GNC PLAYERS OF THE YEAR LED BIG SPRINGS
ALL-GNC SOFTBALL
Miller is POY for third time and Berndt named top coach; 9 Raiders get awards
You know you had a good softball team when your entire starting nine earned an all-conference honor.
For the third straight spring, the Medford Raiders fit that description, once again getting honors for nine players in the voting process for the 2023 All-Great Northern Conference teams.
To no one’s surprise, the list of award winners is highlighted by senior pitcher Martha Miller, who earned the league’s Player of the Year award for the third straight spring. Head coach Virgil Berndt was named GNC Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons and seniors Eryka Seidl and Morgan Huegli as well as freshman Zayleah Leonhardt claimed first-team spots.
The Raiders went 11-1 in conference play to earn their third straight GNC championship by a two-game margin over Mosinee and finished 22-3 overall. They lost 2-1 in an 11-inning WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal heartbreaker to New London, who went on to win the sectional and finished second at state this past weekend, losing 8-0 to defending champion Freedom in the final.
Medford’s list of award winners includes two first-time recipients on the All-GNC second team in sophomore first baseman Victoria Konieczny and freshman rightfielder Finley Arndt. Seniors Allie Paulson and Hope Faude added more awards to their résumés by gaining honorable mention, while sophomore leftfielder Chelsea Gebauer made that list too.
The first team
Miller was one of six unanimous firstteam choices on the 12-member first team and closed a career that will be tough for any future Raider to match from a pitching standpoint.
The UW-Green Bay recruit finished her career with a scant 0.73 earned run average and a 50-8 record in her threeyear career with 675 strikeouts and just 58 walks and 177 hits allowed in 372.1 innings. Many of the numbers would’ve been even higher had the senior class’s freshman year not been canceled when the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.
This year, Miller led the GNC in wins with 10 and earned run average at 0.49 with five earned runs allowed in 72 GNC innings. She ranked second in strikeouts with 107 behind Lakeland’s hard-throwing sophomore Saylor Timmerman.
Overall, Miller was 19-3 this spring with three shutouts, a 0.70 earned run average and 20 complete games in 21 starts. In 151 innings pitched, Miller struck out 241 batters, walked just 22 and allowed 15 earned runs and 88 hits. She hit just four of the 285 batters she faced.
Hitting out of the leadoff spot, Miller hit .286 in league play (10 for 35) with nine runs batted in, 12 runs scored, one triple and one home run.
The home run was a big one. The three-run blast in the top of the seventh inning at Antigo on May 12 gave Medford a 3-1 win over the Red Robins and clinched the GNC championship. The game was scoreless at the time and had Antigo won, the Robins would’ve had the chance to clinch the outright title with two more wins.
Overall, Miller hit .342 (25 for 73) with 12 RBIs, two homers, two triples, a double and a team-high 23 runs scored.
Miller struck out 18 batters in a 3-2, nine-inning regional semifinal win over Rhinelander on May 23, struck out 14 in the New London loss, struck out 15 in a 4-3 win over Hayward in Rhinelander on March 25. She had two strong outings in pitchers’ duels with Lakeland and Timmerman, striking out 10, walking none and allowing five hits in a 4-1 home win on April 27 and striking out 10, walking one and allowing just two hits in a 2-1 road win on May 5. She struck out seven, didn’t walk a batter and gave up just three hits in the clinching win at Antigo. Miller threw a five-inning perfect game in a 16-0 win over Tomahawk on April 11.
The other unanimous first-team picks this year are Antigo seniors Makala Beck and Lily Weix, Timmerman, Mosinee junior Amber Gonzalez and Northland Pines junior Carly Huelskamp.
Miller’s softball season has extended into June. On Tuesday, she played in the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association’s Senior All-Star Games in Wisconsin Dells. On June 21, she’ll be one of 12 players representing Wisconsin in the 2023 Border Battle with Minnesota’s top players. The doubleheader will be played at the University of Minnesota.
Huegli moves up to the first team after two seasons on the All-GNC second team. She had another outstanding season defensively in centerfield with just one error in 23 total chances and she hit .254 (17 for 67) with 14 RBIs and 11 runs scored and three sacrifice bunts. She struck out just five times in 74 plate appearances.
In league play, Huegli’s batting average was .242 (eight for 33), with three walks, three stolen bases, seven RBIs and seven runs scored.
Huegli was two for three and scored a run in the big win at Antigo and was two for three with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs in a 13-3 win at Rhinelander on April 20. She had the go-ahead RBI in the seventh inning in the 2-1 win at Lakeland and was two for three in Medford’s 8-3 regional final win over Merrill on May 25.
Seidl emerged as one of the GNC’s top catchers in her second season as the starter at that position while earning her first All-GNC softball honor. Seidl was credited with a .977 fielding percentage and had seven assists with just six errors in 263 total chances. Offensively, she gave the Raiders some punch with a .380 batting average that included 27 hits in 71 at-bats, 17 RBIs, four doubles and two home runs. She hit .313 in GNC play (10 for 32) with eight RBIs, five walks, three sacrifices and seven runs scored.
In league play, Seidl was two for three with a homer, two runs scored and two driven in during the 16-0 win over Tomahawk. She went two for four and drove in two in an 11-1 win over Northland Pines on April 21 and was two for four with a double and an RBI win a 6-1 win at Tomahawk May 4.
She homered while going two for three with two RBIs in a 6-1 win over St. Croix Central on May 13, started the year by going three for three with a double and two RBIs in a 9-5 win over Wausau West and had a go-ahead RBI double that nearly sent Medford to the sectional final. It gave the Raiders a 1-0, sixth-inning lead over New London.
That 9-5 win over Wausau West in the season opener introduced the softball world to Leonhardt, who hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to win the game. Leonhardt took over as Medford’s third baseman and the freshman hit .385 for the year with a team-high 30 hits in 78 at-bats and a team-high three home runs. She tied Seidl for the team lead with four doubles and led the Raiders with 23 runs batted in. Defensively, she had just four errors in 76 chances. She had 43 putouts and 29 assists.
In GNC play, Leonhardt hit .389 (14 for 36) with 13 runs scored, a homer, eight RBIs, six walks and a double. The homer came in a 5-0 win at Rhinelander April 10. It was a two-run shot. She was two for three with two RBIs the next day against Tomahawk. She went two for two with three runs scored and an RBI in the return trip to Rhinelander April 20 went two for three in a big 4-0 win at Mosinee on April 25.
Leonhardt capped a big first weekend at the Hodag Dome by going three for three with two runs scored in a 4-3 win Hayward and was two for four with two RBIs in an 8-4 win over Division 4 state qualifier Stratford. She hit the go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning of a 4-3 win over Division 3 state qualifier Somerset in the Shawano Quad on April 15 and had the game-winning RBI in the regional win over Rhinelander.
Five more award winners
As first-year varsity players, Konieczny and Arndt made strong contributions to Medford’s success on their way to All-GNC second-team spots.
Konieczny won the battle for the first base job early in the season and finished with a .269 batting average (14 for 52) with a double, nine RBIs and 12 runs scored. She had just one error in 104 total chances for a .990 fielding percentage. Her GNC totals included eight hits in 27 at-bats for a .296 batting average, seven RBIs and seven runs scored.
Konieczny was a key figure in both of Medford’s tight wins over Lakeland. She put the ball in play with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, resulting in a three-base, three-run error that was the difference in the 4-1 win. She scored from second on Huegli’s infield hit to score the winning run in the 2-1 road win.
Arndt was not charged with an error in 13 chances while taking over in rightfield and moved her way up to the second spot in the batting order early in the spring, hitting .321 in GNC play (nine for 28) with seven RBIs, six walks drawn, five stolen bases and 10 runs scored. Overall, Arndt hit .277 (18 for 65) and scored 19 runs. She had one of the season’s biggest hits with a late two-run single that beat Antigo 3-2 on April 13.
Paulson, the team’s three-year starter at shortstop, had another solid year. A first-team pick in 2021 and 2022, she hit .338 overall (24 for 71) with 18 RBIs, which ranked second among the Raiders behind Leonhardt. She hit a team-high four triples, including the tie-breaking shot in the regional final win over Merrill. Her biggest moments seemed to come in non-conference play this spring. She went three for four with a double and a triple against Stratford, was two for three with two RBIs and a triple against Somerset and was two for three with a triple and two RBIs later that day in a 5-2 win over Shawano. Paulson was three for four with an RBI in the regional semifinal win over Rhinelander.
Faude returned to fill Medford’s second base position, recovering from a summer knee injury. She posted a .913 fielding percentage in 46 total chances and hit .200 overall in limited opportunities, going three for 15. She made a couple of big defensive plays in the playoff win over Rhinelander. All three of her hits came in GNC play in eight at-bats (.375) and she drove in two runs.
Gebauer was one of the season’s most pleasant surprises, giving Medford several key at-bats at the lower end of the batting order and playing solidly in leftfield with just one error in 14 total chances (.929 fielding percentage). She had an outstanding diving catch that was a key play early in the win at Antigo. She posted a .250 overall batting average (12 for 48) with 14 runs batted in. In GNC play, she also hit .250 (six for 24) with six RBIs. Gebauer had a two-run single that sparked the offense in its 13-3 win at Rhinelander and claimed the starting spot at Mauston on April 1 when she drove in five runs in wins over Adams-Friendship and Spooner. Gebauer was two for three in the playoff win over Rhinelander.
For Berndt, the Coach of the Year award is his fourth since the GNC began play in 2009. He shared the award in 2010 and 2014 and won it in 2021 at the start of Medford’s current three-year run atop the GNC. The three straight league titles is something the Raiders haven’t accomplished since closing out the Lumberjack Conference at the top from 2006-08. Berndt hit the 400win milestone in Medford’s 5-0 win at Rhinelander on April 10 and now sits at 416 career wins.
Eryka Seidl First Team
Morgan Huegli First Team
Zayleah LeonhardtFirst Team
Tori Konieczny Second Team
Finley Arndt Second Team
Allie Paulson Hon. Mention
Hope Faude Hon. Mention
Chelsea Gebauer Hon. Mention
Virgil Berndt Coach of Year
