Redmen add depth, look to find the lineup that works best

RIB LAKE SOFTBALL PREVIEW

With no graduation losses from a year ago, six freshman additions plus a couple more in other grades and numerous girls who can pitch, the Rib Lake softball team has many lineup options as the 2022 season gets started.

Figuring out the best lineup from those options will be one of the key challenges for coaching team of Craig and Dennis Scheithauer.

Craig Scheithauer returns to the head coaching post he successfully held from 2002-04 with the last of those seasons ending in Rib Lake’s lone appearance at the WIAA Division 4 state tournament. In an unofficial capacity last year, he helped out last spring as Dennis, his father, led the Redmen to a 4-14 record last spring that, at times, showed some promise.

They oversee a roster that has shot up to 20 girls and, with one of those girls being injured senior Reagan Reinhardt, is in that tough position of being just small enough to not be able to field two squads on the same night.

With the large freshman class and some projected young additions next year, Craig Scheithauer said Monday the future for the program is looking bright after a tough run over the last decade.

Of course, the focus now is squarely on the present where the Redmen are anxiously awaiting to get on a field and see what they’ve got.

“We didn’t graduate anybody,” Scheithauer said. “We have the same people back, plus a few new sophomores and I’ve got six freshmen out right now. Some have played a fair amount, some have not. It will be interesting because I’ve got a couple of freshmen that are definitely going to compete for spots and a couple others that, with some development could fill some roles for us. Age doesn’t matter to me. The best nine or 10 I can put out there will start and after that we’ll fill in what we need.” With Reinhardt recovering from a basketball knee injury, Rib Lake has a hole to fill at third base and the other main task early in the season will be to settle on a pitching strategy that works best. How the coaches decide to man those positions will have a domino effect on the rest of the defensive lineup. Kyla Kennedy, Molly Heiser, Emily Rodman and Reinhardt are this year’s seniors and all were key players on last year’s team. Kennedy, a honorable mention selection to last spring’s All-Marawood North team is one of the few players locked into a position as the team’s shortstop. She also could see some pitching innings. Rodman was one of the team’s more dependable pitchers last year and is in consideration for an infi eld spot. Heiser will see time at first base and catch.

The junior class includes returning outfielder Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer and newcomer Riley Eisner. The sophomore class is led by Danielle Mann and Josie Scheithauer, who both got lots of experience a year ago. Mann was another honorable men- tion pick as the team’s leading hitter and can capably pitch, catch and play first base. Scheithauer can pitch and could play any of the infield base positions.

Leah Chmielowiec returns after getting a lot of playing time in centerfield last year. Tessa Krause returns after seeing time in rightfield, at second base and in the pitching circle as a freshman. Cassandra Cano played some outfield for Rib Lake last year, while Jennifer Pichea, DeLana Meyer and Kiersten Jasmer are sophomore additions with Pichea showing some first base potential.

The six freshmen include Addison Gumz and Kiana Dallmann, who are in the thick of the competition for playing time, sisters Lily and Olivia Butler and Shaina Meyer and Tracey Schmidt.

“I have a good problem and a bad problem,” Scheithauer said. “I have a lot of kids that pitch, which is by design just by working with a lot of these kids in summers of the years past. But we’re all kind of the same. They’re all right-handed and they all don’t have dominant speed, but they’re not lollipops either. Some of them have added velocity, which is nice to see, but it’s going to be a matter of if we can throw strikes.”

Rodman and Kennedy are the upperclassmen with pitching experience. Mann, Scheithauer and Krause logged innings last year and the freshman class has pitching candidates too in Dallmann and Gumz, among others.

As for the infield options, the Redmen know what they have in Heiser and Mann at the catching and first base positions. If Mann does pitch and Heiser catches, that leaves a decision at first base. Whoever winds up playing third base might have an effect on who’s at second. Scheithauer said Gumz is an intriguing candidate because she can also catch, but could also be an option at third. That will become clearer once Rib Lake can get outside and actually take some ground balls.

“The problem is if your best strike thrower is your best catcher or your best shortstop then you have to fill the other spot with less than your best option,” Scheithauer said. “But that’s just what we have to do. We’ll figure it out, mix and match what we need to. Sometimes it’s not the hardest thrower that’s the best pitcher. It’s whoever is keeping them off-balance and hitting spots better too. We’ll see how it goes.”

Offense is a key area the Redmen know needs to improve if they are going to win more games in 2022. Rib Lake did average 6.4 runs per game and scored doubledigit run totals in five games, but they also scored zero to two runs eight times and hit totals weren’t consistently high.

“We’re trying some different things in the cage to be better at contact and being able to adjust to speeds,” coach Scheithauer said. “Some girls have made some really nice adjustments with balance and their feet. It’s the whole package. But the bottom line is put the bat on the ball. You can have the prettiest swing ever and if you don’t touch the ball, it doesn’t make any difference. We need to be attacking good pitches. Some of it’s mentality, some of it’s more of a conscious effort at contact.”

Also, expect Rib Lake to try to manufacture more runs with bunting and speed.

“I think we need to try to put more pressure on defenses with putting runners in motion whether it’s bunt and run, slap and run, hit and run, whatever you want to call it and putting the ball down a little more often than we did last year,” Scheithauer said. “But you have to work at it. We didn’t have a lot of bunting type people last year. We do have a little more speed this year than last year because we’ve added it. That will help us. Whether or not they’re in the starting lineup, we can still use them running the bases.”

When Rib Lake will start playing games remains a mystery due to winter’s refusal to let go. The Redmen lost a Tuesday game at Gilman and Friday’s home game with Colby-Abbotsford isn’t likely to happen, at least not in Rib Lake. The Redmen are scheduled to play in Spencer Monday before jumping into Marawood Conference crossovers with Edgar and Marathon next week.

Phillips is the returning Marawood North champion and returns a wealth of talent from its WIAA Division 3 statequalifying team of a year ago. Athens has a solid young group as well and Chequamegon, who Rib Lake split games with last year, also brings back most of its roster.

The Redmen are scheduled to begin North competition against Chequamegon with back-to-back games on April 11-12.