RAIDERS OUT IN FRONT

MEDFORD SOFTBALL

Wins over Antigo, Mosinee big for 11-0 Medford

Medford’s first Great Northern Conference softball championship since 2010 is clearly within reach after a pair of victories over two league contenders within the past week.

The Raiders got a big one Tuesday, shutting down visiting Antigo 5-0 in a matchup between the GNC’s last two conference unbeatens. A threerun fourth-inning rally broke it open, pitcher Martha Miller continued to dominate, striking out 15 and catcher Allie Wesle made two big plays, throwing out Robins on the base paths.

At 7-0 in the GNC and 11-0 overall with eight of those wins coming in shutout fashion, confidence certainly is growing in Medford’s dugout.

“That feels really good,” Miller said after Tuesday’s win. “That was the conference game we needed to win. It was definitely the best team we’ve faced so far. We were both undefeated in the conference. We knew they’d be pretty solid. We were pretty pumped up.”

Antigo’s Sam Swartz got off to a solid start as well Tuesday, holding Medford to an unearned run in the first three innings. But Laurissa Klapatauskas led off the bottom of the fourth with a solid single up the middle and moved to second on Delani Clausnitzer’s groundout. A wild pitch, a walk to Makala Ulrich and a stolen base put two runners in scoring position for number-seven hitter Rynn Ruesch, who smacked a tworun double down the leftfield line. Katie Brehm followed with a laser to right for another RBI double. Just like that, it was 4-0 and with Miller dealing once again, the Red Robins were finished.

“Those were the big ones,” Medford head coach Virgil Berndt said of the back-to-back doubles. “When we have our seven, eight, nine hitters that can do that, it’s huge.”

“That was key, that was really fun,” Miller said of the rally. “I think everyone in the dugout got really excited. It was like, ‘we got this.’” Antigo got leadoff hitter Alonna Weix to third base in the first inning, but three strikeouts left her stranded. Makayla Beck singled and moved to second on a passed ball in the second inning, but Wesle threw Beck out by plenty when she tried to steal third. Swartz reached on a fourth-inning error, but never got further than second as Miller struck out the side.

Antigo finished with three hits. Miller only walked two.

“It was good; it was working today,” she said. “The riseball was pretty key today. The change up was working pretty decently and then I was coming back with the drop ball.”

Both of the walks came in the seventh, but the first runner, Beck, was picked off first by Wesle for the inning’s first out.

“When I can make an out it’s nice,” Wesle said. “That play was kind of an in-the-moment kind of thing. It worked out.”

Berndt said Wesle’s improvement over the past two years has been impressive as she and Miller have clicked as battery mates.

“It’s really good,” Miller said. “She stepped it up this year and I’m really glad to have her back there.”

“I love working with Martha,” Wesle said. “It’s fun to watch all of her pitches.”

Medford’s first run came by accident in the bottom of the second when Ulrich misread Berndt’s pointing for Ruesch to remain at first base after she reached on an infield single. Ulrich took off for home and beat Antigo’s attempt to catch her in a rundown. Brehm hit her second double of the game in the sixth and pinch runner Eryka Seidl scored all the way from second on Miller’s fly ball. Antigo rightfielder Laura Burkhart made the catch in foul territory, but got tangled with the fence.

The Raiders hope to keep things rolling in another busy week ahead. They have added a game at Wausau East for today, Thursday, that starts at 4:30 p.m. and will head to Lakeland Friday for a 5 p.m. first pitch against the T-Birds.

The Raiders host Menomonie Monday in non-conference play, then visit Rhinelander Tuesday and host Mosinee May 27 in league play.

“I didn’t know what to expect not having a season last year,” Wesle said of the team’s success so far. “It’s been very nice. It’s surprising, but we have a lot of talent in the lower levels.”

Medford 5, Mosinee 0

Though recent results had suggested Medford might be considered the favorite going in, a significant weight was still lifted off the Raiders’ program Thursday when it finally beat longtime GNC power Mosinee 5-0 in the Indians’ home field.

No Medford team had beaten Mosinee since a 5-2 win in Medford in the 2011 WIAA Division 2 regional final. That overall streak was 23 games. No Medford team had won in Mosinee since the 2006 state team won there 9-0 on April 6 of that season in a non-conference game. That was a streak of 17 games.

And, Mosinee’s 27-game GNC winning streak was also snapped.

“These girls don’t know the history and we didn’t even talk about it before the game,” Berndt said.

Miller outdueled Mosinee’s freshman pitcher Addie Strejc by striking out 14 batters, walking just two and allowing only one hit, a fourth-inning single by Lexi Freiboth. Zoe Gburek walked and they got to second and third, but Miller out Strejc and Hailey Shnowske to end Mosinee’s only major threat. Amber Gonzalez reached third base in the fifth following an error and a passed ball, but Miller got two strikeouts there as well.

Medford stranded two runners in scoring position in the second, but then did its major damage in the top of the fourth. Klapatauskas reached on a dropped fly ball to left to start the inning. Clausnitzer singled. Ulrich singled in Klapatauskas and an error on the play allowed pinch runner Katie Lybert to also score. After two strikeouts, Ruesch delivered a clutch RBI double. She went to third on a passed ball and, after Miller walked, Miller got caught in a rundown that allowed Ruesch to score.

Ulrich singled in the sixth and scored an unearned run in the sixth.

Medford had eight hits. Ulrich was two for three and scored twice. Clausnitzer was two for four with Morgan Huegli, Katie Brehm, Allie Wesle and Ruesch adding one hit apiece.

Strejc struck out seven and walked two for the Indians, who fell to 3-1 in the GNC at the time. They lost 6-1 at Rhinelander Tuesday and will now have a tough time extending their run of 11 straight GNC titles.

Medford 15, Stratford 0

On Monday, the Raiders took advantage of several defensive miscues and blanked visiting Stratford 15-0 in four innings.

Medford scored eight first-inning runs on just one hit and five Tiger errors. Medford put the game away with a five-run third that included an RBI infield single by Emma Brost, a bases-loaded walk by Seidl and a two-run single by Miller.

Miller struck out eight and allowed a hit in three innings. Klapatauskas escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.

Clausnitzer led the offense by going four for four and scored three times. She hit an RBI single to end the game in the fourth.

Medford 15, Lakeland 0

The Raiders put away another game quickly via the 15-run rule on Saturday, taking care of Lakeland in just three innings.

Medford scored 10 runs on 10 hits in the opening inning. Klapatauskas and Clausnitzer hit run-scoring singles and Seidl crushed a two-run triple to deep right. Allie Paulson’s three-run triple made it 8-0. She scored on Huegli’s single. Klapatauskas added her second RBI single of the inning.

Miller’s double in the second scored two runs and Lybert added a sacrifice fly. The Raiders ended it in the bottom of the third when Madisyn Pilgrim walked and advanced on a wild pitch. Brost hit an infi eld single and Delaney Hraby hit a sacrifi ce fly to score Pilgrim. Chloe Werner walked, Abbie Frey singled and Miller hit a drive to deep center that bounced off Camille Quade’s glove to drive in Werner with the clinching run.

Miller was two for three with three RBIs and two runs scored. Ulrich and Clausnitzer also had two hits apiece.

Miller struck out nine walked two and allowed a leadoff single to Lakeland’s Brooklyn Bauer in the second.

Medford 14, West 4

Medford’s offense picked up steam as the game progressed and put away Wausau West 14-4 in a non-conference home game Friday.

The Raiders pounded Warrior pitching for 16 hits with Ulrich going three for three with three runs scored, Miller going three for three with two runs scored and two driven in and Clausnitzer going three for four with two runs driven in and two scored.

Klapatauskas got the win, scattering six hits over five innings, walking three and striking out two. Three of West’s runs were earned.

Ulrich tripled and scored on Brehm’s single in the second. Miller knocked in Brehm with a two-out double for a 3-1 lead. Brehm added another RBI single in a two-run third. A six-run fourth broke it open and included run-scoring hits from Clausnitzer and Pilgrim, a sacrifice fly from Klapatauskas and a bases-loaded walk from Miller.

Huegli doubled and scored on Clausnitzer’s single in the fifth. Seidl ended things with a two-run double.