Deep team pulled together quickly, dominated in the GNC
GNC SOFTBALL PERFECTION
Everyone involved with the Medford softball program expected a marked improvement this spring from the Raiders’ 11-12 and 9-15 seasons of 2019 and 2018.
But a perfect 12-0 run through the Great Northern Conference and a 17game winning streak to open the season? That, admittedly, has been hard to believe for the seniors who were around for those sub-.500 seasons.
The Raiders stubbed their toes briefly in the top of the fifth inning Thursday, but a big three-run triple by Makala Ulrich in the bottom half restored order and sent them to an 8-3 home win over Tomahawk that clinched the 12-0 season in the GNC.
“It’s pretty cool,” Delani Clausnitzer said.
“It’s a big change from freshman year to sophomore year and then not having a season last year,” Allie Wesle said.
The small three-member senior class has joined forces with larger junior and sophomore classes poised to keep Medford on top of the GNC for at least the next couple of years. From the seniors’ point of view, the ability of the team to form a strong bond despite the age differences and improved pitching have been the keys to all the success they’re enjoying.
Building that bond started last summer when, playing as a non-school entity during the COVID shutdown, the Raiders were able to get over 20 games played, even if some of those were played in splitsquad fashion. While the team was far from dominant from a win/loss standpoint, the youngsters were learning and the older girls were learning about their up-and-coming teammates.
“Since our junior year got canceled we didn’t have a chance to see any of the sophomores,” Rachael Schreiber said.
“In my opinion, we had two separate teams in the summer, so we weren’t all playing together,” Clausnitzer said. “So I thought this year would be a little rough because we hadn’t all played together. But now I think we’re all close as a team.”
Medford’s championship roster now consists of 18 varsity-caliber players in 10th through 12th grades.
“Regardless of having such a big team this year, I think everybody’s working together,” Wesle said. Medford had just five hits and committed a couple of uncharacteristic errors in Thursday’s win, but the Raiders worked together to overcome that.
Sophomore Martha Miller improved to 11-0 in GNC games with an 11-strikeout, one-walk performance in the pitching circle. She allowed four hits and one earned run and hit a batter. She finished GNC play with 122 strikeouts and 13 walks and two earned runs allowed in 63.1 innings for a 0.22 earned run average.
Medford scored an unearned run in the first inning and took a 3-0 lead in the third on a two-run homer by Laurissa Klapatauskas that easily cleared the fence in left-center.
After Tomahawk tied the game in the top of the fifth, Allie Paulson started the game-winning rally by drawing a oneout walk from Tomahawk starter Maddie Moreno. Morgan Huegli was hit by a pitch and Klapatauskas singled to load the bases. Moreno got Clausnitzer to pop out, but Ulrich came through with her liner that cleared the bases. Ulrich scored on a passed ball. Rynn Ruesch walked and added the final run on a Katie Brehm double.
Klapatauskas was two for three and narrowly missed a second homer on a ball that hooked foul. Moreno struck out nine Raiders but walked eight and allowed seven earned runs.
After going 1-2 in non-conference games this week, the 18-2 Raiders have one last tune-up tonight, Thursday, at D.C. Everest before attempting to make a WIAA Division 2 post-season run. The top seed in their sectional half-bracket, the Raiders will host either ninth-seeded Colby-Abbotsford or eighth-seeded Ashland Monday in a regional semifinal at 5 p.m. The regional final is set for Wednesday, June 16. If Medford wins Monday, it would host either fifth-seeded Hayward or fourth-seeded Rice Lake in that game.
Medford 9, Mosinee 0
The seniors said they knew they had something special this year when the Raiders finally beat Mosinee 5-0 on May 13. On June 2, the Raiders bunted and ran their way to a 9-0 win and a regular-season sweep over the visiting Indians.
The small ball and aggressive base running was primarily responsible for Medford’s ability to build an 8-0 lead through four innings. Miller and Klapatauskas combined for Medford’s 11th shutout of the season as the Raiders were able to substitute freely in the later innings. “Wow, did we bunt well tonight,” head coach Virgil Berndt said. “It sure helps when you have speed like that.”
The first and fourth innings were the big ones.
In the bottom of the first, Miller singled, Paulson bunted for a hit and Mosinee failed to record an out on Huegli’s bunt to load the bases. Klapatauskas singled to center to score Miller, but Mosinee’s Aly Gonzalez made a perfect throw to cut down Paulson at the plate. Huegli scored on a passed ball and Klapatauskas scored on a wild pitch by starter Adeline Strejc to make it 3-0.
The Raiders got a run on a double steal in the second and doubled their lead in the fourth. Brehm singled and Wesle put down a bunt that was thrown away to put runners at second and third. Miller’s hit scored Brehm. Paulson’s bunt brought in courtesy runner Katie Lybert. Miller got hung up between third and home on Huegli’s bunt, but Miller beat the rundown. Clausnitzer’s single scored Huegli with the fourth run of the inning.
Huegli added an RBI fielder’s choice in the sixth.
Miller went 5.1 innings, striking out nine, walking one and allowing back-toback his in the second, but she got out of that jam with a pop-up and a strikeout. Klapatauskas got the last five outs, stranding two runners in scoring position in the sixth by getting Amber Gonzalez to fly out to Lybert in left.
Paulson was three for three, while Miller and Clausnitzer had two hits apiece.
Medford’s Delani Clausnitzer hits a run-scoring single that gives the Raiders an 8-0 lead in their eventual 9-0 win over Mosinee last Wednesday.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
