April 17, 2023 at 9:29 a.m.
Big innings cost Hodag softball at Mosinee
Big innings cost Hodag softball at Mosinee
Mosinee scored 15 unanswered runs after falling behind in the second inning and defeated the Hodags in five innings 18-5 in Mosinee.
The Indians took the lead for good thanks to a four-run third inning and then put the game away with 10 runs in the fourth.
Overall, coach D.J. DeMeyer said the game boiled down to a matter of Rhinelander making mistakes either in the circle or in the field, and Mosinee taking advantage of them.
"I'm not taking anything away from Mosinee, they're a good team, but we should have been in that game the whole way," he said. "We're dropping fly balls. We're not hitting cutoffs. We're not throwing the ball. They need to come together as a team and they need to decide how they want to finish this season."
Rhinelander was charged with four errors in the game - including three in Mosinee's big fourth inning. Pitcher Addi DeMeyer also struggled to work within what appeared to be a small strike zone for both teams. She walked seven batters and hit two others over 3 1/3 innings.
The Hodags used that tight strike zone to their advantage as they took the lead in the second inning. Trailing 3-0, Lucy Lindner worked a 10-pitch walk to lead off the inning. After a Nora Rutkowski fielder's choice and a Kelsi Beran groundout, Libbey Buchmann and Laney Haenel drew back-to-back two-out walks and Rutkowski scored on a passed ball to set the table for the top of the order.
Haenel and Buchmann executed a double-steal of second and home and Abigale Johnson followed with a single. Lily Treder hit a two-run double down the left field line to give Rhinelander a 4-3 lead and Maddi Roeser added an RBI single. From there, DeMeyer and Lindner both walked, chasing Mosinee's Adeline Strejc from the circle. Reliever Ava Busse struck out Rutkowski to get Mosinee out of a bases-loaded jam.
"We got a little bit aggressive on the bases, we were able to put five runs on them and take a 5-3. And I'm like, 'Alright, here we are,'" coach DeMeyer said.
Taelyn Jirschele walked, stole second and scored on an Amber Gonzalez single in the bottom of the second to trim the lead to one and Gonzalez was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a passed ball to end the inning.
Addi DeMeyer ran into trouble in the third following a one-out walk to Martina Miller. Briley Kaczor reached on a misplayed sacrifice bunt attempt and Jirschele followed with a ground-rule double to put Mosinee up 6-5. Two batters later, pinch hitter Ember Akers took DeMeyer deep to right center to make it an 8-5 game.
"I'm not going to make any excuses for our pitching, for their pitching. They made the adjustments. We chased the first pitcher out," coach DeMeyer said. "They brought another pitcher in, Busse, who I know is a good pitcher but we have to make the adjustments hitting and we have to make the adjustments pitching. Addi just couldn't make the adjustment today."
DeMeyer was lifted in the fourth after five of the first six batters reached safely thanks to a hit, two errors and two walks. Haenel could not put out the fire, as she allowed three hits and three walks before finally getting a groundout and a flyout to end the frame.
The Hodags had five hits in the contest, all against Strejc over the first 1 2/3 innings. Jirschele, Akers and Alanna Bembenek had two hits each for Mosinee.
Overall, coach DeMeyer said it was the errors - either mental or physical - that left him frustrated as the Hodags approach the halfway point of their season.
"We're having too many errors," he said. "Defensively, it looks like we're just going though the motions. Everything we've worked on in practice they're not doing in the game. We need to work on that.
"We've got practice tomorrow, we've got a game on Tuesday and we'll got from there. We've got three games next week, no easy games."
Rhinelander (4-8, 1-2 Great Northern) will host Lakeland tonight in a game scheduled for the Hodag Dome. That game has been moved from Minocqua with Lakeland's fields deemed not ready for play by this afternoon. Rhinelander will then travel to Medford on Thursday after losing to the Raiders at home 5-0 last Monday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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