As expected, learning on the fly difficult in season’s first week
RIB LAKE SOFTBALL
A day after extending a game to seven innings for the first time, the Rib Lake softball team ran into another road block Tuesday in an 11-0 non-conference defeat at Butternut-Mercer.
In falling to 0-5, the Lady Redmen were one-hit for the second time in three games and were bitten by four-run first and second innings by the home team that gave it a comfortable lead.
Given Rib Lake’s inexperience, the bumpy start is certainly not unexpected and head coach Dennis Scheithauer is confident fans will see noticeable improvements soon. “We’ll come out of it,” he said. “We’re going to be stronger for it. It takes time. We just have to keep our heads up and our chins up and move forward and keep working on things to make us better and make it happen on the field when it comes time to play. They show it in practice many times. They can do it.”
Jersey Polencheck kept Rib Lake’s offense in check, walking just two batters and striking out nine. Molly Heiser had the only hit, a first-inning single.
“She threw pretty well,” Scheithauer said. “She didn’t throw overly hard, but she was always around the plate. She had a nice change up and threw a little curveball that got into our girls’ heads a little bit I think.”
Kyla Kennedy got the start in the pitching circle for Rib Lake. Two walks and an error ahead of a Rhiannon Kolar triple set up the big first inning for Butternut- Mercer. A hit batter, an error and three hits pushed the lead to 8-0 in the second. Kolar ended up with two triples and five RBIs. Emma Herbst homered in a three-run fourth inning. Rib Lake had four errors. The hosts finished with seven hits.
One highlight for the Lady Redmen was a 5-4-3 double play turned by the defense late in the game.
“It was a two-hopper to third, right to Reagan Reinhardt, who made a nice play on it,” Scheithauer said. “Emily Rodman spun it at second real nice and threw her out by about a step. You don’t see that too often with the short bases in softball. Everything has to go smooth. Kudos to them for that.”
Rib Lake is back in action Friday when it hosts Newman Catholic in a 4:45 p.m. Marawood Conference crossover. The team begins Marawood North competition Monday when it visits Chequamegon. The Screaming Eagles make the return trip to Rib Lake on May 13. The depleted defending North champions from 2019 are off to a rough start as well at 0-4, including a 15-0 loss to Phillips Tuesday in their North opener.
In a game filled with plenty of base runners, host Colby-Abbotsford did a better job of driving those runners home and pulled away for a 16-9 win over the Lady Redmen Monday afternoon in Colby.
The key innings were the second and sixth. Colby-Abbotsford turned a 6-2 deficit into a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the second and broke open what was still a close 10-7 game with a six-run rally in the sixth.
It was, by far, the most productive offensive outing to that point in the season for Rib Lake’s offense, which had scored a total of three runs in its first three games. There were, however, chances to score a bunch more.
“We scored nine runs, we had eight hits and drew 13 walks,” Scheithauer said. “Unfortunately we gave up 14 walks. We left 12 on base. That hurts. If we get half of those runners in, we’re right with them.”
In the top of the first, Danielle Mann led off with a single but was caught trying to steal second on a close play. That out loomed large. Josie Scheithauer walked and Kennedy was hit by a pitch. With two down, Rodman singled to score Scheithauer. A walk to Reinhardt loaded the bases for Leah Chmielowiec, who was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Colby- Abby pitcher Emma Peavey got a big strikeout to end the rally with just two runs scored.
A two-out defensive miscue by Rib Lake allowed the hosts to tie it in the bottom half. Rib Lake responded with a fourrun rally in the top of the second. Tessa Krause and Mann walked and Scheithauer reached on an error to load the bases for Kennedy, who knocked an RBI single to left. But, again, Colby-Abbotsford got a big out when leftfielder Kya Viegut threw out Mann at home. Heiser’s fielder’s choice knocked in a run as did a Rodman single and, eventually, a bases-loaded walk by Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer. The bases were left loaded on a groundout.
Colby-Abbotsford came right back with five runs in the bottom half to take a 7-6 lead and never trailed again. It was 10-6 when Reinhardt singled in Rodman in the top of the sixth. But the home team put it away in the bottom half, keyed by Alea Graf’s RBI double, a two-run double by Viegut and a two-run bloop single by Emma Oelrich.
Rib Lake didn’t quit, again loading the bases with no outs in the seventh. Heiser was hit by a pitch to knock in a run. Viegut relieved Peavey and got two big strikeouts before walking Chmielowiec and getting Raelyn Waszkiewicz to hit into a game-ending fielder’s choice.
Mann went two for two and drew three walks. Rodman was two for five with two RBIs. Josie Scheithauer walked three times. Rodman took the loss. In three innings in the circle, she allowed three hits, nine runs, seven walks and two hit batters. She struck out one. Six of the runs were earned. Mann took over one batter into the fourth and covered the last three innings. She allowed seven runs, six of which were earned, six walks and six hits. She struck out one.
Peavey got the win despite walking 11 and hitting four batters. She struck out two and allowed seven hits in six-plus innings.
Auburndale 14, Rib Lake 0
The host Eagles scored eight fourthinning runs to put away Friday’s Marawood Conference crossover.
Auburndale pitchers Ashlyn Grimm and Samantha Stanton held Rib Lake to just one hit. Grimm walked two and struck out seven in four innings. The Eagles also scored four runs in the first and two in the third.
Rodman pitched three innings, while Josie Scheithauer had a tough fourth inning, striking out one and walking six.
Heiser again had the lone hit.
“We didn’t have much opportunity on the bases,” Scheithauer said.
Edgar 17, Rib Lake 1
Rib Lake got a first-inning run and was shut down the rest of way in a 17-1 loss to Edgar in the Redmen’s home opener Thursday.
Mann led off the first with a single. After a strikeout and a walk, a throwing error on a ball hit by Heiser allowed Mann to score.
The 1-0 lead held up until the third when Edgar scored five times. That game-changing inning was a tough one because the Redmen got the first two outs and then three straight errors opened the floodgates.The Wildcats scored five more in the fourth and added seven in the fifth. Makayla Wirkus was the winning pitcher, collecting 10 strikeouts while walking two and allowing four hits.
Edgar collected 17 hits in five innings, including home runs from Skylee Manecke and Reagan Borchardt.
“I keep telling the girls we’re not far away,” Scheithauer said. “The score may not indicate that. We’re not far away from being ultra-competitive. That third inning should have been 1-2-3 and we ended up giving five runs away.”
Stratford 12, Rib Lake 2
A big seven-run second inning gave Stratford all the offense it needed to cruise to a 12-2 win over visiting Rib Lake in the April 27 season opener.
The Lady Redmen had their chances but stranded 11 runners in five innings, including leaving the bases loaded in consecutive innings.
Rib Lake got its two runs in the third. Entering the inning down 10-0, Mann reached on an infield single, but was out at second on Josie Scheithauer’s fielder’s choice. Kennedy, Heiser and Rodman drew consecutive walks to score Scheithauer. After a strikeout, Chmielowic drove in Kennedy with a walk.
Stratford pitcher Ally Zuleger ended the rally there by getting Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer to hit a tapper back to Zuleger, who threw home to get the force.
Down 12-2 in the fourth, Mann singled and Josie Scheithauer and Kennedy walked to load them up with one out. The Tigers, again, got a force play at home plate, this time on a grounder hit to shortstop by Heiser. Zuleger got Rodman to pop up to end the inning.
In the fifth, Stratford made a nice play, tagging out Chmielowic at home as she tried to score on a wild pitch.
Mann had two of Rib Lake’s four hits, while Kennedy and Rhonnie Jo Scheithauer had one apiece.
Zuleger worked around eight walks by striking out three batters and getting those key infield outs.
Stratford got an RBI triple from Tessa Berg, an RBI single from Delany Dennee and an RBI groundout from Riley Flink to go up 3-0 in the first. Two hits, an error, a hit batter and five walks contributed to the seven-run seventh.
Reagan Reinhardt got the start for Rib Lake and went 1.1 innings. She struck out two. Rodman covered the last 2.2 innings and struck out one, walked two and allowed two runs and two hits.
Rib Lake shortstop Kyla Kennedy throws out Colby-Abbotsford’s Emma Oelrich to end the bottom of the first inning in Monday’s 16-9 loss.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
