April 24, 2023 at 9:16 a.m.
Hodag softball can't hold early lead vs. No. 1 Medford
Hodag softball can't hold early lead vs. No. 1 Medford
The Raiders scored 12 unanswered runs from the third inning on and defeated the Hodags 13-3 in six innings the Hodag Dome. Rhinelander served as the visiting team for the contest, which was originally scheduled for Medford, but moved to the dome with Medford's fields not ready for play following last Sunday's snowstorm.
Addi DeMeyer hit the first home run of the year for Rhinelander and the Hodags took advantage of a dropped third strike and a throwing error to build a 3-1 lead through 2 1/2 innings, but back-to-back two-run, two-out base hits gave Medford the lead for good in the bottom of the third.
"We battled the No. 1 team in the state 3 1/2, 4 innings. We put a scare (in them)," coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "I know their coach was upset. They probably walked in here thinking they were going to hand us a loss. They did hand us a loss, but we made them work for it."
Addi DeMeyer gave up three hits, walked seven and struck out three over four innings as she took the loss. She did not start in the circle for Rhinelander. Freshman Libbey Buchmann got the call and had a 2-0 lead for her first varsity start after DeMeyer took Medford ace Martha Miller deep to center for a two-run shot in the top of the inning. Buchmann walked Miller and then hit Finley Arndt with a pitch before the Hodags used a quick hook and put Addi DeMeyer back in the circle.
"We wanted to give (Addi) a break and we wanted to give some other pitchers a chance," coach DeMeyer said. "We're visitors and we get up 2-0 right away and it kind of changes the perspective. We know the last game we lost to them 5-0 and that was a lot closer than what (the score) was. We decided to change and go for it.
"I wanted to get Libbey Buchmann her first start on varsity to get through the nerves and stuff like that. She went out there and she tried. I'm proud of her, because that's all part of the process. She's only a freshman. It's all part of the process and she'll be better next time, and I know that."
Following a pop out, the Hodags intentionally walked Zayleah Leonhardt, who homered off of Addi DeMeyer in the April 10 meeting between the teams, to load the bases. The gamble mostly paid off. Eryka Seidl hit a sacrifice fly to score Miller, but DeMeyer fanned Jada Surek to get out of the inning with the lead.
Nora Rutkowski added to Rhinelander's advantage in the second as she singled, stole second and scored on a throwing error after Laney Haenel reached on a third-strike wild pitch.
The Hodags had a couple of tough-luck plays cost them a chance to add to the lead in the top of the third. Shortstop Allie Paulson robbed Maddi Roeser, making a backhanded pick and a strong throw on a sharply-hit grounder to the hole. Addi DeMeyer then smashed a drive down the left field line, that appeared to have home run distance if it stayed fair. Instead the ball smashed into the lights that hang over the playing surface in the dome. The ball was dead at that point and DeMeyer was called out due to pre-established ground rules for when a ball hits the ceiling or the lights inside the dome.
"Overall, I thought we hit Martha pretty good," coach DeMeyer said. "Addi had that dome out. That was a hard ball that hit the lights. Whatever it would have done, it would have done, but it was hit hard. Their shortstop made a couple of nice plays in the hole on us."
A single, walk and a hit batter loaded the bases with two outs for Medford in the third. Chelsea Gebauer and Morgan Huegli delivered back-to-back two-run singles that gave Medford a 5-3 lead.
The Raiders tacked on two more in the fourth as Surek was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded followed by a Tori Konieczny sacrifice fly that made it 7-3.
Haenel came on in relief of Addi DeMeyer in the fifth, giving up four runs. Medford scored twice more in the sixth, ending the game via the 10-run rule when Ava Hartl beat a throw to the plate on a ground ball by Seidl.
"I'm proud the way we battled," coach DeMeyer said. "Let's give it to Medford, they're a great team. They deserve their ranking. They've got a lot of depth. They're going to be tough to beat. I'm proud of the girls. We had a terrible practice yesterday. We came back and for three innings did all right."
Rhinelander (4-9, 1-4 Great Northern) has dropped six straight games, including four straight in conference play.
The Hodags are slated to host Tomahawk at home this afternoon, kicking off a busy week of play. Rhinelander travels to Antigo Thursday before returning home to face Crandon in a non-conference contest on Friday. The start times for Tuesday and Thursday's games have been pushed up to 4 and 4:30 p.m., respectively, with JV games to follow both varsity contests.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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