MEDFORD SOFTBALL - Softball team wins GNC opener, takes two at Woodside

MEDFORD SOFTBALL

Zayleah Leonhardt, Tori Konieczny and Rylee Hraby had two hits apiece and Hraby went the distance in the pitching circle to lead the Medford Raiders to a 9-3 win at Tomahawk Tuesday in the Great Northern Conference softball opener for both teams.

The win was Medford’s third straight, boosting the Raiders to 4-2 overall as they hope the weather allows them to finally get into a game-playing rhythm.

Medford had nine hits off two Tomahawk pitchers and drew nine walks to create constant pressure. Head coach Virgil Berndt said the Raiders didn’t take full advantage of that pressure, stranding 12 base runners, but he said it is becoming clear now through six games that this could be a highly-productive offensive team.

The Raiders led Tomahawk (3-2) throughout, getting a run on Leonhardt’s first-inning double to deep right. Finley Arndt, who had walked to start the game, scored on the hit. Medford tacked on three more in the second thanks to two-out base hits by Arndt, Hraby and Konieczny.

Tomahawk got a two-run single from Macy Jankiewicz in the bottom of the third to make it 5-2, but the Raiders pulled away from there. Leonhardt hit her second double and scored on Kayla Baumgartner’s fourth-inning single. Konieczny hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Arndt in the fifth. A two-run seventh made it 9-2 as Hraby and Konieczny singled with one out and worked their way around the bases, scoring on a Leonhardt groundout and a wild pitch.

Tomahawk got nine hits off Hraby, including an RBI double by Jankiewicz in the seventh, but the sophomore walked just two batters and struck out seven. The Hatchets left 10 runners on base as well, including two in the third, sixth and seventh innings.

If the weather holds, Medford will have a heavy workload within the next week. The Raiders are set to host their home opener, today, Thursday against Antigo with first pitch set for 5 p.m. On Saturday, Medford heads to Shawano for a quad where it will face the host Hawks at 9 a.m. and defending state runner-up New London at 1 p.m. with JV action against those teams also taking place.

Medford is back at home Monday for a key GNC matchup with Lakeland and then heads to Northland Pines Tuesday and to Rhinelander on April 18.

2-0 at Mauston

Last week’s snowstorm took away a day of play in the Woodside High School Softball Challenge at Mauston, but on Saturday Medford was still able to get two of its originally-scheduled three games in beating Kewaunee and Reavis, Ill.

Hraby struck out 12 batters and Hraby, Jada Surek and Ava Hartl had two hits apiece in the 10-3 win over the Kewaunee Storm. The Raiders got off to a bit of a slow start but put the game away with three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and three more in the seventh.

Arndt and Konieczny had run-scoring singles in the fifth-inning rally that put the Raiders up 5-1. The Storm got two back in the bottom half, but Medford came right back in the top of the sixth, turning four walks and an error into two runs. Baumgartner was hit by a pitch and scored on Surek’s triple to start the seventh. Hartl’s groundout knocked in Surek. Jolie Steliga walked and eventually scored on Arndt’s base hit.

Hraby tripled in the first and scored on Koniecnzy’s groundout. Hartl hit an RBI single in the second.

Hraby allowed seven hits and walked four. Medford dug out of a 5-0 second-inning deficit in game two and stormed back to defeat Reavis 10-6. Leonhardt provided the turning point in that one with a three-run sixth-inning homer that put the Raiders up 8-6. They tacked on two unearned runs with four hits in the seventh to complete the comeback. One of those runs came on an RBI double by Hraby.

Leonhardt was three for four with five runs batted in. Surek was four for four and Konieczny was three for four as the Raiders had 14 hits.

Kailyn Haenel got the start in the circle and settled down in her last two innings to keep the Raiders within striking distance. Only two of the six runs Reavis scored were earned. Haenel allowed five hits and two walks in four innings.

Hraby took over in the bottom of the fifth after the Raiders pulled within 6-5 and blew away the Rams with nine strikeouts while allowing one hit and one walk.

Medford used a three-run fourth to pull within two. Chelsea Gebauer’s double started the rally. She scored on a Surek hit and Arndt added an RBI single.

Konieczny singled and scored on Leonhardt’s double while Surek added an RBI single in the two-run fifth that made it 6-5.

Rylee Hraby Zayleah Leonhardt