Rib Lake gets by Prentice, slams Chequamegon in North play

The Rib Lake softball team had half as many base hits as Prentice Tuesday, but the Lady Redmen took advantage of walks, hit batters and other defensive miscues by the Buccaneers to earn an 8-5 win on their home field.

The win was Rib Lake’s second Marawood North win of the week and put the Redmen at 2-1 in the league standings, good for a second-place tie with Athens heading into a rematch tonight, Thursday, in Prentice. The Redmen are 2-8 overall.

After about a 10-day stretch of improved offense, Rib Lake’s bats have gone quiet the past two games. The Redmen had to find another way to win Tuesday, and that was playing solid defense and using anything offensively that Prentice gave them.

“We took advantage of a few miscues,” head coach Dennis Scheithauer said. “We were fortunate I guess. The only column that counts really is the run column.”

Rib Lake never trailed, scoring a run in the first, three in the second, one in the third and two more in the fourth to build a 7-1 lead. Prentice made a push, scoring three times in the top of the fifth to pull within 7-4. Rib Lake got an insurance run in the bottom half. Pitcher Emily Rodman and the defense held from there.

Rodman earned her second pitching victory of the week. She struck out 14 batters, which negated some of the chances Prentice had with six hits, four walks and five hit batters.

Rib Lake, meanwhile, had just three hits, all by leadoff hitter Danielle Mann.

“We took advantage of seven bases on balls and four hit batters,” Scheithauer said. “They probably had three or four passed balls and a couple of wild pitches we were able to take advantage of. Our bats are struggling. I don’t have a good explanation other than we’re seeing a variety of different pitching.”

The good news is that Rib Lake’s young defense is solidifying itself at the season’s mid-point.

“Physically we’re playing pretty good,” Scheithauer said. “We only had one error in the Marathon game and one error (against Prentice). We’re cutting down on the mental mistakes, which always helps.”

After tonight’s game in Prentice, Rib Lake has a challenging stretch. Undefeated Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (11-0) visits Rib Lake Friday for the final Marawood crossover of the season. A solid Columbus Catholic team is in Monday for a non-conference game, then the Redmen face North-leading Phillips on the road Tuesday and at home on May 27. Game times are 4:45 p.m.

Season’s first win

Rib Lake tasted victory for the first time in 2021 on Thursday, holding on for a 15-12 win over Chequamegon, a team that had beaten them 18-10 just three days earlier.

The win ended the program’s 17-game losing streak to the Screaming Eagles that dated back to a 12-8 win on May 13, 2011.

“It feels so good. We’ve been working for this so hard,” junior Kyla Kennedy said. “We have been putting everything together in practice right before this game. We worked specifically on certain things in certain drills just to perfect this game. We were struggling with batting for a little bit, so we did a lot of batting in practice and worked on slowing it down because of this pitcher. After we did that, we all were cranking the ball. We have improved.”

Kennedy provided the game’s biggest moment, greeting Chequamegon reliever Lexi Shultz with a grand slam home run to put Rib Lake ahead 13-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Screaming Eagles stormed back within 13-11 in the top of the sixth, but Mann, Rib Lake’s freshman catcher, came up with two big throws to end the rally. First, she picked off base runner Sienna Nguyen after Nguyen had hit a one-out single. Mann then made a nice throw to prevent Jene’ Sherwinski from reaching on a dropped third strike.

Mann delivered a clutch, two-out, tworun double to deep centerfield in the bottom of the sixth to add some insurance. That double came right after Mann was hit by a pitch, but it was ruled she made no attempt to get out of the way and was not granted first base, which turned out to be a break for Rib Lake.

Rodman threw six solid innings. She struck out seven, walked three and hit three and allowed 10 hits and nine earned runs. Kennedy got the last three outs to nail it down.

Two big innings were key to the win. The first of those rallies came in the bottom of the second.

Down 3-2, the Redmen got a one-out walk from Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer and a single by Tessa Krause. Mann’s sacrifice fly to deep center tied it. Josie Scheithauer walked and Kennedy singled to load the bases for Molly Heiser, who walked. Rodman’s infield single cleared the bases when the Screaming Eagle threw the ball around, making it 7-3.

It was 9-4 going into the bottom of the fifth when Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer again walked and was safe at second on a Krause fielder’s choice. Josie Scheithauer drew a one-walk that loaded the bases and forced Chequamegon to bring in Shultz to relieve starter Nina Kelto and face Kennedy, who lined a shot over the fence in left-center.

“When the new pitcher came out there, my nerves were just so crazy,” Kennedy said. “I just had to try to slow myself down and get the mentality that if I get a good pitch, just swing. It was crazy. It was the best feeling ever. I’ve only (homered) in practice one time. I was watching it and right when I hit first base and it went over, it was just an instant feeling of excitement. That was awesome. I don’t think anybody on our team has ever hit one, so it was a good feeling for the entire team too.”

Chequamegon made its run in the sixth when its hitters got timed up to Rodman, who the Eagles didn’t see on May 10. Sherwinski doubled, Anna Wolfe was hit by a pitch and Jasmine Schmidt lined a two-run double off the fence in right-center. After Alyssa Hoffman walked, Hailey Minnema crushed a three-run homer well over the fence in left. Shultz hit a one-out single and Lainie Heizler hit a high drive that just got over the fence in left for a two-run blast. Just like that, it was a two-run game, but Mann’s throws prevented Chequamegon from getting any closer.

Kennedy was three for four with five RBIs. Mann was two for three with three RBIs and Rodman was two for four. The Redmen had 10 hits and drew nine walks.

Kennedy said despite seven losses to start the year, the Redmen had kept a positive attitude.

“We always have fun,” she said. “No matter if we win or lose, we always try to have fun out there. I just like playing the game. That’s what I try to focus on, have fun and try to get better every time.”

Marathon 18, Rib Lake 2

In between the wins, Rib Lake dropped a four-inning, 18-2 decision at Marathon Friday in a Marawood crossover. Nine runs in the bottom of the third broke open what had been a close 3-2 game.

Rib Lake scored its runs in the top of the third on an RBI triple by Josie Scheithauer. She scored when Marathon made an errant throw back to the infield on the play.

Scheithauer took the pitching loss. Mann had two singles as Rib Lake had just three hits.