MEDFORD SOFTBALL - Walking off into the D-2 softball regional final

MEDFORD SOFTBALL

Down by two twice to a team that’s already eliminated Medford twice in the previous three years, the Raiders stayed the course Tuesday, scoring once in each of the last four innings to take down upset-minded New London 4-3 in walk-off fashion in a WIAA Division 2 softball regional semifinal.

Zayleah Leonhardt got the walk-off honors lining a rocket that glanced off the glove of centerfielder Kiley Peterson for a single that drove in Ruthie Steinman. Steinman started the rally with her second double of the game, a hard-hit grounder that split the gap in rightcenter. Rylee Hraby moved her up a base with a groundout to second.

The Bulldogs intentionally walked Finley Arndt and took their chances with Leonhardt, who was hitless in her first three at-bats. But Medford’s top run producer didn’t miss in this at-bat. Even if Peterson would’ve caught the ball, Steinman almost certainly would’ve tagged up and scored. “With one out, I’m just thinking about making contact with the ball because either way, if it’s a base hit or a fly ball, the runner on third is going home,” Leonhardt said. “When I hit it, it felt amazing.”

The win sends the 19-7 and secondseeded Raiders to the regional final today, Thursday. At 5 p.m., they’ll host sixthseeded Merrill, who sprung an 8-2 upset on third-seeded Antigo Tuesday, ending the Red Robins’ 11-game winning streak. Medford beat Merrill 11-1 back on April 14. Merrill had lost seven of eight going into Tuesday’s regional semifinal.

“We’re excited to play Merrill again,” Steinman said. “They’re a good team. We’re looking forward to it.”

New London, who finished 9-12, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Eve Hedtke doubled and went to third on a one-out error on a ball hit by Peterson. Leonhardt threw out Peterson as she tried to steal second base, but Hedtke scored. Bristol Eisholtz walked, Aubree Schmude singled her to third and Allysun Euhardy lined a shot off the arm of pitcher Rylee Hraby for an RBI infield hit.

Arndt singled, stole second and scored on Tori Konieczny’s double in the bottom half to cut the deficit in half, but the Bulldogs got that run right back in the top of the fifth when Elaine Winkelman singled, was bunted to second by Chesney Margolski and scored on Erin O’Donoghue’s double.

Steinman sliced a liner down the leftfield line that glanced off the glove of O’Donoghue for a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth. She moved to third on Rylee Hraby’s flyout to deep left and scored on Arndt’s fly ball, making it a 3-2 game.

Steinman went three for three out of the ninth spot in the batting order and now has five extra-base hits in Medford’s last seven games.

“I’m feeling a lot more comfortable than I was at the beginning of the season,” Steinman said. “I’ve worked on the outside corner because that’s what I’ve been seeing a lot (from pitchers).”

Konieczny singled off Winkelman to start the bottom of the sixth. Gebauer drew a full-count walk. She was forced at second on Addison Brahmer’s grounder, but the throw on an attempted double play went awry and Konieczny scored to tie the game at 3-3.

“We knew after the first couple innings when we weren’t really hitting the ball and making some dumb mistakes on defense that we just had to get to the next play, the next ball and start to hit the ball hard,” Steinman said.

“There was definitely a lot of tension, but I think what really helped was the loudness in the dugout,” Leonhardt said.

Hraby set down the Bulldogs in order in the top of the seventh to set the stage for the walk-off rally, started by Steinman’s first-pitch double.

“I just knew I had to get a ball on the ground to get on base for Rylee and Finley and Zayleah to drive me in,” she said. “It was kind of an outside pitch. I just knew I had to take away the outside corner and put it in play.”

Konieczny finished two for three as Medford outhit New London 8-7. Hraby struck out 11 Bulldogs and walked one. Winkelman, a freshman, struck out four and walked three.

A win for Medford tonight would set up an all-Great Northern Conference sectional semifinal on Tuesday. Fourthseeded Lakeland, a 1-0, 13-inning winner over Shawano Tuesday, visits top-seeded Mosinee in the other regional final in the sectional half-bracket. Medford split its season series with Lakeland and was swept by Mosinee, the defending WIAA Division 2 runner-up.

Tuesday’s winner advances to the sectional final in Rice Lake June 5.

A Thursday split

Bad weather on May 20 forced Medford to play two games Thursday to complete its 2025 regular season.

The Raiders earned a split of the home games, falling 8-3 to Antigo in the rescheduled Great Northern Conference finale and then shutting out Marathon 6-0 in the non-conference nightcap.

The Raiders would have tied Antigo for second place in the GNC standings with a win in game one, but the Red Robins used four two-run rallies to clinch second place outright at 10-2. Medford finished 8-4 in the conference, which was won by 11-1 Mosinee.

The win was Antigo’s 11th straight. The streak started not long after Medford won an April 22 meeting in Antigo 10-2.

Medford started Kailyn Haenel in the pitching circle for this one and she went the distance, striking out three and walked three. Six of Antigo’s runs were earned and the Red Robins collected 12 hits.

Antigo got a two-out RBI single from Emma Beck in the top of the first and added a second run on an error. A single by Jewel Weix and a throwing error on the play scored two runs in the top of the second.

Medford got back in it briefly in the third. Steinman hit a leadoff double off Antigo ace Bethany Lewis. Hraby sliced a one-out double down the line that glanced off the glove of leftfielder Baily Heinzen. Having to wait to see if the ball was caught, Steinman only got to third on the play, but she scored on Arndt’s sacrifice fly to right. Hraby then scored on Leonhardt’s single up the middle to make it a 4-2 game.

Antigo, though, quickly got those two runs back in the fourth and Breleigh Akright made it 8-2 with a two-run homer in the fifth. Medford stranded two runners in the fourth and one in both the fifth and sixth innings. The Raiders got an unearned run in the seventh.

Lewis allowed nine hits, two earned runs and two walks while striking out five. Leonhardt was three for four and Steinman was two for three in the loss.

Hraby struck out 14 batters in a threehit shutout and she hit a sixth-inning solo homer in the win over Marathon.

Medford did most of its damage in the bottom of the third inning, after leaving two runners on base in each of the first two innings. The third-inning rally started with two outs and no one on.

Konieczny got it started with a single to center. Brahmer slapped a single to left and Gebauer singled up the middle, driving in Konieczny. Brahmer and Gebauer each advanced a base on the throw home. Marathon misplayed a popup by Grace Schmidtfranz to allow Brahmer to score. Laney Hraby’s single drove in Gebauer and Schmidtfranz scored the fourth run on a double steal.

Konieczny’s RBI single in the fourth drove in Rylee Hraby, who had walked.

The Raiders dinged Marathon pitcher Allison Podjaski for 12 hits. She walked two and struck out two. Arndt, Konieczny, Brahmer, Gebauer and Laney Hraby had two hits apiece.

Medford second baseman Laney Hraby ranges far to her left but is unable to take away an infield hit from Antigo’s Bethany Lewis during the second inning of Thursday’s 8-3 loss to the Red Robins. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Finley Arndt (r.) celebrates with Ruthie Steinman after Steinman scores the winning run in Tuesday’s 4-3 WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal win over New London.