May 16, 2022 at 3:14 p.m.
Medford routs Hodags again to end regular season
Medford routs Hodags again to end regular season
A day after losing 17-0 to Medford in the Hodag Dome, the Hodags had to face Medford again, falling 15-0 on the road Wednesday to close out the regular season.
Medford's Laurissa Klapatauskas struck out eight and recorded a no-hitter for the Raiders. It is the third time this season - and second time in the last three games - that Rhinelander (4-16, 2-10 Great Northern) has been held without a hit as a battered Hodag team limps into the postseason.
"We're struggling on hitting the ball hard again," Hodag coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "Give credit to the pitcher. She's got some movement on her pitchers for a No. 2 pitcher on that team. She looked just as solid as she did yesterday. We hit the ball a little bit, but we didn't hit the ball hard."
Medford pounced on Rhinelander starter Laney Haenel right away in the first inning, tagging her for five runs on six hits - including an RBI triple by Makala Ulrich, who finished the day 3-for-3 with 4 RBIs. The Raiders tacked on four more in the second and four more in the third before clinching the game with a pair of runs in the fourth.
Haenel lasted 2 1/3 innings for Rhinelander, giving up 12 runs on 11 hits, including a leadoff home run by Madisyn Pilgrim in the third.
"Again we had problems pitching, couldn't locate, couldn't get ahead on the count, so you couldn't change speeds," DeMeyer said. "They made us pay for it."
Rhinelander's lone threat came in the second inning as Kelsi Beran and Haenel both reached on dropped third strikes before Abigale Johnson drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but Klapatauskaus struck out Sam Sundby to end the threat.
"Sam gave it her best go around, but we were unable to scratch in a run," DeMeyer said.
Beran became the sixth different pitcher Rhinelander has used this spring, relieving Haenel in the third inning. She allowed an unearned run in that inning but lost command in the fourth, hitting a pair of batters and bringing the clinching run home on a wild pitch.
The Hodags ended the regular season dropping 12 of their final 13 games as injuries cropped up at a number of key positions. It's been a Murphy's Law kind of season for Rhinelander, and that was true again Wednesday night as bus issues kept DeMeyer from making it home in time to take part in the WIAA regional seeding meeting.
"That's just the way our season's been going. It's been one thing after another and tonight was another one," he said.
However, that story had a happy ending. Rhinelander, with activities director Brian Paulson filling in at the bargaining table, managed the No. 8 seed in a 10-team bracket and will host ninth-seeded Colby/Abbotsford (4-7, 4-6 Cloverbelt East) to open the WIAA tournament this coming Thursday. The winner will travel to top-seeded New London the following Tuesday.
"I have to give all the kudos to Mr. Paulson," coach DeMeyer said. "That's good for us, and maybe we can actually play on our new field. Maybe the weather will cooperate and we can play outside on our new field which would be fantastic. I'd like to break in that field and maybe the excitement of playing on a new field can get us a win."
At this point, the game is scheduled to take place on Andrea Musson Field behind the Hodag Dome. Rain and/or poor field conditions have forced the Hodags to play all of their home games inside the dome so far this season.
The Hodags were originally schedule to play in a tournament in Baraboo over the weekend, but withdrew from the event as injuries piled up. Coach DeMeyer instead is gave his team the weekend off in an effort to recharge its batteries ahead of the postseason.
"We'll come back Monday and hit it hard. I wish there was a point where we'd start getting healthy but, unfortunately this season had told us that we're not going to get girls back and healthy," he said. "We've just got to keep working and, hopefully, a couple of days off will get Laney a little bit of stress relief and get her where she can throw some strikes, get ahead of the count where we can change some speeds and maybe throw a curveball every now and then to keep girls off balance."
The Hornets have not played any common opponents with Rhinelander this season and DeMeyer said he does not know much about the his playoff opposition.
"It can't hurt us," he said of the unfamiliarity. "It's 0-0, we'll start the game over. They obviously had a season like we had as far as not very successful. It's a new table and nothing to lose, just go play your best ball if you can."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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