RHS softball drops two GNC games

The Rhinelander High School softball team dropped a pair of conference games early this week. On Monday they traveled to Medford and lost to the Red Raiders 11-0. At home on Haug Diamond on Tuesday, the Hodags committed six errors in their 8-4 loss to Merrill. 

Merrill 8, Rhinelander 4

Even after Rhinelander got out of the gate quickly with an early 3-1 lead, six errors let the Bluejays climb back to retake the lead and never look back on Tuesday.

Head coach Ali Bender looks to figure out how to get out of the mental pressure she thinks is producing a lot of the errors from her players.

“(Errors) was the main message tonight,” she said. “The frustrating thing I said to them, ‘Girls, these are things we’re practicing every day. These are things that we’ve talked about. We got to make the basic plays to win a game.’ And I just said, ‘You have more time than what you think.’ We rush, rush, rush, rush, rush.”

Most of the errors for the Hodags came on errant throws to first base which caused an unraveling of runs for Merrill, especially in the sixth when the Hodags comitted half of their six errors. 

“The biggest thing right now, is that we just got to give ourselves a couple seconds, gather yourself and make the throw,” Bender said. “When it gets tough, we are folding right now, and we got to figure out how do we mentally get out of that.”

On the offensive side of the diamond, the Hodags started strong with three runs in the first. Leadoff Chase Verbist forced a walk and Maddie Paulson reached first base when she was hit by a pitch. Saige Mutter drove Verbist home with a single, and Kendall Vanney knocked Paulson in with a ground ball right down the first base line that changed trajectory when it bounced off the bag and couldn’t be fielded by Merrill’s Miley Krueger. Hodag momentum, however, was stunted with back-to-back strikeouts. 

The Hodags struck out 14 times throughout the game, including five straight in the fourth and fifth. Bender said some slight adjustments in hitting could help the team the rest of the season. 

“I think we need to change our mentality when we’re hitting from home run swings to just contact,” Bender said. “(The) more contact we make, the better.”

Merrill was able to keep chipping away at the lead while the Hodags went scoreless,  producing two runs in the fourth that put them back in front 4-3. 

The Hodags had two outs in the fourth before an error allowed Merrill’s Olivia Barker to get on base and eventually score on a passed ball. All three Bluejay runs in the sixth were unearned. 

Nine Merrill hits came off of starting Hodag pitcher Aleece Johnson, who allowed eight runs (two earned) and three walks in seven innings. She struck out two batters, one in the first, and one in the seventh. 

“I feel like (Aleece) is doing well,” Bender said. “She had two earned runs. We can win a game with that and we proved that tonight. I mean, if we would have played defense, it would have been a 4-2 ball game. And I think we just need to back now our pitching. When our pitching is good, we got to back them. And I think that’s the hard part right now that we’re missing, is we’re (just not) making those basic plays.”

Medford 11, Rhinelander 0

    Rhinelander’s Ava Rathbun catches a pop fly during a GNC softball game at Medford Monday, May 11. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Rylee Hraby and the No. 1 (D2) ranked Medford Red Raiders gave Rhinelander all they could handle in Medford on May 11. Backed by a perfect game by Hraby, Medford beat Rhinelander 11-0 in five innings. 

The Red Raiders jumped on the Hodags early, with three runs in the first. Rhinelander couldn’t find the scoreboard, but did respond with a one-two-three inning in Medford’s half of the second before surrendering another three runs in the third and five in the fourth to the Red Raiders. 

Vanney pitched for the Hodags, allowing 11 runs (six earned) on 11 hits. She struck out one and walked one in her four innings pitched. Unearned runs continue to plague the Hodags down the stretch. 

Rhinelander played their last conference game against Mosinee Thursday at Haug Diamond after conclusion of press time for this edition. Look for results from the contest in the May 19 edition of River News.

 WIAA playoffs begin next Thursday, May 21.  

“If we can just come together and we can each play our position the way that we should, we’re going to be just fine as a team,” Bender added. “We still have a chance in the playoffs, and that’s where we’re going from here.”

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