RIB LAKE 19, GILMAN 1 - Dallmann has inning of a lifetime as Rib Lake rolls at Gilman

RIB LAKE 19, GILMAN 1

A cross-county matchup between potential WIAA Division 5 softball regional finalists made Monday’s contest appealing, but the expectation on both sides is that Rib Lake’s 19-1 blowout win at Gilman won’t be what the next meeting would be like, if it happens.

Rib Lake senior Kiana Dallmann limited Gilman to just two hits, one of them being a solo home run from Allison Olynick, and struck out 10 batters. The Redmen blew the game wide open with a 12-run sixth inning, highlighted by not one, but two homers from Rib Lake sophomore centerfielder Madelyn Dallmann that brought in seven runs.

“I told her that’s a good season to hit a couple of homers like that,” Rib Lake head coach Craig Scheithauer said. “To do that in one inning is pretty good.”

Fresh off clinching the Marawood North championship on Thursday, the program’s first Marawood trophy since 1996, the Redmen improved to 11-4 and are the second seed in their half of the sectional bracket in the upcoming postseason tournament.

Gilman fell to 11-9 overall. The Pirates are the third seed in the bracket and will host sixth-seeded Prairie Farm Tuesday in the regional semifinal round. If they win, they could earn a trip to Rib Lake in the May 29 regional final. The Redmen will host the winner of today’s regional opener between 10th-seeded Owen-Withee or seventh-seeded Elmwood-Plum City in Tuesday’s semifinal round.

With tournament strategy in mind, Gilman head coach Brian Phelps gave freshman Norah Noonan the pitching start rather than the team’s top hurler, Scarlett Stuner. Noonan pitched a scoreless first, working around a walk. But Rib Lake got on the board in the top of the second. Madi Blomberg was hit by a pitch and Madelyn Dallmann singled for the first of her three hits. With one out, the third Dallmann, Ava, singled in the game’s first run. Kara Kennedy drove in a run with a groundout and a third run scored on a two-out error.

Olynick led off the bottom of the second inning by lofting a fly ball that, with the help of a stiff east wind, had no problem clearing the fence to make it a 3-1 game.

But Rib Lake created some separation with a four-run top of the third. It started with a Tessa Weik double down the leftfield line. Blomberg was again hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Gilman misplayed a third strike in the dirt on Madelyn Dallmann and that loaded the bases with no outs. Ava Dallmann’s single brought in a pair. After Kennedy’s single, Gilman didn’t get an out on a fielder’s choice ground ball hit by Kiana Dallmann as a run scored. The Pirates got an out on Tahlia Scheithauer’s comebacker, but the fourth run of the inning scored.

Gilman’s last good chance came in the fourth when it loaded the bases on an error, a one-out Raygen Soper single and a two-out walk by Mylie Stephens. Kiana Dallmann got Noonan to ground into a force at third base to escape the jam.

Avery Niemi started the huge sixth inning with a hit. Weik doubled and Blomberg walked to set up Madelyn Dallmann’s grand slam homer that made it 11-1. A couple of defensive miscues by Gilman kept the floodgates open as Niemi would add a two-run double, Weik and Blomberg singled in runs and Dallmann hit her second bomb of the inning, a threerun shot that closed the scoring.

While Dallmann went three for five, Weik was four for five with two doubles and Niemi and Kennedy added two hits apiece.

Noonan struck out seven Rib Lake batters and walked five.

Gilman closes its regular season today, Thursday, with what should be a good test at Phillips. The Pirates’ home game with Colfax Tuesday was canceled. Rib Lake, likewise, had a game with Eastern Cloverbelt champion Columbus Catholic canceled on Tuesday.

Rib Lake has added a game with a Almond-Bancroft squad for today. It will be played in Marathon at 4:30 p.m.