Hodag softball drops pitchers’ duel to Lakeland

The Rhinelander High School softball team had a difficult time finding offense Thursday against Lakeland ace Saylor Timmerman, however freshman Aleece Johnson was nearly Timmerman’s equal in a Great Northern Conference contest. 

Johnson struck out nine and scattered four hits in a tough-luck loss as the Hodags fell to the T-Birds 1-0 in Minocqua.

While it was not a win for the Hodags (2-6, 0-3 Great Northern), it sure felt like one considering the same Lakeland team routed Rhinelander 18-0 in three innings when the teams met 10 days earlier in the Hodag city. 

“Honestly, we went from a week ago, almost two weeks ago, losing them 18-0 to now playing with them for seven innings and losing 1-0, that is a win for us,” Hodag coach Ali Bender said. “We have not played with a good team for a long time, and even making it seven innings and holding them to one run, I was so proud of the girls tonight.”

Ultimately back-to-back hits by Miah Newport and Ali Timmerman in the third inning proved to be the difference. Newport singled to right with one out in the inning and then advanced to second on a passed ball on 2-1 to Timmerman, who then took the next pitch to right-center, plating Newport for the game’s lone run.

“They just strung two hits together and, unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that,” Bender said. “I told the girls after the game, I said you can’t win with zero runs. We did our job and as defenders and we need to now be able to back that with hitting the ball.”

Offense was hard to come by against Saylor Timmerman, the hard-throwing right-hander who has committed to the University of Arkansas. Timmerman struck out 18 of the 22 batters she faced, and only a two-out single by Kadyn Taylor in the fourth derailed her bid at a no-hitter and a perfect game.

Bender said the Hodags tried multiple different ways to get aboard, but had a hard time doing so.

“Our whole game plan going into the game tonight was bunting, small ball, and we did not put a bunt down to save our life,” she said. “I absolutely think it’s who we’re facing, but I also think that we need to have a better mentality when we go to bat. We are so scared when we go up to bat and we can’t have that. We just got to let loose, have fun and trust our eyes and lead with our hands.”

Still, the main takeaway of the night was the improved performance by Johnson and the defense. The nine strikeouts for Johnson matched a season high. It was also the fewest runs allowed by the Hodags this season, surpassing the mark of five set in a win against Phillips March 29 and matched in a loss to Edgar April 13. Rhinelander had no errors in a game for only the second time this season.

“Aleece pitched great. From the beginning she was spot on with her pitches. She was hitting placement. She was throwing a dandy change up. I was so proud of her. Not only was she pitching well, she was coming off from the circle and fielding balls and throwing them out. 

“Overall, it was just a great team effort. Our girls were on their toes. We’ve been talking for a week about prep step and being ready, saying where we’re going with the ball every single pitch and we were doing all those little things.”

The Hodags are set to enter a busy week. Rhinelander was scheduled to travel to Crandon yesterday for a non-conference game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander heads to Medford for a GNC doubleheader this afternoon and then will return home Tuesday for a twin bill against Tomahawk. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].