Girls just wanna have fun as RHS softball practice begins

There were some familiar sounds and some new ones on Monday as the Rhinelander High School softball team opened practice for the 2024 season. 

There was the ting of the bat hitting the ball, and the smack of the ball hitting the mitt, as there has been in the past. But, on Monday, that came with a beat in the backdrop and a pair of new voices calling the shots. 

Monday marked the first official day on the job for new co-head coaches Ali Bender and Sadie Adamski, who were promoted in the offseason after D.J. DeMeyer stepped away. The two were eager to get started.

“It was exciting to finally have some girls, be able to legit coach them, run drills,” Adamski said. “We have a lot of new things this year that we’re bringing in that’s been a lot of fun like having music at practice to get the morale up. Overall, I think we’re just super excited and it was just good to finally be coaching.”

The two served as co-JV coaches last year, but could only watch for much of the offseason due to out-of-season contact restrictions put on coaches by the WIAA. Regardless, Bender said open gyms have been well-attended since they started to ramp up after the new year. 

“A lot of these girls have showed up to open gym,” she said. “This entire year we’ve had a really nice turnout for open gym. It’s just kind of nice to pick up where open gym left off. We had some great people running open gym and it felt nice to implement those things right away where, in the past, we were still working on a lot of the fundamentals.” 

The Hodags will need to hit the ground as fast as they can. Not only does the team have a pair of new head coaches, it will have a new battery after graduating ace pitcher Addi DeMeyer and catcher Maddi Roeser. While the team graduated only three starters from last year, there is the sense there are plenty of spots up for grabs as the year begins. 

“It’s a fresh start and that’s what’s the big tone here” Bender said. “Everyone has an opportunity right now to earn a spot. It might not be where you think you’re going to play, but there’s lots of opportunity.

“We’re very excited for the opportunities that this season is going to bring. I think we’ve got some athletes that have got a really great headspace right now, super pumped up about the season. If we can just keep it that way, that’s going to be the most important — keeping that positive attitude the whole season.”

That’s partly why there was music in the background for a number of drills. The new coaches are trying to inject some energy in a program that not posted a winning season since 2018 — one year after Bender (nee Schickert) graduated after her time as a standout pitcher for the Hodags. 

“The culture, it’s going to change with us being here,” Adamski said. “It’s going to be super fun. We want to make sure we’re having fun but we’re also going to make sure we’re being competitive to build the program up to its potential.”

    Willow Mutter hits off a tee during Rhinelander High School softball team practice in the Hodag Dome Monday, March 11. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

While the team has a roster in the upper 20s at the start of the season, far fewer than that were at practice on Monday. As it has the last few years, the start of softball practice coincided with the start of Spring Break for the School District of Rhinelander and several players were on pre-planned trips. 

“We definitely didn’t have all of our girls but we’re also not going to be the coaches who tell them they can’t go have fun on spring break,” Adamski said. “We told them to put us in their suitcases. We’re just excited that we do have some girls to be working with. We’re excited for the girls when they get back from spring break.”

When those players return, there’s a distinct possibility they may get outside sooner rather than later thanks to an unseasonably mild start to the spring. Monday’s opening practice was held inside the Hodag Dome but the team went out and practiced a bit Tuesday on the turf at Mike Webster Stadium. 

While the fields at the Haug Family Softball Complex behind the Hodag Dome may still be a couple of weeks away from being playable, the fact that they could be used in March is a stark departure from the last two years where late thaws and rainy springs kept the Hodags mainly indoors.

“Hopefully we go there and play for once. Knowing that most of our season can be outside if this weather continues the way it is, is a great feeling,” Bender said.

One way or another, the Hodags will have to get ready to play ball quickly. The opening games of the season will take place next Friday and Saturday as the Hodags host the second annual Danny Mac Softball Classic in the Hodag Dome.

“The Danny Mac’s gonna be a fun opportunity for us as coaches and for the girls,” Adamski said. “We’re really excited. We saw how many teams are coming back. It’s going to be a great opportunity for the community to come out and just watch softball.”

The Hodag softball team was the second to being practice for the spring sports season. The RHS baseball and girls’ soccer teams will get underway this coming Monday as students return from break. The Hodag golf and boys’ tennis teams will begin practice March 25.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].