Reds quiet River Monsters; Trojans, Woodticks win to set up last-weekend matchup

DAIRYLAND LEAGUE BASEBALL

The Whittlesey Reds bounced back from a game-tying homer in the ninth inning and a go-ahead run by Rhinelander in the top of the 10th by scoring twice in the bottom of the 10th to beat the River Monsters 6-5 in an intense Dairyland League Large Division matchup Sunday at Mike Roiger Stadium.

Down 5-4 to start the bottom of the 10th, Whittlesey sent six batters to the plate and put five of them on base to push across the winning runs.

Thomas Mildbrand started the inning with a double off Rhinelander reliever Quinn Lamers and moved to third on a passed ball. Brent Mueller was hit by a one-out pitch and Brandon Loertscher was intentionally walked to load the bases for Spike Alexander who singled to drive in Mildbrand. With the bases still loaded, Nate Retterath put the ball in play, driving in Mueller with the winning run.

The result left Whittlesey at 7-4 in league play, good for second place and a half-game lead over Rhinelander and Everest, who are both 6-4. The Rapids Redhawks (9-2) clinched the outright Large Division title with Rhinelander’s loss.

The back-and-forth scoring started with the River Monsters plating two runs in the top of the third inning. Whittlesey answered in the bottom half on a basesloaded walk from Jeff Kraschnewski and an RBI single by Brent Mueller with two outs to tie it at 2-2.

Lamers got a clutch single to knock in Andy Van Dyke and break the tie in the top of the seventh, but a potential second run on the play was cut down at home plate on the throw from leftfielder Nick Meyer. But the Reds took their first lead in the bottom of the eighth. Blaine Seidl singled off starting pitcher Joe Schneider, stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Mildbrand was hit by a pitch, setting up Kraschnewski’s single that tied it. Mueller’s single drove in Mildbrand with the go-ahead run.

The lead was short-lived as River Monster Tyler Blomdahl led off the ninth with a solo home run to knot the game at 4-4 and ultimately send it to extra innings, though Whittlesey did load the bases with two outs in the bottom half but did not score.

Whittlesey had 13 hits, including three from Seidl out of the ninth spot and two apiece by Nick Meyer, Kraschnewski, Mueller and Alexander.

Nick Retterath pitched eight innings and then left after allowing the leadoff homer in the ninth. He struck out seven, walked one and allowed nine hits and four runs, two of which were earned. Alexander got the relief win, striking out two while allowing two hits and a run in two innings.

Kurt Zuiker and Lamers both had two of Rhinelander’s 11 hits.

The win was Whittlesey’s second of the weekend. The Reds also clobbered Merrill 18-5 Saturday in the make-up date of a June 25 postponement. Whittlesey will host Marshfield (4-6) Saturday at 1:30 p.m. to close out the home portion of the Reds’ Large Division schedule.

Small Division

In the Small Division, the battles for seeding in the post-season tournament planned for Rib Lake Aug. 11-13 continued over the weekend.

Westboro got one step closer to securing the one-seed by knocking off the visiting Tomahawk Titans 7-4 on Sunday.

The Trojans got two shutout innings in relief from Klay Ellenbecker and Marshall Westfall to close out the game and turned things around offensively by scoring twice in the fifth and twice more in the eighth to overturn a 4-3 deficit.

Connor Westfall went three for five and drove in three runs for the winners, including a big two-out, two-run single in the eighth that iced it. The hit scored Dakota Willemssen, who had doubled with two down, and Butch Wiegel, who had walked. Marshall Westfall singled to load the bases.

Wily Johnson also went three for five and drove in two runs. He singled in Wiegel for Westboro’s first run in the bottom of the second, tying the game at the time, and he singled in Wiegel to cap the two-run fifth. Willemssen was hit by a pitch to start the inning, Wiegel and Marshall Westfall singled to load the bases and Connor Westfall reached on an error, scoring a run ahead of Johnson’s hit. What could have been a really big in-ning, however, fizzled on two strikeouts and a fly ball out.

Brant Johnson and Tucker Kraemer had run-scoring singles in the fourth inning that gave Westboro a brief 3-2 lead that Tomahawk overturned with a tworun top of the fifth.

Wiegel got the win and allowed seven hits and four runs while striking out four and walking one in a five-inning start. Ellenbecker allowed two hits and a walk while striking out one in his two innings. Marshall Westfall struck out four while getting the two-inning save.

Westboro sits at 5-1 in the division and holds a half-game lead over 4-1 Interwald. The Woodticks collected their fourth straight league win by taking care of business against winless Spirit on Sunday 9-1.

As luck would have it, Westboro visits Interwald Sunday for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch to potentially settle the top of the regular-season standings in the division.

Interwald and Rib Lake still have not completed their suspended game from July 3, which is tied 1-1 in the top of the ninth inning.

Rib Lake improved to 3-2 in league play with an 8-4 win over visiting Pittsville on Friday night.

The Osprey could still tie for the top spot in the standings. The team is at 4-2 Abbotsford this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Abbotsford had no trouble with 1-5 Medford Sunday, rolling to a 17-2 win in five innings to also stay in contention for the top spot.

Medford will close out league play by hosting Pittsville (3-3) on Sunday.

Whittlesey catcher Cade Alexander shows umpire Ryan Hartl the ball and Hartl calls Rhinelander’s Kurt Zuiker out during the seventh inning of Sunday’s game. Zuiker tried to score from second on an RBI single by Quinn Lamers, but the throw from Reds leftfielder Nick Meyer got to Alexander in plenty of time to cut Zuiker down. Pitcher Nick Retterath also is pictured.BOB MAINHARDT/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS

Medford’s summer 17U softball team carried a 6-2 record into its season finale Wednesday at home against Rib Lake. On July 19, the team split a home doubleheader with a Stratford team that had several players from its WIAA Division 4 state-qualifying team present. The Tigers took game one 8-3, but Kailyn Haenel pitched a five-inning shutout in game two with 10 strikeouts as Medford won 3-0. Above, centerfielder Ava Hartl makes a nice grab in game one. The team swept Rib Lake early in the season. It split with Marathon with the loss being 1-0. Haenel and Rylee Hraby both record double-digit strikeout outings. The team also swept Edgar.PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford catcher Ruthie Steinman picks a pitch that bounced in the dirt and attempts to throw out a Stratford runner at second base during game one of last week’s doubleheader.

Medford pitcher Rylee Hraby isn’t quite able to backhand this bouncer hit by Stratford’s Tria Tubbs during the fifth inning in game one of the softball team’s July 19 doubleheader at the MAES diamond. Stratford scored twice in the inning to go up 8-1 and eventually win 8-3. Medford took game two 3-0, getting an RBI single from Hraby in the third and an RBI single from Finley Arndt in the fourth. Paige Wilkins also knocked in a run in the fourth.

Medford’s 12U travel softball team won the championship at the Spencer tournament on Sunday, beating Athens in the final. Team members include (front l. to r.) Avery Stark, Annalee Bull, Carmyn Alexander, Lydia Schaefer, Mata Decker, (back) Paisley Ried, Gracie Strama, Olivia Schaefer, Trista Shore and Autumn Hartl. The team’s coaches are Nancy Schaefer, Lindsay Ried and Stan Strama.SUBMITTED PHOTO