Rib Lake snaps losing streak by holding off Flambeau’s late rally

RIB LAKE SOFTBALL

The Rib Lake softball team broke a five-game losing streak Monday, using two five-run rallies to take the lead for good in a 12-11 non-conference win at Flambeau.

The Lady Redmen built what appeared to be a comfortable six-run cushion but things got uncomfortable when the Falcons scored five times in the bottom of the seventh on two hits, three walks and two errors.

But, they got the all-important last out and improved to 4-13 overall.

“Unfortunately if we would’ve scored a little bit more in the fifth and sixth we could’ve put it away, but we didn’t,” Rib Lake head coach Dennis Scheithauer said. “We went kind of silent in fifth and sixth and didn’t do anything. But we got a win, the girls were happy and we’re glad to get that one by us.”

Rib Lake’s big third inning broke a 1-1 and gave it a 6-1 lead. Flambeau got three back in the bottom half, but Rib Lake tacked on five more in the top of the fourth to go up 11-4. The Falcons got two in the fifth and then made its last push in the seventh.

Emily Rodman was the winning pitcher going four innings. Danielle Mann got the save, taking over for Kyla Kennedy in the fifth and covering the last 2.2 innings.

Offensively, Rib Lake banged out 11 hits. Molly Heiser was two for three, Kennedy and Reagan Reinhardt both went two for four with a double and Mann was two for five. Josie Scheithauer, Tessa Krause and Cassandra Cano each added a hit.

The win was an important momentum builder as the fifth-seeded Redmen look forward to the start of WIAA Division 5 tournament play Monday at fourth-seeded Butternut-Mercer.

“We played five freshmen and played well,” coach Scheithauer said. “We played really solid defense up until that seventh inning. Reagan made three nice plays earlier in the game at third base. She started a 5-4-3 double play that was just sweet. They’re playing pretty darn good for a bunch of young girls.”

Monday’s regional semifinal will be a rematch of an 11-0 game won by the Pioneers back on May 4. The winner goes to top-seeded Hurley Wednesday for the regional final.

“I think we’re going to give them a better run than we did last time,” Scheithauer said. “We had five errors in that game. I’m looking at that as being one of the key factors. We’re playing better ball that way. I guess we’ll see. That’s why we play them.”

Athens 13, Rib Lake 3

While Rib Lake’s young crew is making improvements, especially defensively, from where it was at the start of the season, the one thing still causing the team some trouble is the big inning.

In Thursday’s 13-3 Marawood North loss at Athens, the Blue Jays scored in all five innings, but a five-run third was the big one, turning a 4-2 lead into a 9-2 bulge.

“That’s really what kills us,” Scheithauer said. “It seems like that’s the way it’s been. We give up one or two bad innings. For the most part we’ve played along with teams pretty well.”

Athens clinched a share of the Marawood North title with the win as it finished 7-1 in league play. Winning pitcher Siarra Hart went three for four with a double for Athens and Jazelle Hartwig was two for two with four runs scored and two driven in. Athens had 10 hits and drew 11 walks.

Reinhardt had a triple, while Mann, Josie Scheithauer and Kennedy had a hit apiece. Rodman was the starting pitcher and took the loss as Rib Lake finished in third place in the five-team Marawood North at 3-5.

Phillips 11, Rib Lake 0

The Phillips Loggers clinched the other half of the conference championship with an 11-0 win at Rib Lake on June 2.

The big inning in that one was the second when Phillips put up seven runs on just two hits. The Loggers drew four walks in the inning.

“We just couldn’t make the plays we needed to,” Scheithauer said. “They hit a couple of bloop singles, but they count just as much as a nice liner through the infield. Other than that inning, we were playing pretty even with them, but it takes more than one hit.”

Mann had that one hit for Rib Lake and it led off the first inning. Kennedy got the start in the circle.

“We had six strikeouts in five innings, so we did put the ball in play most of the time, but they made plays,” Scheithauer said.

Athens 14, Rib Lake 5

In a June 1 matchup in Rib Lake, the Redmen surprised Athens by jumping out to a 5-0 lead through two innings.

But things turned quickly in the third when Athens scored eight runs. The Blue Jays added four more in the fifth.

“Unfortunately that was our undoing,” Scheithauer said of the third inning. “We gave up eight runs on six hits and a couple of bases on balls and then never really recovered after that. We had four runners on base after the second inning. We just couldn’t get it done.”

Mann drew a walk to start the game and scored after hits by Rodman and Heiser.

In the bottom of the second, Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer walked and, after a groundout and a hit batter, Mann punched a two-run double. Josie Scheithauer singled and after a couple of walks and a sacrifi ce, it was 5-0.

Athens wound up with 15 hits, including two doubles by Addison Lavicka and a homer by Hart, who again was the winning pitcher.