Rhinelander falls to Lakeland in 14U softball championship

The Rhinelander Fastpitch 14U team ran out of chances Wednesday night against Lakeland in the championship game of the Northwoods League tournament.

The Hodags made two key outs on the base paths while trying to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning and ultimately fell short, 8-6, in the Hodag Dome. 

Trailing 8-4 at last call, Reese Retallick led off the bottom of the seventh with a bloop single to center, but was thrown out in attempt to steal second base. One pitch later, Nevaeh Anderson launched a solo home run to left center, cutting the lead to 8-5. Cassidy Lindner then drew a walk, but was also thrown out at second, trying to steal. It was the first of four straight walks issued by Lakeland’s Malia Newport.

As Sadie Edyvean drew a walk to load the bases, Libbey Buchmann scored as Lakeland misfired on a throw down to third, thinking that Buchmann was trying to steal. The overthrow put the tying run at second for the Hodags, but Jalyn Zadnik grounded out to second to end the threat. 

Rhinelander played catch up the entire game, as Lakeland took advantage of an error to come up with a pair of run-scoring hits with two outs — a two-run single by Savannah Kemnitz and an RBI-single by Maddie Hohlweck — to make it 3-0 after a half inning. 

Rhinelander got two of those runs back as Anderson singled and scored on a Lindner triple in the bottom half of the inning. Lindner scored to make it 3-2 two batters later on a Willow Mutter sacrifice fly. 

Lakeland added to the lead with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Rhinelander got back within two in the bottom of the fourth as Sadie Edyvean got all the way to third following an overthrow to first on a dropped third strike. Pinch runner Kylie Kalvelage beat out a throw home on an Ava Rathburn bunt to cut the lead to 5-3.

Lakeland got three key insurance runs in the top of the fifth, however. Holhweck had an RBI single and scored on a Siralynn Peterson sacrifice bunt. Bella Batiste singled home Nora DeVries to make it 8-3.

The Hodags got a run back in the bottom of the fifth as Buchmann reached on an error and scored on a double down the right field line by Willow Mutter.

Buchmann took the loss in the circle for Rhinelander. She pitched the first three innings and came back on to pitch again in the sixth. She went five innings, overall, allowing four runs on seven hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Anderson pitched two innings of relief, allowing four runs on five hits with a walk.

Lakeland outhit Rhinelander 12-5 in the game but, oddly enough, Rhinelander hit for the team cycle in the contest. Anderson singled in the first and homered in the seventh, Lindner tripled in the first and Willow Mutter doubled in the fifth. Retallick also had a single for Rhinelander. 

Though league play is finished, Rhinelander’s 14U squad was slated to play in a tournament in Tomahawk this past weekend and will head to Merrill for a tournament next weekend. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].