Big innings bite Hodag softball again against Medford, Wausau East

Whether its hits, walks or errors, the Rhinelander High School softball team has struggled of late figuring out ways to string together three outs to get itself out of big innings for the opposition.

That trend continued late last week as the Hodags fell 22-3 to Medford Thursday in the Hodag Dome and 23-7 to Wausau East on the road Friday. 

The common denominator was the big frame. Medford put 10 up on the Hodags in the first inning on Thursday, followed by an 11-spot in the second inning. Wausau East sent 19 batters to the plate in a 15-run first on Friday. 

Rhinelander (1-7, 1-3 Great Northern) has dropped four straight games since defeating Northland Pines back on April 4, and has allowed at least one double-digit inning in all four of those contests.

“I think the biggest thing we want these girls to know is we can improve, we want them to improve and we believe in them, but we’ve got to come out in that first inning,” Hodag co-coach Sadie Adamski said. “(Co-coach) Ali (Bender) and I say it every time. It’s that first inning, every time for us. I think, for us, the biggest improvement is to play as a team, pick up our pitcher, pick up our catcher, pick up our girl if she misses a ball.”

Medford 22, Rhinelander 3

Rylee Hraby homered twice for Medford, Chelsea Gebauer collected three hits and four RBIs and the Raiders blew past the Hodags on Thursday. 

The Raiders pounded out 15 hits in the contest as they never looked back. Medford made Rhinelander pay for a one-out error in the first, as six of their 10 runs in the inning were unearned. Laney Hraby drove in a run as she grounded into out No. 2 before Rylee Hraby hit her first three-run shot of the game to right center. After a two-out error, the Raiders tacked on two more thanks to a run-scoring wild pitch and an RBI single by Gebauer. 

Laney Haenel took the loss for the Hodags, giving up 10 runs on seven hits in the first, but Medford continued to rake against reliever Libbey Buchmann in the second. The first eight batters of the inning reached on a combination of five hits, two walks and a third batter. The Raiders had three extra-base hits in the inning. Gebauer and Grace Schmidtfranz had ground-rule doubles before Rylee Hraby connected on another three-run shot to right center.

“They were playing the ball, putting the ball in play. We weren’t making plays. We started pitching strikes here and there but then we had the walks, we had the hits,” Adamski said.

    Rhinelander’s Lily Treder hits an RBI double during the third inning of a GNC softball game against Medford at the Hodag Dome Thursday, April 18. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rylee Hraby struck out six over two innings in the win. Her only blemish was a double by Lucy Lindner in the first. The Hodags did have some success against reliever Kailyn Haenel in the third, stringing together three runs thanks to an RBI single by Chase Verbist and a two-run double by Lily Treder. 

“If we could get that going right away in the first inning and get some enthusiasm and get the bats going, it’s a whole different start of the game,” Adamski said. “It’s a whole different ball game if we start that way. It was great to see the bats get going, but it was really late.”

Wausau East 23, Rhinelander 7

The Hodags did get their bats going in the first inning on Friday. The problem was another big first inning against the Hodag defense on a cold, blustery afternoon in Wausau. 

Rhinelander put up four runs in the top of the first, but allowed 15 in the bottom of the inning on only four hits. Kelsey Winter walked half of the 18 batters she faced. Control was difficult as the game started under sleety conditions, with the temperature in the upper 30s and gusty winds out of the northwest. 

“It’s cold, but it’s a good experience to play out in this weather. You never know what kind of weather the Northwoods is going to bring,” Bender said. “It’s super hard but we play in the Northwoods, you’ve got to expect these conditions. We’ve been extremely fortunate with the dome so we haven’t had experiences like this, but just keep your hands warm. We’ve got to keep (using) rosin bags to keep our hands from slipping. It’s extremely hard and I give these girls credit, but we’ve still got to find a way to do it.”

Winter staked herself to a 4-0 lead with a bases-clearing two-out double in the top of the first. Lucy Lindner also had an RBI single in the inning. 

Haenel came on to get the final out for Rhinelander in the bottom of the first, but East found success against her in the second, plating eight runs on seven hits. The Hodags also committed five errors in the game, most of them coming on overthrows or misplays after hits.

“We’ve got to clean up defense,” Bender said. “We’re still searching for some key players to fill positions were we’re making some errors. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of time to practice. Games are being rescheduled and we have three games a week. So we just really need to clean up some spots on the field.”

The Hodags showed life in the top of the third. Kadyn Taylor doubled, Lucy Lindner walked and Nevaeh Anderson singled to load the bases with nobody out. Following back-to-back RBI groundouts by Haenel and Cassidy Lindner, Dawsyn Barkus connected on her second hit of the night, an RBI single to right center. 

“Dawsyn did an awesome job hitting. She’s been working really, really hard in the cage, on the pitching machine, on drills. I’m super proud of her, but all girls have,” Bender said. “We’ve been talking about different counts. If you’re down or you need to protect the plate, then you need to be choking up. Also just where to position yourself in the batter’s box. If the girl’s throwing movement, get up in the box so that the movement doesn’t get you. We’ve been talking about a lot of key things and working on a lot of inside-outside hitting and how you go with the ball.”

Next up

Rhinelander travels to Tomahawk this afternoon, kicking off a three-game week of Great Northern Conference play. The Hodags will host Antigo on Thursday and travel to Medford on Friday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].