Shawano hangs around, steals softball regional semifinal late

The Medford softball program’s streak of sectional semifinal losses will end at three, but its recent run of tough lateinning post-season defeats continued Tuesday with Shawano’s walk-off 4-3 win over the Raiders in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal.

Two errors contributed to the winning run scoring in the bottom of the seventh and ending Medford’s season at 13-11. The fifth-seeded Raiders were in control of the game until the Hawks tied it at 3-3 with three straight hits in the bottom of the sixth, capped by Kimora O’Kimosh’s tworun double to the gap in deep left-center.

An error on a routine play started Shawano’s seventh inning. Ella Stuber sprinted all the way to third, beating Medford’s coverage on a sacrifice bunt by Abigail Bystol and then a misplay on Marissa Tomashek’s shallow fly ball scored Stuber.

“We’ve talked about how we do seem to have some trouble putting teams away,” Medford head coach Virgil Berndt said Wednesday. “We had two or three chances with the bases loaded or whatever. I think if it’s 4-1 or 5-1, it’s a totally different ball game.”

Medford took the lead with a two-out rally in the top of the third and was never behind in the game until the final pitch thrown by pitcher Rylee Hraby. The rally in the third started when number-nine hitter Laney Hraby reached on an infield error by the Hawks. Rylee Hraby singled to right and then Finley Arndt blooped a single into shallow left that drove in Laney Hraby. Rylee Hraby and Arndt moved up a base on the Hawks’ throw home and Tori Koniecnzy’s single up the middle drove in the second run.

“We came through in that inning,” Berndt said. “For awhile it really felt like two runs might be enough.”

One more hit could’ve broken the game open as Shawano intentionally walked Zayleah Leonhardt to load the bases, but the Hawks got the out they needed to keep it close.

The Raiders stranded a runner in the fourth and two in the fifth. The Hawks, who had been held to just a two-out, first-inning double by Marissa Tomashek through four innings, finally got something going in the bottom of the fifth.

It started innocently with Gabrielle Koenig bunting for hit. She went to third on Kadence Meyers’ base hit and Macey Krueger’s walk loaded the bases.

There was a crazy moment where Ella Stuber thought she had walked when the count was actually full and the Raiders caught the Hawks runners off the bases, but the home plate umpire realized his mistake and sent everyone back to their bases. Stuber then walked on the next pitch to drive in a run. Hraby struck out Abigail Bystol to end it right there at 2-1.

Medford put together another two-out threat in the top of the sixth. Addison Brahmer singled over the second baseman, stole second and went to third on Laney Hraby’s infield hit. Rylee Hraby’s single up the middle scored Brahmer before the inning ended on a fielder’s choice.

“We were outhitting them 8-2 at one point,” Berndt said. “We let them hang around. You can’t do that with good teams.”

One-out singles in the bottom half by Braylyn Babino and Abbygail Wachtel set up the big double by O’Kimosh that tied it.

Hraby struck out eight Hawks, walked two and hit one while allowing six hits and three earned runs.

“The nice thing about Rylee is she is reaching the point where she can dominate,” Berndt said. “It didn’t really happen (Tuesday), but she shouldn’t have had to.

Medford had nine hits off Meyers, who struck out seven and walked Leonhardt twice. One run was earned. Rylee Hraby was three for four, while Ava Hartl, Arndt, Konieczny, Chelsea Gebauer, Brahmer and Laney Hraby had a hit apiece.

Shawano (12-12) advanced to the regional final today, Thursday, likely at top- seeded and top-ranked Mosinee (24-1) unless eighth-seeded Waupaca (10-15) pulled off a huge upset Wednesday in a postponed regional semifinal.

Of Medford’s last four post-season losses, including Tuesday, all four have come with the decisive run or runs coming in the opponent’s last at-bat. Two of those losses were in extra innings with Medford being an out away from victory in the seventh. The other was a 2-0 loss to New London in 2022 where the host Bulldogs broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Medford has just two seniors on its varsity roster, Jada Surek and Paige Wilkins, and should be a team to watch in the next year or two, at least.

“People may look at 13-11 and say it wasn’t a really good year,” Berndt said. “But actually we beat some pretty good teams. If we get just a couple more plays or hits, we’re talking 16-18 wins. We were close. This group is going to get better. I would have loved to get another shot at Mosinee. We may not have won it, but I believe we would’ve given them a good game.”

Tori Konieczny