RHS softball drops three games at Woodside Challenge

The Rhinelander High School softball team’s return to the diamond following a two-week layoff proved to be a rocky one for the squad as it dropped all three of its games in the Woodside Softball Challenge in Mauston.

The Hodags were outclassed by a pair of out-of-state teams on Friday, falling 16-2 to Byron, Minn. and 19-3 to Escanaba, Mich. Rhinelander closed the event with a 5-1 loss to Edgar on Saturday. 

They were the first games — and really the first on-field time — for the Hodags since a season-opening 15-5 win over Phillips in the Hodag Dome March 29. The dome suffered damage and was temporarily closed after an ice storm-induced power outage the next day and the Hodags have had to juggle practice plans ever since. 

“It was really exciting to be able to play after two weeks of not having any play time, just getting out on the field for the first few days this week,” coach Ali Bender said. “We definitely did not come out as sharp as we did against Phillips, and all the coaches said, ‘Wow, what a difference that dome makes to have, just being able to practice live situations.’ The biggest thing that we noticed this weekend was we really struggled at the little things.”

Rhinelander also ran into some stout competition in Day 1. Byron went 2-1 in the invite, defeating perennial GNC contender Medford 9-4 on Saturday. The Bears’ lone loss came to Escanaba, which is led by pitcher and University of Michigan recruit Grayson LaMarche. 

“It also was just a great opportunity to play some teams that we won’t play in the regular season,” Bender said. “Our bats weren’t as hot as they were against Phillips, but we saw really good pitching. We played against the Division I pitcher from Escanaba who’s going to play for Michigan. That was awesome for the girls to see.”

Byron jumped on Rhinelander early with two runs in the first inning and five more in the second. The Hodags got a pair of runs back on a two-run single by freshman Aleece Johnson in the third, but the Bears tacked on three more in the fourth and the Hodags did no more damage before the game ended via the 10-run rule in the fifth. 

Nevaeh Anderson and Cassidy Lindner also recorded hits in the Byron game as Rhinelander was outhit 9-3. Johnson took the loss in the circle, allowing 13 runs, seven earned on six hits with five walks and four strikeouts over 2 1/3 innings. Fellow freshman Kendall Vanney went the rest of the way, allowing three runs on three hits over the final 1 2/3 innings. 

The Eskymos plated five on Rhinelander in the first and nearly batted around twice in the third, sending 17 batters to the plate in an 11-run third. Escanaba added three more in the fourth before the Hodags finally found some offense with three runs in the fifth. 

LaMarche struck out six and walked one in only two innings for the Eskymos. The Hodags collected all three of their hits in the fifth inning against reliever Cam Buckley. Cassidy Lindner singled and scored on a triple by freshman Kalyn Miller. Miller scored as Johnson reached on an error moments later. Sophomore Sadie Edyvean added an RBI double that plated Johnson. Miller and Edyvean both provided production off the bench for the Hodags in that contest. 

“Most girls got anywhere from 2 to 3 innings, so that was awesome, especially with our shortened games,” Bender noted. 

Vanney went two-plus innings in the loss, giving up eight runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts. Johnson went the rest of the way allowing 11 runs on 10 hits with four walks and six strikeouts. 

Errors ultimately cost Rhinelander on Saturday against Edgar. Six of them led to four unearned runs for the Wildcats, which proved to be the difference in the contest. 

One of them spotted Edgar a 2-0 lead in the first as a ground ball to second by Jorja Knetter got by through, allowing Isabella Kaiser to score. A two-out single by Alyson Kolano plated Knetter. 

Kolano added a home run in the fourth inning, while back-to-back errors on ground balls to short and a passed ball allowed Edgar to tack on two more insurance runs in the fifth. 

“That really hurt us because here you put a girl on base when it should be an out, and then you got the next girl come up and she hits a you know a single or a double,” Bender said. “It’s one of those things where you don’t realize how making that first play or making the play that comes to you matters, because then you string a couple hits with girls that get on base because of an error or walk and now we have a situation.”

The Wildcats kept the Hodags off the board on a strong defensive play in the fourth, throwing out Chase Verbist who tried to score from second on a two-out single to center by Vanney. 

“I sent Chase home and Chase got tagged out, but again that was a chance I took,” Bender said. “We had to have a perfect throw by it at centerfielder to get Chase and she did it so again kudos to them, but really the score could’ve been like a 3-2 ball game.”

Rhinelander got its lone run in the seventh as Saige Mutter tripled and scored on a base hit by Ava Rathbun.

Johnson took a tough-luck loss for Rhinelander, allowing five runs, but only one earned, on five hits with two walks and nine strikeouts over seven innings. 

“Johnson had an awesome game for us in the circle. Really had some key strikeouts when we needed,” Bender noted. “It started off a little rough and that was because of a pitching mound issue, actually. They had to bring out some turf circles and her stride was longer than the circle so she started to turn her ankle. … We walked the first batter, made an adjustment, and was lights out.”

Rhinelander was scheduled to face Lakeland Monday after press time for today’s edition, kicking off a busy schedule this week that includes road games at Northland Pines on Tuesday and Three Lakes on Thursday.

With just more than five weeks remaining in the regular season, and a number of early season games being rescheduled due to inclement weather, Bender said the Hodags will have to learn on the fly with a steady stream of games in the offing.

“We have to use our warm-up and our practice time as very valuable minutes to us because we don’t have a lot of time to fix things,” she said. “A lot of it is learning in the games, learning on the fly, making changes on the fly, and it just has to be in game situations.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].