RHS Sports recap: Saturday, March 28

Softball: Rhinelander 6, Athens 5; Rhinelander 7, Flambeau 3

The Rhinelander High School softball team will play for the title in its division of the Danny Mac Softball Classic after winning both of its games Saturday in the Hodag Dome. 

Rhinelander walked off Athens 6-5 in the opening game and fended off Flambeau 7-3 in the night cap. Both games went six innings due to a tournament-imposed 90-minute time limit. 

Kadyn Taylor hit a solo home run with one out in the fifth, the last inning of regulation, to force extra innings against Athens. After Ava Rathbun sacrificed inherited runner Kalyn Miller to third, Cassidy Lindner won it in the sixth on a walk off single to right. 

Saige Mutter hit a two-run triple for the Hodags in the first inning. Kendall Vanney had an RBI double in the second and pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts to earn the win. 

Rhinelander jumped out for a run in the first inning and tacked on four in the third against Flambeau. The Falcons answered with three in the bottom of the third, but the Hodags added two insurance runs in the sixth. 

Maddie Paulson went 2-for-3 and scored twice in the game as Rhinelander outhit Flambeau 9-6. Miller added a pair of RBIs and Aleece Johnson allowed just one hit and struck out five over three innings of relief to earn the win. 

The Hodags (3-1, 0-0 Great Northern) will play in the championship game at 11 a.m. on Sunday. 

A full report will be published in the Friday, April 3 edition of the River News.