picked right up defensively and ….
picked right up defensively and her bat is much better.”
Faude is back at second base and is working her way back from a knee injury suffered last summer. Pilgrim emerged as one of Medford’s top hitters as last year progressed, finishing with a .312 average and 15 RBIs.
Medford expects to be very strong defensively up the middle with Miller and Seidl as the battery, Paulson and Faude in the middle infield spots and Huegli in centerfield.
From there, Berndt will be exploring options in the first part of the season.
One player who definitely claimed a spot in the lineup at Rhinelander was freshman Zayleah Leonhardt. She hit a walk-off grand slam to beat Wausau West, went six for seven in the first two games and was solid defensively at third base and first base. She can also catch.
Freshman Ava Hartl hit the ball well and saw some time in leftfield, freshman Rylee Hraby threw a complete game in Medford’s 8-4 win over Stratford. Freshman Finley Arndt saw a good amount of time in rightfield and made some contact at the plate.
Sophomores Brynn Thorson, Tori Konieczny, Chelsea Gebauer, Toryn Rau and Emily Kiselicka saw some time in the weekend tournament. Konieczny started the Hayward game at first base. Gebauer started the West game in leftfield. Thorson actually saw some varsity time last year and got some time at catcher and first base.
From the junior class, Jada Surek had a big hit in the game-winning rally against West and Lilly Bach made a play at second base late in the Stratford game. Other freshmen getting an early look included Ruthie Paulson, Laney Hraby and Addison Brahmer. Freshman Kaelyn Haenel wasn’t with the varsity this weekend but is certainly a pitcher the Raiders are looking forward to watching develop.
“It’s a good looking freshman group,” Berndt said. “Most of them have played a lot, played in different areas and they have gotten a lot of experience in the summer.
“We have options to move people around,” he added. “If someone is struggling, I definitely saw that we have plenty of options this weekend. That was nice to see. Numerous people can play multiple positions.”
Medford finished 10-2 in GNC play last season, tying Antigo and Mosinee for the league title. The Raiders wound up 19-7 overall and fell in the sectional semifinal round of the WIAA Division 2 tournament 2-0 at New London in a battle between the half-brackets top two seeds.
Scoring was an issue at times for Medford last year. Medford averaged 6.1 runs per game, down from 10.2 runs per game in 2021 with mostly the same roster. That’s one area Berndt and assistant Ron Fisk hope to see improvement this year.
“I thought we made some nice plays on defense (at Rhinelander),” Berndt said. “What we struggled with last year was putting the ball in play with runners in scoring position. There were still times with that this weekend, but for the most part we at least got it in play and got some runs. We just have to put it in play.”
In the GNC, Mosinee peaked late last year with a young squad that hopes to carry that momentum into this season. The Indians had three All-GNC first-team players who were sophomores or freshmen. Antigo got off to an 0-4 start on a spring training trip to Florida last week and looks to fill the void left by pitcher Sam Swartz, who shared the Player of the Year award with Miller last spring. Lakeland has an outstanding sophomore pitcher in Saylor Timmerman and could be an interesting team if the TBirds can build a defense around her. Tomahawk is typically competitive. Northland Pines and Rhinelander were left looking up at the rest of the league last spring. The Hodags do get senior pitcher Addi DeMeyer back after she missed most of last year due to injury. “You always get excited about a new season,” Berndt said. “After this weekend, seeing what we’ve got and the depth we’ve got, it’s really going to be exciting to get out. I just really hope Mother Nature starts cooperating because these kids deserve to get out there. It should be a fun group.”
