and finished inside the dome.
Statbook
As was the case two years ago, the Hodags entered the season without a pitcher who had logged a single varsity inning. Unlike two years ago, the team's pitching numbers were fairly strong.
Addi DeMeyer, coach DeMeyer's daughter, led the Hodags' three-player staff this year. The sophomore went 4-10 with a 3.18 ERA over 81 1/3 innings pitched. She struck out 109 batters but struggled with command at points during the season, walking 62 batters - including nine in a playoff loss at Antigo.
Fellow sophomore Abigail Bixby was the Hodags' second option, going 2-3 with a 7.18 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 26 1/3 innings. Freshman Laney Haenel was 0-1, allowing 29 runs over 10 2/3 innings.
DeMeyer also ended the season as the team's leading batter, hitting .409 overall according to statistics complied by the River News. Two seniors - Kylee White and Hannah Worachek - were productive in the middle part of the Hodag order. White hit .333 with 11 RBIs while Worachek was .326 with a home run and a team-best 18 RBIs.
Catcher Maddi Roeser wound up .371 on the season and hit a home run in the playoff loss against Antigo as she finished with nine RBIs. Junior Annika Johnson, who played soccer as a freshman before making the switch to softball, was a solid addition to the lineup, hitting .275 with 10 RBIs.
What's next
In White and Worachek, the Hodags will lose two of their top bats. The team will also take a hit in depth, graduating outfielder Alexis Hekrdle and infielder Emily Gregesich. In addition to Addi DeMeyer, Roeser and Annika Johnson, the team is slated to return end-of-season starters Abigale Johnson (.196, 8 RBIs), Bixby (.236, 9 RBIs), Chloe Felde (.270, 4 RBIs) and Haley Ives (.216, 9 RBIs).
Coach DeMeyer said next year's squad has the potential to take another step forward.
"If they can get the work done in the offseason. If the girls continue to work hard - they've got to lift weights, they've got to work out, they've got to get their cores stronger, their legs stronger - if they do that, and take 1,000 fly balls, take 1,000 ground balls and swing the bat about 2,000 times, this is going to be a team to be reckoned with," he said. "There's a lot of talent out there."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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