RHS Sports recap: Tuesday, March 31

Softball: Rhinelander 10, Lakeland 8

Kadyn Taylor hit a grand slam, Maddie Paulson and Kendall Vanney each had three hits and two RBIs, and the Rhinelander High School softball team knocked of Lakeland 10-8 in Minocqua on Tuesday to open Great Northern Conference play. 

Taylor’s grand slam — her second home run of the season — put Rhinelander ahead 7-4 in the fourth inning, and Paulson drove in what proved to be the winning run on a two-run double in the fifth that made it 9-4. Lakeland crawled back to within two runs on a Rayna Hella two-run homer in the seventh, but Paulson turned a double play and Aleece Johnson struck out Britta Kemnitz, representing the tying run, to end it. 

The Hodags outslugged Lakeland 16-11 in the hit department. Chase Verbist, Kalyn Miller and Cassidy Lindner each added two hits at the plate for Rhinelander. Johnson got the winning, allowing eight runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in a complete-game effort.

Rhinelander (5-1, 1-0 Great Northern) is scheduled to travel to Medford on Thursday.

Track: RHS boys’ 4th/5, RHS girls 4th/5, Merrill Invite

The Rhinelander High School track team took a light crew to Merrill Tuesday as it took fourth in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions of the five-team Merrill Indoor. 

Many of the Hodags’ top line athletes rested Tuesday. Pole vault proved to be the exception as siblings Ayden and Macy Myers swept the competition for Rhienlander. Ayden claimed the boys’ event with a vault of 13 feet, 3 inches while Macy took the girls’ event, clearing 10-9. 

Dean Gillingham scored a win for the Hodags in the boys’ 800 meters. Mady Treder won the girls’ high jump and Clara Pudlowski scored the win as the lone finisher in the girls’ 3,200. 

The Hodags have two meets on Saturday, with a handful of athletes going to the WISTCA state indoor championships in Whitewater and another group heading to the Stevens Point Distance Carnival.

Full reports will be published in Friday’s River News.