April 25, 2022 at 7:50 a.m.
Softball: Antigo silences Hodag bats in 8-0 decision
Softball: Antigo silences Hodag bats in 8-0 decision
The Red Robins, and ace pitcher Sam Swartz, did not make life any easier on the Hodags.
Swartz twirled a one-hitter with six strikeouts and Antigo shut out the Hodags 8-0 at Little League Park in Antigo.
It marked the second time that Rhinelander (3-7, 1-3 Great Northern) has been one-hit this season, and the first time it was shutout.
Hodag coach D.J. DeMeyer said the issue boils down to the matter of a young team struggling to find confidence at the plate.
"We talk about being aggressive at the plate and the girls just have to follow through with that," he said. "Right now, what we're doing in practice is not coming on to the field as far as hitting. We hit the ball really hard in practice with live pitching and it's like we're not doing that in the games right now. It is what it is."
As was the case in Rhinelander's other one-hit loss - on April 9 against Marshfield in the Hodag Dome -Addi DeMeyer registered the Hodags' lone hit. She hit a two-out single in the first inning and got to second on a passed ball before Annika Johnson flew out to right to end the inning. That proved to be the only runner Rhinelander got into scoring position the entire day.
Adding injury to insult, DeMeyer rolled her ankle on her warmup pitches prior to the bottom of the sixth inning and had to leave the game. The Robins then scored four times off relief pitcher Laney Haenel to blow the game open.
Coach DeMeyer, Addi's father, said Thursday night that his daughter is day-to-day with the injury, but said that she would not have pitched Friday when the Hodags were scheduled to play at Medford in a make-up contest. Luckily for Rhinelander, Mother Nature granted DeMeyer's ankle a reprieve, as the event was rained out again. The teams will try again to get in the contest Wednesday, May 11.
Prior to the injury, DeMeyer had allowed four runs on seven hits over five innings Tuesday with four walks and three strikeouts.
Swartz and battery mate Laura Burkhardt did the most offensive damage for the Robins in the early innings. Swartz hit a grounder in the bottom of the first that drove in Makala Beck, who led off the inning with a double. Burkhardt doubled home Sydnie Heinzen in the third and then hit a solo home run off Addi DeMeyer in the fifth.
Beck had two hits in the game for Antigo including an RBI single in the fourth.
"They had a couple of hits, we had a couple of walks and they ended up scoring," coach DeMeyer said. "We played pretty well, defensively. I think we had one error. I was really happy with our defensive effort. Now we just have to work on the offensive effort."
Natalee Sundby and Abigale Johnson were the only others to reach base for the Hodags, drawing walks in the third and sixth innings, respectively.
"We're just going to keep working on it on the mental aspect and just keep doing our practices when we can get through that slump and start hitting the ball like we did earlier in the season," coach DeMeyer said. "We hit the ball, but we didn't hit it hard. We lined out a couple of times to second base. They were rockets, but right at them. I did see an uptick from Tuesday's games. Hopefully we can continue to uptick and we'll find it. The ball will find some holes and we'll start getting some confidence going."
Rhinelander will get another crack at Antigo at home on Thursday. But first, the Hodags will host a doubleheader today against Tomahawk. Those games will take place in the Hodag Dome, with the first pitch at 4 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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