Hodag fastpitch falls to unbeaten Medford

Hits were few and far between for the Rhinelander High School softball team in their April 28 contest against the Medford Red Raiders in the Hodag Dome.

Medford remained undefeated on the year (10-0, 6-0 GNC), while Rhinelander fell to 8-8 (4-4 GNC). 

The Hodags gave up 11 runs before the game ended in the sixth inning due to the run rule. Medford pitcher Rylee Hraby struck out 15 Rhinelander batters and gave up a sole hit to Chase Verbist in the bottom of the sixth. She retired the side in the first three innings. 

“I think our biggest thing right now is that we’ve just come out so flat, and I’ve talked about this before, that we have to find a way to come out swinging aggressive, making contact right away in the first inning,” Hodag coach Ali Bender said. “And again, we’ve seen a really good picture in (Rylee) Hraby. She does the work for her team, and she’s doing a great job, and I give her credit, but once we started putting the ball in play, they made errors. If we would have put the ball in play more, we had a chance to be on that scoreboard.”

A ball put in play by Rylee Hraby in the sixth was a steamer back to Rhinelander pitcher Aleece Johnson. Johnson was able to graze the hit with her glove, but it lost enough momentum for there to be no play at first when Paulson came up firing. Nearly an identical play happened in the fourth, with the exact same three players. 

    Rhinelander’s Maddie Paulson hits a line drive during the fourth inning of a GNC softball game against Medford in the Hodag Dome Tuesday, April 28. (Blake Richard/River News)
  

The fourth inning was the first time an out didn’t come from a strikeout for Rhinelander when Maddie Paulson lined out to the shortstop. But two more strikeouts that inning from Rylee Hraby prevented any runners from reaching first base. 

On the defensive side, the Hodags took a punch in the first inning. Leadoff Red Raider Addison Brahmer had a slap hit between shortstop and then stole second. Rylee Hraby was walked before Zayleah Leonhardt hit Brahmer home. Laney Hraby got to first on a fielder’s choice, when Ava Hartl stepped into the box and hit two runs in with a ground-rule double. 

Rhinelander held Medford scoreless in the second and third, but gave up another in the fourth, two more in the fifth, before the Red Raiders had a breakout five-run sixth inning. Some costly Hodag errors in the contest kept Rhinelander distant on the scoreboard. 

“Some of those errors are going to be costly, and that’s just what happened tonight,” Bender said.   “I think that score could have been a little different if we would have cleaned up a few of those things, but overall, I’m actually pretty proud of the girls for the amount of balls that were put in play, and handling those pressure situations where there were bases loaded and no outs a couple times. So overall, I think we did a better job. We’re still not where we’re capable of being.”

Added capabilities will come now that Kendall Vanney has returned for her second game since being injured as a key piece of the puzzle in Rhinelander’s lineup.

Both Johnson and Vanney threw for the Hodags, a duo that has been recently reunited.

“They are both strong pitchers. We are so lucky to have two pitchers on our team that have that capability of being starters on most teams,” Bender said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of, like, starters and closers. I think you’re going to see a lot of, she’s going to pitch one game, and she’s going to pitch the next. I think you’re going to see us working it in. We’re working, Vanney, obviously, back into the lineup with being out for two and a half weeks, but now that she’s back, you know, we’re excited to have her, and just giving teams that have seen (Johnson) a different look, too.”

Vanney came in for Johnson in the sixth inning and struck out one, but the damage by the Red Raiders had been done and Rhinelander put up another zero in the bottom half of the sixth. 

The Hodags traveled to Tomahawk on Thursday for a rematch of the nine-inning nail-biter on April 20. Conclusion of press time for this edition will push results for that game to Tuesday’s edition of the River News.

Editor’s note: Scorekeepers for Medford and Rhinelander disagreed about Verbist’s play in the sixth — with Rhinelander scoring it as a hit and Medford charging an error, and thus, crediting Rylee Hraby with a no-hitter. Our reporter at the game independently deemed the play to be a hit, and our story reflects that decision.

Blake Richard may be reached via email at [email protected].