May 10, 2023 at 2:22 p.m.
Mosinee beats RHS softball 11-4
Mosinee beats RHS softball 11-4
A six-run sixth inning proved to be the difference as Mosinee got past Rhinelander 11-4 in the second varsity game to be held outdoors at Andrea Musson Field.
Mosinee freshman Emily Verhasselt had the honor of hitting the first home run at Musson Field, a two-run shot that gave the Indians a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning.
The score remained that way until the sixth when Rhinelander starter Addi DeMeyer lost command. She walked three batters, hit another and committed a throwing error as the first five Mosinee batters of the inning reached safely.
DeMeyer allowed eight runs, five earned, on six hits with seven walks and eight strikeouts over five-plus innings of work.
"I think Addi kinda of ran out of gas a little bit," Hodag coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "Overall, I thought we played pretty sound defense. We hit the ball. We had a couple of hard-hit balls right at them. Those get through and that kind of changes the game a little bit. They're a good team. They're in the top three in the conference and they hit. They hit the ball."
Mosinee defeated Rhinelander 18-5 when the teams played April 14 in Mosinee.
Verhasselt had two hits and four RBIs for Mosinee on Tuesday. She broke a 1-all tie in the fourth. After Martina Miller reached on an infield hit to second, Verhasselt cranked a 1-2 curveball deep to center to put Mosinee up 3-1. She added a two-run double off reliever Laney Haenel in the sixth.
"Addi had a 1-2 count and missed her spot and she put it over the center field fence. That did change momentum, but I still thought we were in it," coach DeMeyer said.
Two walks, followed by a throwing error allowed Tristan Wicklund to score and make it a 4-1 game in the sixth. Alanna Bembenek walked to load the bases and Addy Strejc was hit by a 1-1 pitch to force in a run and end Addi DeMeyer's time in the circle.
Maggie Woller's infield hit off Haenel plated another run before Ava Busse hit a sacrifice fly to right. Verhasselt's double made it 9-1.
Rhinelander put together its best at-bats of the night over the final two innings, collecting three runs on five hits over the final two frames. After singles by Maddi Roeser and DeMeyer to lead off the sixth, Haenel drove them in with a two-out bloop single to right that made it 9-3. Mosinee tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh. Willow Mutter singled in the bottom of the seventh and scored on a two-out hit by Roeser.
Rhinelander ended up with four runs off six hits on Strejc over seven innings.
"We hit some hard-hit balls, we just didn't find any spots out there in the outfield, but we seemed to start hitting her better (in the late innings)," coach DeMeyer said. "We chased her early the last time we played them, but she mixed speed good and she was hitting her spots. Give her credit."
Mosinee took a 1-0 lead in the first as Taelyn Jirschele was hit by a pitch and stole second. Her slide into second kicked the throw down away from the base, and into left field. Jirschele got up and sprinted home on the play.
Rhinelander tied with a two-out rally in the third as Abigale Johnson singled and scored thanks to a pair of wild pitches and a passed ball.
Rhinelander (8-12, 4-7 Great Northern) was set to find out its first-round opponent for the WIAA tournament Wednesday evening in a regional seeding meeting that concluded after press time for today's edition.
The Hodags closed GNC play at Lakeland on Thursday and will round out the regular season at home this afternoon against Wausau East.
"I'd like to get closer to .500 and build toward the playoff game next Thursday," coach DeMeyer said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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