Hodag softball falls to Tomahawk in extra innings

A late rally got the Rhinelander High School softball team close, but not over the hump, Monday afternoon against a Great Northern Conference rival.

Tomahawk scored three times in the eighth inning and defeated the Hodags 8-5 at Andrea Musson Field. 

Three was a key number in the contest, as the Hatchets three-runs leads on two separate occasions. Rhinelander rallied to tie it with three runs in the sixth inning before the Hatchets answered with three straight two-out hits to mount their decisive rally in the eighth. 

“These girls cannot hang their heads. I think if we play them again, we might have their number. We did a lot of good things tonight,” Hodag coach Ali Bender said. 

Down 5-2 in the sixth, the Hodags rallied to tie the game before a single out was recorded in the inning, but were unable to scratch across the go-ahead run. 

Kadyn Taylor started the rally with a single, followed by a walk by Saige Mutter. Nevaeh Anderson then reached safely when her sacrifice bunt attempt was misplayed, loading the bases with nobody out. Cassidy Lindner drew an RBI walk before pinch hitter Sadie Edyvean reached on an error that pushed two runs across and tied the game. 

Rhinelander couldn’t do any further damage with the top of its order, however, as Kalyn Miller popped out before groundouts by Aleece Johnson and Kendall Vanney ended the threat. 

“That was a perfect example of having no outs and being able to play small ball, being able to work around different hitters, and laying the bunt down,” Bender said. “We shifted girls constantly over to second and third, and to me, that’s scoring position. Second and third, it’s a no brainer. We’ve got to score on those, and it’s kind of a non-negotiable if you don’t score.”

Vanney walked the bases loaded with two out in the top of the seventh but got out of the jam when Lydia Ziert popped out on a bunt attempt. Mutter was hit by a pitch to put the winning run on with two out in the seventh for Rhinelander. Anderson sliced a ball to the right field corner, but Ellie Micke was able to flag it down to send the game to extras.

Vanney struck out the first two batters of the eighth before the top of Tomahawk’s order did damage. Anita Ziert doubled to left before Sophie Olsen hit a hard shot past third for the go-ahead single. She came around on an RBI triple from Averi Petta, who later scored on a passed ball.

“Three hits, and then we had some passed balls, which hurt us,” Bender said. “(Pitching coach) Dan (McDonald) just came out and told the girls that he takes the blame, we should have walked that big girl (Petta), and that’s on me too. I should have walked her knowing that she went 3-for-4 tonight. Again, just things that we can change. And in the moment you don’t always think about.”

Rhinelander went down in order in the eighth to end it. 

The Hodags spotted the Hatchets a 3-0 lead in the first. Olsen and Petta both singled and scored on a passed ball-error combination while Autumn Merrigan walked and scored when Kylie Peissig reached on a two-out error. 

The Hodags got one of those runs back on their first home run of the year, a solo shot by Mutter to center in the bottom of the second. 

“First home run of the season, and it just so happens to be one of our freshmen who works so hard at it,” Bender said. “I’m super proud of her. She just has to remember, keep swinging for a base hit and those home runs are going to come. She’s definitely not done hitting home runs.”

Rhinelander got within a run after loading the bases with one out in the fourth. Chase Verbist ground into a fielder’s choice at home, but Tomahawk threw wildly in an attempt to double her off at first base and Anderson came around to score on the overthrow. 

Petta answered Mutter’s homer with one of her own in the fifth and Lydia Ziert made it 5-2 Tomahawk on a sacrifice bunt in the sixth, scoring Kylie Peissig — who had gotten to third on a leadoff single compounded by an error.

Johnson had a pair of hits in the game for Rhinelander as Tomahawk outhit the Hodags 10-4. Vanney took the loss allowing three earned runs on 10 hits with four walks and six strikeouts over eight innings. 

Shawano tournament

    Rhinelander’s Saige Mutter makes contact on a pitch during a non-conference softball game against Waupaca in Shawano Saturday, May 10. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

The Hodags came into Monday’s game after dropping a pair of contest last Saturday in the Shawano tournament. Rhinelander fell to Waupaca 7-2 and Shawano 17-0. 

The games concluded a grueling week for the Hodags, in which they played seven games in six days. 

“This has been a really long week, but that’s the reality of softball,”

Waupaca took the lead 3-1 in the third inning and, after the Hodags trimmed the gap to 4-2 in the sixth, scored three more insurance runs. The Hodags were outhit 10-4 in the loss with Kendall Vanney and Claire Yunkers scoring the runs. Vanney allowed seven runs on 10 hits with two walks and a strikeout over six innings in the loss. 

“Waupaca was a really good game. We talked after, the girls and I, and that could have been like a 4-3 ballgame,” Bender said. “Vanney got picked off that first inning at third, which could have been another run. Then Kadyn ran into and out. Just some different running, game situation things that we haven’t run into yet this year.” 

Shawano scored 14 times in the first inning and three more times in the second inning of Game 2. The Hodags were no-hit in the second game. Sadie Edyvean drew a one-out walk in the third and was the only Rhinelander player to reach base. Vanney gave up nine runs on 10 hits over 2 2/3 innings while Nevaeh Anderson was tagged for eight runs on seven hits in one third of an inning.

“(Shawano), they were just a really well put together team. I mean, one through nine all could hit the ball. They all had the exact same swing. We tried both Nevaeh and Vanney. And again, just solid hitters,” Bender said.

Postseason nears

Rhinelander was scheduled to close out the regular season at home Thursday in a game against Mosinee that took place after press time for today’s edition. The WIAA postseason starts next Thursday for the Hodags against a to-be-determined opponent. 

Bender said her team has definitely improved from the start of the season, but still needs to improve in a few areas to take the next step. 

“I think that we’ve done a really, really nice job of cleaning up our fielding. Our errors in the beginning of the season, not knowing where to go, now we’re getting the ball in from the outfield. We’re hitting the cuts most of the time,” she said. “Again, just making sure that when we get up to the batters’ box, we have the right mentality that we’re going to get a hit, not that scared mentality. If we change those things, we continue to play defense, we are going to be OK.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].