MEDFORD SOFTBALL - Raiders get out to fast start, winning their first five
MEDFORD SOFTBALL
When they’ve needed it, the Medford Raiders have gotten clutch pitches, clutch plays defensively or clutch hits and are off to a 5-0 start to their softball season after winning two games under the Florida sun and three in Rhinelander’s Hodag Dome.
In Titusville, Fla., the Raiders got win number five Monday morning, holding off the Colfax Vikings 5-3 in a matchup of Wisconsin squads. The Raiders built a 5-0 lead with rallies in the third and fourth innings. With the tying runs on base with two outs in the top of the seventh, Rylee Hraby recorded her 16th and final strikeout to secure the victory.
Hraby allowed six hits and just one walk in her fifth pitching win of opening week. All three of Colfax’s seventh-inning runs were unearned. Medford outhit Colfax 9-6.
The Raiders stranded one base runner in the first and two in the second before cashing in during a three-run bottom of the third.
Findley Arndt hit a leadoff double and scored on Zayleah Leonhardt’s single. After Tori Konieczny reached on an error, Addison Brahmer’s groundout scored courtesy runner Jolie Steliga. Konieczny scored on Laney Hraby’s groundout.
Kayla Baumgartner led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and was bunted to second by Ruthie Steinman. Baumgartner moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rylee Hraby. Arndt singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Leonhardt blooped a single into no-man’s land behind second base.
Colfax got next to nothing going offensively through six innings. At that point, Hraby had 14 strikeouts and had allowed just one hit batter and four hits.
The Vikings stranded multiple runners in the fourth and fifth innings.
Hraby struck out Aleah Schindler to start the seventh, but Lyric Nichols singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Olivia Schindler reached on an error. Leadoff hitter Brynn Sikora walked and Alleah Kunsman singled in a run. Laikyn Beyer’s sacrifice fly made it 53 but also was the second out of the inning. After Audrey Ebert reached on an error, Hraby struck out Kenlee Bjork on three pitches to end it.
Arndt, Leonhardt and Konieczny had two hits apiece to lead Medford’s offense. Steliga, Laney Hraby and Chelsea Gebauer had a hit apiece.
On Sunday morning, Medford blew out Milwaukee Ronald Reagan High School in four innings 18-0. The Raiders had 14 hits, scored six runs in the top of the first and then really broke it open with a nine-run fourth that included the first varsity home run for Baumgartner, which was a frozen rope grand slam to left-center.
Rylee Hraby allowed one hit, struck out eight and walked two in three innings. Kailyn Haenel pitched a scoreless fourth inning, striking out two and walking one.
Baumgartner drove in five runs. Gebauer was three for three, Rylee Hraby was three for three with two doubles and Leonhardt was two for two with two doubles and four RBIs.
Both of Hraby’s doubles came in the six-run first. She led off the game with the first one and scored when Reagan misplayed Arndt’s ground ball. Leonhardt doubled to center to score Arndt. Brahmer’s base hit scored courtesy runner Jolie Steliga. After Laney Hraby walked, Gebauer drove in Brahmer with a double. Ava Hartl walked and, with two down, Hraby pulled a double to rightfield to score Laney Hraby and Gebauer.
Three runs in the third made it 9-0. Gebauer and Hartl started it with singles and Gebauer scored when they pulled off a double steal. A run scored on another error on a ball hit by Arndt and Leonhardt drove in one with a sacrifice fly.
Brahmer walked, stole second and scored on Laney Hraby’s hit to start the big fourth inning rally. Walks to Gebauer and Hartl loaded the bases for Baumgartner, who unloaded them with her blast to make it 14-0.
Medford wasn’t done as Haenel tripled, Arndt walked and both scored on Leonhardt’s double. Gebauer added an RBI single and Baumgartner was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The Raiders were scheduled to open Great Northern Conference play today, Thursday, against Rhinelander, but that game was postponed already on Wednesday afternoon.
The Raiders are scheduled to host defending WIAA Division 2 state runnerup Mosinee in a huge early-season GNC contest and then to go to Lakeland for another key GNC matchup April 10.
Danny Mac champs
Leonhardt’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning Friday afternoon broke an 8-8 tie and lifted Medford to a 10-9 win over Rice Lake in the championship game of its bracket of the Danny Mac Softball Classic in the dome at Rhinelander.
Leonhardt also made a big play defensively in the bottom of the eighth, throwing out a would-be base stealer at second base as the Raiders worked out of Rice Lake’s rally with minimal damage.
The title game of the two-day tournament went back and forth with Medford holding the lead early, Rice Lake grabbing a 7-5 lead with a four-run bottom of the fifth and then the teams trading offensive punches in the seventh and eighth innings.
Down by two, Medford got three runs in the top of the seventh to grab an 8-7 lead. Brahmer started it by dumping a single over the infield into centerfield. She scored on Gebauer’s double. Laney Hraby singled with one out and went to second on the throw back to the infield. Grace Schmidtfranz made contact, bouncing a ball off pitcher Kamryn Kunz. Everyone was safe as Gebauer scored the tying run. Rylee Hraby’s sacrifice fly to deep center drove in Laney Hraby with the go-ahead run.
Rice Lake put the pressure right back on Medford’s defense with singles by Ava Anderson and Aubrey Musil. Rylee Hraby relieved Haenel and got the first out, but Anderson stole third and scored the tying run on a groundout by Addie Seelow.
The tournament’s extra-inning rules put a runner on second base to start the eighth. Arndt was that runner for Medford and she got to jog home as Leonhardt drilled her leadoff homer over the fence in centerfield.
In the bottom half, Hailey Kalina was the runner at second to start the inning. She moved to third on a flyout to right by Harper Schommer. Avery Weinstock bunted for a hit right out in front of the plate. That forced Kalina to stay at third. On the first pitch to Rice Lake’s top hitter, Madi Rowe, Weinstock took off for second and was thrown out on a perfect throw by Leonhardt. That second out of the inning loomed large when Rowe singled to score Kalina. Emily Kulina walked, but Rylee Hraby struck out Anderson to finally end it.
Rylee Hraby’s two-run homer well over the fence in right gave Medford a 5-3 lead in the fourth. Brahmer beat out an infield hit with two outs to start a two-run rally in the top of the first and Rylee Hraby’s infield hit gave Medford a 3-2 lead in the top of the second.
Rylee Hraby was two for five with four RBIs. Finley Arndt was three for five as was Leonhardt. Laney Hraby was two for three.
Konieczny was the starting pitcher for Medford and went 4.1 innings. She allowed five hits and six earned runs while striking out two and walking four. Haenel went 1.2 innings, walked one, hit a batter and allowed three hits and two earned runs. Hraby allowed two hits, struck out two and walked one in the last two innings.
Kamryn Kunz pitched all eight innings for Rice Lake. She struck out 11, walked two and allowed six earned runs. Medford outhit Rice Lake 16-10.
First two wins
Medford got to the tournament final by beating Marshfield 4-1 in the semifinal round Friday morning. The Tigers had more scoring chances, but Medford’s defense made plays when it had to and the offense put together a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth to break a 1-1 tie.
The fifth inning was the pivotal inning. In the top half, Marshfield put runners on second and third with no outs. Number-nine hitter Kamryn Pearce put down a good bunt, but Steinman, the third baseman, charged hard down the line to collect it and turned back to find base runner Laila Oppman had wandered too far off third base. The Raiders tagged her out in a rundown. Pearce stole second, but Rylee Hraby got leadoff hitter Delaney Varsho to line out to Konieczny at first base and struck out Lillian Griesbach to end the threat.
In the bottom half, Hartl smacked a leadoff groundrule double to deep right and scored on Laney Hraby’s single. Molly Fox relieved Marshfield starter Angela Barnhardt and walked Steinman. Two wild pitches later, Rylee Hraby hit her second sacrifice fly of the game and Steinman scored on another wild pitch.
Rylee Hraby struck out three, walked one and allowed seven hits. Marshfield’s second-inning run was unearned. Marshfield outhit the Raiders 7-4.
In the Thursday night opener, Medford shut out Wrightstown 8-0. A five-run top of the seventh broke open what was still a close 3-0 game. Rylee Hraby allowed just two hits while striking out eight and walking six.
Brahmer’s speed was key early as she beat out an infield hit with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the first to get Medford on the board. The Raiders got an RBI single by Leonhardt in the fifth as she laced a liner off the rightfield fence. An error on Laney Hraby’s sacrifice bunt in the sixth made it 3-0. The big seventh started with consecutive singles by Arndt, Leonhardt and Konieczny with the last one driving in a run. Steliga singled with the bases loaded for an RBI, Hartl drove in a run with a groundout and the last one scored on a wild pitch.
Medford had 11 hits. Leonhardt and Rylee Hraby had three hits each. Hraby hit two doubles. Brahmer was two for four.
The second phase of the Danny Mac Classic was completed Friday and early Saturday, but the third phase, which was to include Rib Lake, was canceled due to the ice storm forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. In a power outage during that storm, a backup generator failed to start and the Hodag Dome deflated, causing damage that will take some time to repair, shutting down the facility at a time of year where it is frequently used.
Medford catcher Zayleah Leonhardt puts the tag on Marshfield’s Laila Oppman at the end of a short fifth-inning rundown Friday at the Hodag Dome. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
