Bender, Adamski promoted to lead RHS softball

Looking to the future of its softball program, Rhinelander High School is banking on two heads being better than one. 

    In this March 15, 2023 file photo Ali Bender watching Rhinelander High School softball practice in the Hodag Dome. Bender, an RHS alumna, has been promoted to co-head coach of the program, along with Sadie Adamski. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

RHS alumna Ali Bender (nee Schickert) and Sadie Adamski have been promoted to co-head coaches of the program, taking over for D.J. DeMeyer who resigned in June after nine years with the program. RHS activities director Brian Paulson confirmed their hiring to the River News last week. 

Though the two interviewed separately for the position, along with one other candidate, they made it clear from the outset that they wished to work collaboratively. That was the case this past spring when they joined the staff as co-JV head coaches. 

“We had another great candidate in our pool. We just thought, at the end of the day, the interview committee and myself thought that Sadie, with Ali, would do well for our program,” Paulson said. “There’s definitely some energy to bring to that program.”

The two are looking to turn around a program that has struggled the last few years, with just 22 wins since the start of the 2019 season. The Hodags went 10-14 this year, their best mark since going 13-10 in 2018. 

In a joint interview with the River News, Bender and Adamski explained why they feel their partnership will work well moving forward. 

“We just get along so well. We’re close in age, so I think that we both have the same end goal,” Bender said. “We want to be good. We want to bring this team to a state championship someday and we’re both going to be around for a while.”

“When this position came open, Ali and I both thought it was a no-brainer. We had so much fun last year,” Adamski added. “Last year we didn’t look at each other as head JV/assistant JV. We looked at each other as we’re both the co-head coach of this JV team. Ali and I, the day before, we would set up a practice and we’d agree on every little thing. Did we sometimes have some hiccups in the road? Yeah, but we’re both mature enough and we can talk about that and get it resolved.”

Both coaches come to the program with extensive playing backgrounds.

The Hodags went 31-16 in Bender’s two seasons as starting pitcher — 2016 and 2017. She was a unanimous first-team All-GNC pick as a junior in 2016 and earned second-team honors in 2017 in a season that was slowed by injury. She went on to play at UW-La Crosse after high school. 

Though Bender currently teaches outside the district, she said the opportunity to coach at her alma mater was too good to pass up. 

“I grew up in the program, lived in Rhinelander, went through Little League, played for the Hodags and I want to give back to the community,” she said.

Adamski is a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at RHS and a native of the Stevens Point area, where she played club and high school softball. She is also the advisor of the high school’s HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Club, which put on its inaugural Color Run in May. 

Though they never played together, Bender was a pitcher and Adamski was a catcher. They are now battery mates in terms of leading the program. 

“The areas of expertise in softball, that will be something for the girls now and into the future to build this program,” Paulson said. 

Growing up in a softball-rich community, Adamski said she sees the need to build the program from the youth level on up. 

“I know right now our youth program in Rhinelander is just growing and becoming more competitive and more fun for girls to join,” she said. “I think that’s going to be the key for Ali and I moving forward, keeping the youth program involved and getting them more involved in what we do at the high school level.”

Bender agreed that numbers need to be built from the youth level and are pushing for softball to be added as a co-curricular offering at James Williams Middle School. The Hodags had barely enough players to field separate varsity and JV squads last season and had to call some younger varsity players down to help fill the roster once injuries began to mount. 

“We don’t have the numbers like we used to,” she said. “We’ve seen that in JV this year when we weren’t able to have enough sometimes to even field a team. We had to bring girls down from varsity to play. 

“Our biggest goal I would say is being there, showing our face at the Little League stuff, as well as the high school. Showing our face and being good mentors, because those our are future. The young girls are our future and we need to continue to build the Little League so that we can have a good team that’s successful and make those state runs.”

To that end, the pair said they plan to bring more visibility to the program — both through improved social media presence and by being around for youth events. They noted that they play to be at a youth softball tournament the Hodag Little League program is holding this coming weekend at RHS.  

“Ali and I will be there. If anyone wants to put a face to our names, we’ll be there working and cheering them on. There’s going to be a lot of exciting things,” Adamski said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].