Solid all around in easy opening victory
MEDFORD SOFTBALL
Martha Miller and Laurissa Klapatauskas combined on a one-hitter and Medford hit the ball hard when Northland Pines threw strikes in a 15-0 blowout win Tuesday in the softball season opener for both squads.
Bracing for a wet weather forecast Tuesday, this was one of three Great Northern Conference games that were moved to the Hodag Dome in Rhinelander. Rhinelander pounded Lakeland 15-0 in the final game of the tripleheader, while Merrill used a 10-run inning to blank Antigo 10-0 in the non-conference opener.
The Raiders took advantage of 11 walks issued by Northland Pines pitching, but also banged out 12 hits in four offensive at-bats. Eryka Seidl had a big night at the plate, going two for three with a pair of booming doubles and four runs batted in. Morgan Huegli, Makala Ulrich and Rynn Ruesch also had two hits apiece.
“I saw some good things,” head coach Virgil Berndt said. “We hit some rockets, the girls hit the ball hard. We laid down some nice bunts. We pitched well. No errors, but there wasn’t much put in play. I’ll take that.”
Miller set the tone from the pitching circle, striking out eight of the 10 batters she faced in three hitless innings. The sophomore walked one in her varsity debut. Klapatauskas struck out three and hit a batter in her two innings. Eagle Grace Pastorius broke up the no-hitter with one out in the top of the fifth by sending a drive to deep left-center for a double. Offensively, the Raiders scored in every inning with a four-run first and a sixrun second putting an early end to the suspense.
Miller led off the bottom of the first by drawing a walk from Pines’ sophomore pitcher Savanna Satterburg and went all the way to third on Hope Faude’s sacrifi ce bunt. Miller beat the throw home on a grounder to third by Klapatauskas to score Medford’s first run of the season. With two down and two on, Seidl crushed a Satterburg offering for an RBI groundrule double that took one bounce and skipped over the fence in right-center. Ruesch and Katie Brehm drew basesloaded walks.
Faude walked and stole second to start the six-run rally in the second. Klapatauskas singled on the infield and Huegli bunted for a hit to load the bases with one out for Seidl, who launched another double to deep center to score two. Ulrich singled on the infield and an errant throw allowed two more runs to score. Ruesch came up just short of a home run to leftfield and settled for an RBI groundrule double. Faude later drove in the sixth run of the inning with an infield single.
Delani Clausnitzer reached on an error to lead off the third. Pinch runner Abbie Frey came all the way around to score when Huegli singled sharply to left and a misplay allowed the ball to go all the way to the fence. Seidl’s groundout scored Huegli and Miller and Allie Paulson later drew bases-loaded walks to push the lead to 14-0.
Madisyn Pilgrim’s infield single in the fourth drove in Delaney Hraby, who had singled, with the game’s last run.
Satterburg walked eight, struck out two and allowed 14 runs and 10 hits in 2.1 innings. Ten of those runs were earned. Lucy Lurvey got the last five outs, walking three and allowing two hits and an earned run.
Medford is back in action tonight, Thursday, when it visits Tomahawk at 5 p.m. The Hatchets’ opener at Mosinee Tuesday was postponed. The Raiders get a rematch with Pines Tuesday in Eagle River.
