RIB LAKE SOFTBALL - Weik blasts 3 homers, Rib Lake rolls over the Loggers 14-2

RIB LAKE SOFTBALL

Tessa Weik drove in six runs with three straight home runs and Josie Scheithauer pitched six shutout innings Tuesday in Rib Lake’s 14-2 softball rout of host Phillips.

Weik grounded out to third base in her first two at-bats, but changed her approach to hitting more up the middle in her last three at-bats and it paid off in a big way as she sent three straight drives that either went over the fence in straightaway center or to slightly left-center.

“None of them needed any help,” Rib Lake head coach Craig Scheithauer said.

Actually, the up-the-middle approach helped several Rib Lake hitters as the game progressed. While the Redmen found they could make solid contact by pulling the ball against Logger pitcher Brooke Eckert, they also found third baseman Kacy Eggebrecht and shortstop Alie Williams were gobbling up just about every ground ball hit that way.

“They play to their strengths,” Scheithauer said. “If you pull the ball against them, you are going to get out a lot.”

Weik’s explosion powered a final three innings where Rib Lake scored 11 runs to break away from the Loggers. The Redmen finished with 12 hits. Josie Scheithauer was three for four with two doubles, Leah Chmielowiec was two for four and Kiana Dallmann was two for two and drew three walks.

Chmielowiec made her mark defensively as well, making diving catches on sinking liners hit by Phillips in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Josie Scheithauer, meanwhile, turned in her second straight strong pitching start. She also pitched to contact and her defense made plays behind her. She allowed just four hits while striking out two and walking two.

Rib Lake improved to 3-2 in the Marawood North and 7-6 overall. The Loggers fell to 3-4, 3-5.

Rib Lake took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Josie Scheithauer doubled, followed by singles from Chmielowiec and Dallmann to punch the first run across. Chmielowiec scored on Kara Kennedy’s groundout, which turned into a double play when Dallmann tried to go from first to third but was cut down.

Lily Butler drove in the third run of the game for Rib Lake on a fourth-inning groundout.

Avery Niemi walked and was along for the ride on Weik’s first home run, which cleared the fence in left-center. Josie Scheithauer doubled, Chmielowiec walked and Dallmann singled for an RBI and a 6-0 lead.

Addison Gumz singled and eventually scored on Avery Niemi’s groundout in the sixth. Weik followed that up with a solo homer to straightaway center.

A six-run seventh more than put it away. It started with a walk to Dallmann. Madilyn Blomberg reached on an error and Kennedy walked to load the bases for Gumz, who hit a sacrifice fly. Tahlia Scheithauer walked to re-load the bases. Niemi drove in two runs on a misplayed ground ball. Weik followed by bashing a hanging change-up over the fence in leftcenter for a three-run homer.

Weik pitched the seventh and allowed two unearned runs on two-out singles by Williams and Eckert.

While the seventh-inning error hurt a little, the Redmen played one of their best defensive games with just that one error.

“It’s about doing what you can do,” Craig Scheithauer said. “A lot of it is just about being ready, having a plan, knowing what to do. It’s the same at the plate.”

Rib Lake is scheduled to host the rematch with Phillips today, Thursday, at 4:45 p.m. If the teams are able to avoid the rain and get that game in, Rib Lake will head to Newman Catholic on Friday for a Marawood Conference crossover.

Next week was supposed to start with a non-conference home game against Gilman Monday, but that was canceled Wednesday and replaced with a scrimmage against Medford’s JV. That will be followed by games Tuesday and Thursday with Chequamegon (3-2, 10-2) that are likely to settle second place in the conference behind Athens.

Athens (5-0, 10-2) beat the Screaming Eagles 17-11 Tuesday. Those teams meet again today in Athens.

Eagles 10, Redmen 4

On a cold, windy Friday afternoon, Rib Lake finally broke through with a four-run bottom of the sixth against visiting Auburndale to take a 4-3 lead, but the Eagles came back with a vengeance, scoring seven times in the top of the seventh to win the Marawood crossover 10-4.

Auburndale jumped ahead by scoring three unearned runs in the top of the first on two errors and three hits. From there, the Redmen and Josie Scheithauer shut the Eagles down to give themselves a chance to comeback. After some missed opportunities in the middle innings, they came through in the bottom of the sixth.

“In the sixth we finally batted around,” Craig Scheithauer said. “We had been getting more hitters to the plate. We just didn’t come through until the sixth.”

Josie Scheithauer started it with a walk and Chmielowiec doubled. Dallmann followed with a walk to load the bases. Auburndale pitcher Myah Katzenberger issued another walk to Butler to get Rib Lake on the board. Kennedy singled in a run, deflecting an infield hit off Katzenberger. Gumz drove in the tying run with a fielder’s choice and then Tahlia Scheithauer found the right spot, blooping an RBI single just fair into shallow leftfield. Niemi walked to re-load the bases, but that was as far as the rally went.

“We drew 12 walks,” Craig Scheithauer said. “We struck out seven times, but with 12 walks and six hits, we probably should have scored more than four runs.”

Josie Scheithauer had pitched an outstanding first six innings and looked to finish things off in the seventh, but the Eagles got two singles, one of which was compounded by an error. A walk and a double compounded by another error opened the floodgates. After two walks, Weik took over an allowed a hit, plus there was a third error before the inning finally ended on a lineout double play.

“Auburndale is a tough team,” Craig Scheithauer said. “They’re a Division 4 team and one of the better teams in the Marawood South. We hung right with them. We finally put together that one big inning and then held the lead for all of about three minutes. They got down 4-3 and you could just see their demeanor. They had the top of the order coming up and they felt it was no big deal.”

Chmielowiec was two for four with a double and Tahlia Scheithauer was two for four to lead Rib Lake’s offense. Josie Scheithauer’s outing in the circle was better than her final line indicated. She went 6.1 innings and allowed nine hits and nine runs, four of which were earned. She struck out five and walked four.

“Josie was really hitting her spots and looking more like what we saw from her at the end of last year,” Craig Scheithauer said. “She was getting jam jobs from their hitters. She pitched well. She didn’t miss a lot of her spots.”

Leah Chmielowiec