Raiders ease into post-season by blowing out the Oredockers

WIAA DIV. 2 SOFTBALL

Martha Miller continued to do what Martha Miller does in the circle and Laurissa Klapatauskas carried the offense with home runs in her first two at-bats in the Medford Raiders’ lopsided 15-0 win over Ashland in Monday’s WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal.

The playoff debut for the 2021 Raiders couldn’t have gone much smoother as only one Oredocker reached base in the four-inning game and the offense put up runs in each of its four at-bats.

With the win, the top-seeded and 20-2 Raiders advanced to a Wednesday regional final against fifth-seeded Hayward (16-6), who knocked out fourth-seeded Rice Lake Monday 4-3.

The winner of Wednesday’s final will play either third-seeded Merrill (10-10) or second-seeded Antigo (16-7) in a sectional semifinal Monday with the higher seed hosting the game.

“It was nice to end it early,” head coach Virgil Berndt said. “We did some good things at the plate, which was nice to get the runs rolling right away.”

“I was kind of nervous because we’ve had a big break,” Klapatauskas said of getting the playoff run started. “This was good. It was a good start to the regionals.”

The overmatched Oredockers (7-11) found themselves in trouble immediately after Miller quickly punched out the first three hitters. Miller singled off Adeline Lund to lead off the bottom of the first, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. She scored when Allie Paulson sent a liner to right-center that went all the way to the fence for a triple. Paulson scored on a wild pitch. Klapatauskas followed with a laser that didn’t get very high, but it went far, banging off the storage shed behind the leftfield fence. Delani Clausnitzer walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

With two outs in the second, Paulson walked and Klapatauskas hit a towering drive to right center that cleared the fence for a 6-0 lead.

“She’s been coming around the last few games,” Berndt said of Klapatauskas. “She’s been hitting it hard. Even her outs have been hit hard. So it’s nice to see her connect on a couple like that.”

“That was a first,” Klapatauskas said of hitting two homers in game. “That was awesome. I’ve been doing a lot of tee work in the second half (of the season), just timing it up and not overthinking it and keeping my weight back.

“I thought the first one hit the top of the fence and came back in. I didn’t even know it went over. Then the second one, I just watched it go out. I was so happy I couldn’t stop smiling.”

The Raiders put it away with a sevenrun third, where four of the runs scored on wild pitches. Miller, Paulson and Makala Ulrich added RBI singles. Rynn Ruesch just missed a game-ending grand slam, pulling one about 5 feet foul down the leftfield line.

Medford did put the 15-run rule into effect in the fourth with Katie Brehm scor- ing on a wild pitch and courtesy runner Chloe Werner scoring on a dropped third strike to Klapatauskas.

Miller struck out 11 of the 13 batters she faced in another dominant outing. The sophomore ace only allowed a badhop infield single to Emma Marsland in the top of the fourth.

“When she’s on, she’s tough,” Berndt said. “She does a great job. She’s worked hard.”

“A little bit of everything (was working),” Miller said. “We were just getting ready for the rest of our season. Trying to work around, see what’s going to work for this post-season.”

While Monday’s win was an easy one, the Raiders are taking the approach that nothing will be easy the rest of the way in this post-season.

“They’re going to get tougher now,” Berndt said. “It’s one at a time. Every game you make it to it’s going to get tougher. We have to keep playing.”

“(Wednesday) will be a better game,” Miller said. “We just have to keep our heads in it and play hard and we’ll be good.”

Medford 3, Everest 1

The Raiders finished the regular season with a notable win, taking down Wisconsin Valley Conference champion D.C. Everest 3-1 Thursday on the Evergreens’ home diamond. The Evergreens were 10-2 in the Valley, including a doubleheader sweep of perennial league power Stevens Point, and are 15-7 overall.

The Raiders won despite not playing their best game, according to Berndt. The Raiders had four defensive errors and left seven runners in scoring position over the last four innings.

However, Miller was on top of her game, striking out 16 Evergreens and allowing just three hits. She worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, getting a lineout on the infield and a strikeout to end the threat.

The Raiders took the lead in the top of the fourth. Paulson singled and Klapatauskas doubled to get the rally started and Clausnitzer singled to knock in Paulson. Morgan Huegli’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0, but the rally died with runners left on second and third.

Medford stranded two in the fifth and again in the sixth. The Evergreens scored on a Haylee Schmidt double and a one-out error in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1, but Medford got a big insurance run. Madisyn Pilgrim singled and, after two sacrifice bunts, scored on Clausnitzer’s fielder’s choice.

Medford had nine hits off two Everest pitchers. Paulson and Huegli each went two for three.

Laurissa Klapatauskas crushes this pitch over the fence in right-center for her second home run of Monday’s WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal win over Ashland. This two-run shot made it 6-0 in the second inning.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS