Big innings propel Hodag softball to first win

The Rhinelander High School softball team learned some tough lessons in three blowout losses to start the 2024 season. With nearly two weeks to reflect on what happened, the Hodags put those lessons to good use on Thursday.

Rhinelander pounded out 13 hits and used 10 unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings to get past Northland Pines 14-6 in the Hodag Dome.

Senior Laney Haenel pitched four innings of relief and collected three hits at the plate. Junior Dawsyn Barkus added three RBIs and the Hodags scored win No. 1 for first year co-head coaches Sadie Adamski and Ali Bender. 

“I’m just really proud of the girls,” Bender said. “We switched a lot of things up at practice and have girls in positions they’ve never played before. All we asked is, ‘Give it your all. If you make a mistake, it’s OK. We’re putting you in a situation where you are not comfortable.’ To see those girls come through tonight was awesome.”

The coaches said attention to detail was the major point of emphasis for the Hodags (1-3, 1-0 Great Northern) following three losses by double-digit margins March 23 and 24 in the Danny Mac Invite. Those details paid off in a victory over an Eagle team that went winless in the GNC last spring.

“I think they realize we practice how we play,” Adamski said. “It’s going to show up in a game. These girls have been working really hard at practices. Even when we’ve had an hour of a practice, they’re working hard. They’re getting after it. It feels great to have a first win on the season.”

Returning first-team all-conference selection Carly Huelskamp provided most of the offense for Northland Pines (0-1, 0-1 Great Northern). 

She went 3-for-4, homered twice and drove in four. Huelskamp got the Eagles going in the top of the first after sophomore Nevaeh Anderson walked the first two batters and was relived in the circle by Haenel, the Hodags’ most experienced pitcher. 

Huelskamp greeted Haenel with a two-run double to left and later scored on a wild pitch. She added a one-out solo shot in the third inning that broke a 3-all tie and the Eagles added to the lead on a two-out double by Alizari Gray. Haenel gave up another home run to Huelskamp to lead off the fifth — this one awarded on appeal after the umpires deemed the towering shot would have cleared the fence had it not bounced off the bottom of the dome roof. 

Haenel was relieved by Kelsey Winter at that point, but had done her job and settled things down after the early trouble. She struck out five, walked three and allowed four hits over four-plus innings.

    Rhinelander’s Laney Haenel pitches during the first inning of a GNC softball game against Northland Pines in the Hodag Dome Thursday, April 4. Haenel allowed four runs on four hits over four-plus innings of work to pick up the win for Rhinelander. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

“Laney did a real nice job coming into a position where there were two walks right off the bat,” Bender said. “We put her in that pressure situation right away and she helped us out. She has that varsity experience. We knew going into this game we were going to use a few pitchers, and it was awesome that she could give us as many innings as she could.”

Rhinelander’s offense, meanwhile, was not stopped until the sixth inning and was aided by eight Eagle errors.

Kelsi Beran doubled and scored on a Kadyn Taylor one-out single in the first. Taylor’s courtesy runner, Cassidy Lindner, later scored after an overthrow to third following a two-out passed ball.

Barkus lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that was dropped out in right field, allowing Haenel to score in the second, tying the game at three. 

Lucy Lindner doubled in the third and beat out a throw home off a Chase Verbist infield hit. After Nora Rutkowski drew a walk to load the bases, the Hodags tied the game as Haenel scored on a wild pitch that bounced off home plate and out of play moments before Barkus smacked a two-run single up the middle, giving Rhinelander a 7-5 lead. 

“It was fun to see our girls finally get aggressive at the plate and really just have the confidence,” Adamski said of the Hodags’ best offensive effort of the season. “We know these girls can hit. It’s so fun once they put it in play. Every girl that got an at-bat took it and did what they could with it and did a great job.”

The run wasn’t done as the Hodags took advantage of three errors and four walks from the Eagles in the fourth inning. Lucy Lindner reached when the throw on her safety squeeze bunt was mishandled, allowing Lily Treder to score from third. After infield hits by Haenel and Verbist, Lindner scored on a wild pitch and Rutkowski reached on an error that plated Haenel. Beran and Taylor drew bases-loaded walks later in the inning and Beran scored on a two-out wild pitch to give Rhinelander a 13-5 advantage. 

The Hodags answered Huelskamp’s lead-off homer in the fifth with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. Winter singled and scored after Verbist’s third hit of the game, a single to left, was misplayed in the outfield. 

Winter worked the final three innings for Rhinelander to earn the save, not allowing a run. She struck out two, worked around four walks and retired Huelskamp for the first and only time in the game — inducing a ground out to short in the sixth.

“Kelsey did a really nice job there. She throws hard, and we knew we needed somebody to close out that game and wanted to give her the opportunity to do it,” Bender said.

The coaches promised changes after the Danny Mac Invite and there were, especially in the defensive alignment. Treder, an all-conference outfielder each of the last two years, was moved from center to shortstop for the contest with Lucy Lindner going to third and Beran going out to center. 

“We moved Lucy to third, she did great. Moved Lily Treder to shortstop. You know, she’s never played there a day in her life. She started as a freshman out in centerfield, and we’re asking her to now play infield. She did an amazing job,” Bender said.

“Kelsi has been a fantastic leader on our team. The minute we put Lily at shortstop, it was a no-brainer that Kelsi was going to be our new centerfielder,” Adamski added. “Chase Verbist had her first varsity start and did a phenomenal job. We asked her to bunt, she got the bunt down. We asked her to swing away and had a bomb to left field.”

Things will likely get tougher for the Hodags this coming Thursday as they hit the road for the first time this year and will face preseason conference favorite Mosinee. Adamski said the team is going to keep the same approach it’s had over the last couple of weeks and see what happens.

“We’re going to continue to practice how we play. We’re going to continue to do some live scrimmaging at practice because we’ve noticed that that’s helped a ton, that live action, runners on the base,” she said. “We have confidence going into that game, and I think it will be a good match.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].