June 8, 2023 at 12:59 p.m.
Addi DeMeyer voted softball MVP, Treder wins 3 awards
Addi DeMeyer voted softball MVP, Treder wins 3 awards
DeMeyer was voted the team's most valuable player and received the award Sunday during the team's season-ending banquet in the RHS commons.
Virtually all of the awards were voted on by the players. Some were novelty awards, but many were of note. Junior Lily Treder took home the team's Silver Slugger and Hustle awards and shared the Gold Glove award with senior catcher Maddi Roeser. Junior Nora Rutkowski was named the team's most improved player and senior Abigale Johnson won the team's Spirit award.
Addi DeMeyer, the Hodags' lone first-team All-Great Northern Conference selection this spring, certainly had the numbers to back up her accolades. She served as Rhinelander's No. 1 pitcher this year, despite preparing to play shortstop as she moves on to UW-River Falls next season. DeMeyer was 8-11 this season with two saves and a 3.07 ERA. She recorded 184 strikeouts over 120 2/3 innings pitched. She also hit .273 on the spring with the team's lone home run and a team-high 18 RBIs.
"Apparently her peers think she was the most valuable player on the team," coach DeMeyer said. "I could make arguments for a couple of other girls, too. I think Addi deserves it, on the mound, even when she doesn't want to pitch, she's doing what she has to do to make the team successful. The girls realized that."
Treder also had a strong statistical season for the Hodags. She was by far the team's leading hits among those with enough at bats to qualify for statistical consideration, hitting .397 with 15 RBIs. She also had a team-high 14 stolen bases on the season and made a key running catch in center in the seventh inning to preserve the Hodags' 1-0 playoff victory over Shawano May 18.
"She was a statistical leader, she was a leader in the outfield. She's a leader on the team," coach DeMeyer said.
Rutkowski finished the year hitting .148 with four RBIs but solidified the first-base position for the Hodags defensively - which was a major question mark entering the season.
"Nora took a lot of that pressure off of that. I think it was (assistant coaches) Ali (Bender) and Clara (Groskopf) that were watching her and started doing some individual drills and Nora was just like a sponge, took it all in and did a fantastic job," coach DeMeyer said. "Nora is the most improved, from the first day of practice to the last day of practice, hands down."
In addition to being the Hodags' everyday catcher, Roeser hit .281 with seven RBIs this spring for Rhinelander. Johnson hit .284 for the Hodags and stole seven bases, mainly while batting leadoff this spring.
"Maddi Roeser is the perfect sense of a catcher that just gets behinds that mask and just does the job," coach DeMeyer said. "Johnny (Johnson) is a spitfire. She's a bundle of joy. She's always going, always going. And Johnny's always positive. She's grown so much in the four years that I've had her. It's just awesome to see."
The Hodags went 10-14 overall this spring, their most wins in a season since 2019. Rhinelander tied for fourth in the GNC with a 5-7 league mark and pushed top-seeded Medford to the brink in the regional semifinals, falling 3-2 in nine innings.
"Overall, we played well," coach DeMeyer said. "We have some all-conference awards to hand out, and that's a reflection of how much we've improved. Last year, we had only one all-conference selection."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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