Softball regional three-peat as offense puts it away late

MEDFORD 8, MERRILL 3

It was another tight softball game for the Medford Raiders through five and a half innings Thursday, but with confidence building offensively as the game progressed there was no way the WIAA Division 2 regional plaque was leaving in Merrill’s hands.

The Raiders broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and then, after Merrill got within 4-3 in the top of the sixth, Medford broke the game open with a four-run rally in the bottom half to seal an 8-3 win and continue to make history.

The regional championship was Medford’s third straight, a first for the program, and the win was Medford’s 22nd, a new single-season school record passing the 21-3 squads of 2006 and 2021. The team’s six seniors were part of that 2021 team and, combined with last year’s 19 wins, were part of 62 wins going into Tuesday’s sectional semifinal loss to New London.

“It’s amazing,” one of those seniors, Allie Paulson, said. “Doing it with all us, I mean, we grew up together. Winning all of this in our senior year it feels really good.”

“We mesh really well together,” said sophomore Tori Konieczny, one of several younger players who have played key roles in this year’s success. “We’re kind of a fun and easy-going group. We have a lot of inside jokes and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”

In a solid all-around outing, the Raiders seemed more relaxed after an upset scare in their playoff opener two days earlier, a 3-2 win over Rhinelander in nine innings. Merrill got one big base hit mid-game to make things interesting, but the Raiders didn’t get rattled, ending the fifth-seeded Blue Jays’ season at 8-12.

“I think that first one, even though we’re a one-seed, just going into the playoffs, you get that worry like hey, it could be one game and you’re done,” winning pitcher Martha Miller said. “So getting the first one out of the way kinda relaxed our team a little bit for tonight and we were more ready to go.”

Clutch hitting can mean everything at this time of year and Medford got that with its first four runs all scoring with two outs.

The first two came in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs and no one on, number-nine hitter Rylee Hraby was the first Raider to reach base against Merrill pitcher Addison Schmeltzer grounding a base hit off the third-base bag. Miller singled and Finley Arndt put the ball in play, bouncing a ball back to Schmeltzer, whose throw to first was high, rolled down the rightfield line and allowed Hraby and courtesy runner Addison Brahmer to score.

Merrill tied it in the top of the fourth. Olivia Pierce reached on a bad-hop single and Schmeltzer was grazed by a pitch and both runners moved up a base a wild pitch. Miller gave herself a shot to escape the jam with two strikeouts, but Caina Orzech, after fouling off several pitches, dumped a single down the leftfield line to drive in both runners.

Miller got on with a one-out hit in the fifth and with two down, Paulson lined a shot to the rightfield corner for the goahead RBI triple. Zayleah Leonhardt followed with an RBI single to put the Raiders on top 4-2.

“We finally got some clutch hits,” Medford head coach Virgil Bendt said. “Some of those rallies started with two outs. Maybe we’re over that hump. We had some bad at-bats early, but some really good at-bats late.”

“My first two at-bats weren’t so good, so I told myself, ‘you’ve got this and have that confidence,’” Paulson said of her big hit. “I just had confidence in there, swung and, yeah, it worked out.”

“It shows how our girls are willing to step it up and say, OK, even though there’s two outs, we can still get down to business and get these runs when we need to,” Miller said.

Pierce reached on a third-strike wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by Mady Graap in the top of the sixth. In the bottom half, Medford took care of business before there were two outs.

Morgan Huegli hit an infield single, Konieczny lined a base hit to right and advanced to second on an errant throw back to the infield. Schmeltzer got a strikeout but Hraby walked to load the bases for Miller. A wild pitch scored Huegli and a bad throw on the attempt to cut her down at the plate allowed Konieczny to score too. Miller got a bunt down and Hraby beat the throw home on the fielder’s choice to make it 7-3. Paulson’s second hit of the game, a base hit to left scored Brahmer with the final run.

“It was really cool,” Konieczny said of claiming the regional plaque. “It’s something everybody on our team knew we could do, but it’s just cool to see it in reality right in front of you. People are definitely out to get us. As long as we play our game, usually we’re pretty good. We’re fine. I thought we were definitely solid with our bats. More solid than we have been in the past few games.”

Miller struck out 12 Blue Jays, walked one and hit one. The Jays had five hits. Miller, Huegli and Paulson had two hits apiece for Medford. Schmeltzer went 5.1 innings for Merrill, striking out five, walking two and allowing eight hits.

The WIAA Division 2 softball regional championship plaque is raised by the Medford Raiders following their 8-3 win over Merrill Thursday.PHOTOS BY MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Medford head coach Virgil Berndt reacts after Eryka Seidl’s drive is caught for the final out of Tuesday’s 2-1 loss.

Tori Konieczny fields a bunt and retires New London’s Sophia Hull-Riggs.

Medford shortstop Allie Paulson squeezes a pop-up hit by New London’s Jensen Mix for the third out in the top of Tuesday’s 10th inning.