April 11, 2023 at 6:42 a.m.
RHS softball wins GNC opener
Hodags take 4th in Easter tourney
RHS softball wins GNC opener
Rhinelander kicked things off with a 9-4 win over Northland Pines Thursday in the Great Northern Conference opener for both teams. The Hodags then came back to take fourth in their home tournament Friday and Saturday - beating Weyauwega-Fremont 7-5 in the opener before falling to Eau Claire North 18-2 and Edgar 6-0.
"We played some good teams and we came out 2-2 after four games in three days," Hodag coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "We found out some more things about our team. They don't quit, and I like that. We've got some things to work on. We've got to work on our base running, some signs and stuff like that and defense. We've got to clean some things up."
Rhinelander 9, Northland Pines 4
Lily Treder collected three hits and Addi DeMeyer struck out 17 batters as the Hodags held off the Eagles 9-4 Thursday night in the GNC opener.
The Hodags jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings and held on despite a couple of Northland Pines home runs and a few missed scoring opportunities in the later innings.
"I think we left about three, maybe four or even five runs on the bases on being young and not understanding what we're trying to do on the bases - missing the signs, not understanding the signs," coach DeMeyer said. "We talked about that after the game and we're going to try to get better at that. We're going to have them base run a little bit. We'll work through that in practice."
The Hodags got some timely two-out hitting to jump out to and early lead. Back-to-back two-out singles by Addi DeMeyer and Lucy Lindner scored Treder, after she doubled with one-out in the first. Rhinelander then strung together three straight two-out base hits in the second, with RBI singles by Abigale Johnson and Maddi Roeser that gave the Hodags a 3-0 lead.
Rhinelander blew the game open in the third. Lindner reached on an error and then scored on another error after stealing third. Laney Haenel added an RBI single, Treder had an RBI double and Roeser hit an RBI single to make it 8-0.
In all, Rhinelander collected 14 hits in the contest - including multiple hits by Johnson, Treder, Roeser, Addi DeMeyer and Haenel.
"I thought we hit the ball well up and down the lineup. I'll take 14 hits any game, we should win," coach DeMeyer said.
Addi DeMeyer had a no-hitter through three innings, but Northland Pines' Carly Huelskamp broke it up with a solo shot to right to lead off the fourth. Aubrey Beyer hit a two-run homer off DeMeyer in the fifth, after DeMeyer hit Riley Cain on a 1-2 pitch with two out in the inning.
DeMeyer walked seven and scattered three hits in the win. She issued a based-loaded free pass to Savannah Satterburg in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 9-4 before striking out Jordyn Hahn to end the game.
"We've got to get better on the walks but she struck out 17, OK. The two who hit home runs, they're good ball players," coach DeMeyer said.
Thursday's game was technically a road game for the Hodags. Northland Pines elected to move the contest to Rhinelander as its fields are still under snow. Pines will be back in Rhinelander for a rematch May 2.
Easter tournament
The Hodags held on in a back-and-forth affair to kick off the eight-team weekend tournament on Friday, edging Weyauwega-Fremont in a game that was called after five innings due to an imposed 1-hour, 45-minute time limit.
Freshman Abby Ferge, making her first varsity start, collected two hits and three RBIs in the contest and Addi DeMeyer got the Hodags out of the jam in the fourth with the tying run at the plate for Weyauwega-Fremont.
Haenel pitched 3 1/3 innings, walking six and striking out five, to get the win. The first five batters of the game reached base against her before she got a put out at the plate, a strikeout and a pop out to get out of the game. Haenel then worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third, before Weyauwega-Fremont scored twice in the fourth, reducing the Hodags' lead to 6-5.
"Laney was one pitch away from getting pulled in the first inning. We were able to get through that inning and we had a better second inning and got through the third," coach DeMeyer said. "We brought Addi in because we had a chance to win the game and Laney was getting tired. We brought Addi in for the save and we were able to get it. I thought we played well."
Ferge tied the game with a two-run double in the bottom of the second and later scored on a passed ball to put the Hodags' ahead. Rhinelander got three more runs in the third thanks to a passed ball that scored Willow Mutter and a two-out single by Addi DeMeyer that scored Johnson and Treder.
Ferge added a key insurance run in the fourth, plating Haenel on a two-out single to make it 7-5.
"Abby Ferge, fantastic game (against Weyauwega). She had some good swings, some good at-bats and it's nice to see that. She's been hitting the ball hard in the cage and has got a good swing," coach DeMeyer said.
Rhinelander could not keep the momentum going in the second game, as Eau Claire North scored six runs in all three innings before finishing off the Hodags' via the 15-run rule.
Freshman Nevaeh Anderson was tagged for six runs on three hits in one inning in her first varsity start. Haenel pitched the final two innings for Rhinelander.
The Hodags got a run in the first as Johnson singled and scored on an Addi DeMeyer groundout. Skylar Cleveland walked and scored on a Treder base hit in the third.
"Eau Claire's a really good team," coach DeMeyer said. "They'll probably win their conference over there. Four out of our five losses are D1 schools, and the one that wasn't (Edgar) went to state and they'll beat a lot of teams."
Ultimately, the Hodags had too many miscues and not enough offense to keep up with Edgar in Saturday's third-place game. Four errors - all charged to Haenel at third base - led to three unearned runs and the Hodags collected only two hits off Edgar ace Makayla Wirkus.
"We actually had a lot of good at-bats today against (Wirkus). We hit it. We hit it right at them and I thought we fought," coach DeMeyer said. "Defensively, we had some errors and I'm not going to beat anybody up because it's not worth it, we're a team. They all know we have to play better defensively. We're going to keep working on that."
Addi DeMeyer ran into early trouble as Edgar scored twice before recording an out in the first. Wirkus walked and scored on a Morgan Streveler double. Taylor Lemmer reached on a error on a sacrifice bunt attempt and scored when Reagan Borchardt drew a bases-loaded walk.
A pair of errors allowed Streveler to reach base and score in the third inning. Leah Davis reached on an error in the fifth and scored on a two-out single by Ashley Erickson. Pinch-hitter Emery Borchardt hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the sixth after Johnson was unable to make a diving attempt on a fly ball down the left field line.
Addi DeMeyer struck out 11 in the loss, giving up six runs, three earned, on five hits with four walks over six innings.
Wirkus had a perfect game until a single up the middle by Lindner with one out in the fifth, but she was thrown out at second attempting to steal with Haenel trying to bunt her along. Treder added an infield hit for the Hodags in the seventh.
Rhinelander (4-5, 1-0 Great Northern) made up a Great Northern Conference contest against Medford on Monday in the Hodag Dome in a game that concluded after deadline to today's edition. The Hodags are scheduled to host Mosinee at home on Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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