Homer beats Medford 2-1; Raiders win triangular

MEDFORD SOFTBALL

Brooke Brown’s two-run homer in the fourth inning was all the scoring D.C. Everest did Monday, but it was all the scoring the Evergreens needed while beating host Medford 2-1 in a battle between state-ranked squads.

D.C. Everest was ranked sixth in last week’s Division 1 state poll conducted by the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association and WisSports.net, while Medford had been ranked as Division 2’s top team in the first four polls of the spring.

Everest pitchers Addison Kluck and Kelsey Meverden kept the Raiders off the scoreboard until the sixth inning and limited them to just four hits, two of them off the bat of freshman Finley Arndt. They notched nine strikeouts.

Medford’s Martha Miller met the toughest lineup she’s seen in sometime and recorded seven strikeouts with no walks while allowing seven hits and two earned runs. She pitched out trouble in the third when Everest got runners to the corners with one out thanks to pop flies on the infield and outfield. But in the fourth, Mara Meverden hit a leadoff single, got bunted to second and then scored on Brown’s bomb which easily cleared the leftfield fence.

The Evergreens put two more runners on, but left them stranded in that inning. After that, Miller and the Raiders were really threatened again.

The Raiders had just two base runners through the first five innings, but Rylee Hraby’s leadoff double got something going in the sixth. Miller bunted Hraby to second and Arndt’s base hit knocked her in. Zayleah Leonhardt got a two-out hit to put the go-ahead run on base, but a pop-up on the infield ended the threat. The Raiders went down in order in the seventh to fall to 20-2 overall. D.C. Everest is 16-2 and riding a five-game winning streak.

Medford has added another good pretournament test for tonight, Thursday, when it will host 15-2 Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, who has won the Marawood South and was ranked fourth in last week’s Division 5 poll. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.

WIAA Division 2 tournament play starts Tuesday. Medford is the top seed in its half of the sectional and will face either ninth-seeded Shawano or eighthseeded Rhinelander. Those teams play today. Medford beat Shawano 5-2 on April 15 and the Raiders swept Rhinelander in GNC play 5-0 and 13-3. With a win, Medford would host the regional final on May 25 and that matchup won’t be easy whether it’s fifth-seeded Merrill or fourth-seeded Antigo, who Medford edged 3-2 and 3-1 in the teams’ GNC meetings.

2-0 in triangular

Medford celebrated Senior Day by taking care of Neillsville and St. Croix Central in its home triangular Saturday.

The six-member senior class of Miller, Allie Paulson, Morgan Huegli, Eryka Seidl, Hope Faude and Madisyn Pilgrim was honored following the two wins, the second of which was Medford’s 20th of the season.

In a 14-4 win over Neillsville, the Raiders took a 6-1 lead through two innings and then answered a Warriors uprising in the top of the fifth that made it 6-4 by scoring eight runs in the bottom half to end the game via 10-run rule.

Huegli’s two-run single highlighted the three-run first and put the Raiders up 3-1. Hraby and Leonhardt had run-scoring singles in the second, while Paulson added a sacrifice fly.

Hraby got the start in the circle and, after giving up an unearned run in the first, was cruising until the fifth when Neillsville turned a walk, two hits, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly and an errant throw back to the infield into three runs. Hraby finished with four strikeouts, two walks and two hit batters while allowing four hits and two earned runs.

Leonhardt led off the bottom half with her third hit of the game and the Raiders kept the line moving the rest of the way. Pilgrim drove in the first run of the inning by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Chelsea Gebauer knocked in two with a base hit. Two runs scored on wild pitches and Ava Hartl singled in one. Seidl’s two-run double ended it.

Leonhardt was three for three with a walk, two runs scored and two driven in. Six more Raiders had a hit apiece.

Medford ended the day with at 6-1 win over St. Croix Central, who is the third seed on the other side of the WIAA Division 2 sectional bracket.

Miller was back in the circle for this one and shut out the Panthers until they scratched one across on two-out hits in the seventh by Grace Melstrom and Chloe Peterson. Miller struck out six, walked one and was touched for six hits by the Panthers, who fell to 10-8 at the time.

The Raiders’ big damage was done in the fifth. Leading 2-0, Medford got a leadoff single by Finley Arndt, who was still on with two outs when Seidl launched a two-run homer to straightaway center. Huegli singled, stole second and scored on Victoria Konieczny’s single. After a Pilgrim single, Konieczny scored on a passed ball.

Leonhardt drove in a first-inning run with a fielder’s choice and Arndt’s single in the second knocked in Konieczny, who had walked.

Arndt and Seidl both went two for three. Melstrom allowed nine hits, struck out two and walked for the Panthers and was two for three at the plate.

St. Croix Central beat Neillsville 10-0 in the day’s second game.