March 24, 2022 at 7:46 a.m.
Season coming quickly for Hodag teams
Season coming quickly for Hodag teams
Games are right around the corner for the Hodag softball, baseball and girls' soccer teams in a season that will look much different than 2021.
Last season, an early thaw combined with a late start due to an alternate fall season created by the WIAA during the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that spring sports teams had several weeks and, in the case of girls' soccer, nearly two months to prepare for game one. This year, all of those preparations will need to be done in less than two weeks.
"This is like you're getting right back into it right away," Hodag baseball coach Joe Waksmonski said. "You don't have the grace period of two or three weeks to kind of get into a flow. We have to quickly ramp it up and get ready to go for next week because we've already got Game 1."
The Hodag softball team opens play with a four-team invite this afternoon in the Hodag Dome, the Hodag baseball team is set for a March 31 opener at Wausau East and the Hodag girls' soccer team will host a multi-school invite April 1 and 2 to open its campaign.
Further complicating the time crunch, at least for softball and baseball, is where spring break fell on the School District of Rhinelander calendar. With no classes last week, a number of players and coach D.J. DeMeyer were gone during break, when softball practice officially began.
"We looked a little rusty today, but we'll keep working on it Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then Friday, we've got a doubleheader, so we have to get ready," DeMeyer said.
Because the majority of its squad was out of town, the Hodag baseball team decided to forgo five optional days of pitcher and catcher training last week. Waksmonski said a few of the players who stayed in town worked out on their own last week.
In a way, having the Hodag Dome is a bit of a double-edged sword this year. While the Hodag softball and girls' soccer teams likely would not be rushing to playing games as early into the season if not for the luxury of a climate-controlled facility, it also gives them the advantage of ample space to prepare for their seasons.
"I think the dome's going to pay off in the long run for all sports," Hodag girls' soccer coach Nathan Bates said. "It's an amazing facility. It's something pretty special and I hope the kids realize what they have here and the opportunities they have to do all year long."
Four of the six RHS spring sports teams are now in action. The Hodag boys' tennis and golf teams will hold their first practices of the season this coming Monday.
Baseball breaks in a young roster
Waksmonski, now in his 16th year at the helm of the Hodag baseball program, likely wouldn't mind a longer lead into the season, like his team had last year. That's because his team is exceedingly young this season.
"Looking at our roster, I want to say it's 80% sophomores or freshmen," he said. "We just have to get everyone up to speed on just the routines of playing catch, going through their drill series, going through our team series and learning how to hit along with BP and all of that - all the drill work that goes into that as well."
Depending on how Mother Nature treats the Northwoods over the next few days, the Hodags may not have the luxury of time. Wausau did not receive nearly as much snow out of the system that left the area yesterday, meaning that a March 31 contest there is still very much a possibility. If it happens, it would be Rhinelander's first March baseball game since 2010 when it played back-to-back games at Holmen and La Crosse Aquinas March 30 and 31.
The Hodags have only eight practices to get ready for that game, and Waksmonski said he's not going to make the run-up to the first game a crash course in high school baseball.
"We're not going to be hell-bent on making sure we have everything in," he said. "We've got to get into this slow and easy. Like I said before, 80% of our kids are freshmen or sophomores, so we really just need to get into the routines and just drill into the daily work and all of that will come along. We're not trying to win a state title on March 31, that's for sure."
Monday's first practice was the team's traditional scouting combine where it measured arm speed, bat velocity, sprinting times and other metrics.
Even if the snow from this week's storm leaves quickly, Waksmonski said the team still may utilize the dome well into the month of April as the team waits for work to resume and be completed on renovated batting cages at Hodag Park.
"Without those cages we can't run a full practice and a decent practice," he said. "We could very well be in a situation where it's nice outside this spring, but we'll still be in our dome just because of the facility that we have and we'll be able to do our stations and get enough swings in for everyone."
Soccer doubling down in time crunch
The Hodag girls' soccer team is trying to get as much in as possible before playing three games next weekend. The team has held two-a-day practices much of this week.
"In the mornings, the stuff we have set up for this week we're just going to be working set pieces," Bates said. "We're trying not to get the girls overworked before going to school. It gives us a time to work on set pieces and do things like that. In the afternoon, we're going to be running through a lot of different drills and kind of seeing where everyone's at for the season."
Bates noted that the morning sessions have been primarily for upperclassmen and varsity-level prospects while the whole squad, more than 30 strong, has been in attendance for the afternoon sessions.
Bates said the numbers are healthy enough to field both a varsity and JV team with plenty of depth.
"Mid 30s is pretty good. Anything over 30 is a really good number," he said. "You have 15 per team, it's a good, solid bench and you get plenty to subs and things like that. I'm pretty happy with the way the numbers are. It's exciting to have that many girls."
As of Monday, the turf was clear at Mike Webster Stadium, but cold, rainy conditions kept the team inside the Hodag Dome. The Hodags will host DeForest April 1 and then play Hayward and Shawano April 2 as part of a season-opening invite.
"We have a little over a week to get ready for our first competition and it's going to be a big one," Bates said. "DeForest is going to be a tough one and we know that going into it. They're going to be in our sectional, so that's why we really wanted to get that game together. We're going to prepare as hard as we can. We're going to practice hard and give it 100% the whole time. That's all we can do."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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