WIAA DIV. 4 SOFTBALL SECTIONAL - Thorp gets on offensive roll, ends Rib Lake’s season with 12-2 win


A couple of early bounces went against Rib Lake early, but Thorp’s constant offensive pressure was relentless and the Cardinals ultimately were the better team in a WIAA Division 5 softball sectional final, eliminating the Redmen 12-2 in five innings.
The top-seeded Cardinals racked up 10 hits and scored in every inning while ending second-seed Rib Lake’s season at 13-6 in the June 4 contest that was postponed 24 hours by rain.
Only two of Rib Lake’s losses were to Division 5 teams and, coincidentally those teams –– Thorp (18-9) and Almond-Bancroft (24-6) –– will play each other today, Thursday, at 11:30 a.m. at the WIAA Division 5 state tournament in Madison.
“We didn’t play really well,” Rib Lake head coach Craig Scheithauer said. “There was a combination of things. They put a lot of pressure on us by just putting the ball in play. We had five errors, so that didn’t help us. There were two or three hits on either side, where it seemed like we did the right thing, but it wound up working out for Thorp.”
Jasmine Stratton held Rib Lake to five hits. She only struck out two, but she also only walked two.
“They made all the plays,” Scheithauer said.
The Redmen got an early sign it might not be their day when the top of the first inning ended with Avery Niemi hitting a ball hard that bounced off Thorp’s first baseman and went right to the second baseman, who threw to first to get the last out of the inning.
An error helped lead to a sacrifice fly and two-out RBI single to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the bottom half.
The next bad break came in the top of the second. Tessa Weik and Madilyn Blomberg led off with singles. Kiana Dallmann lined a shot back up the middle that Stratton caught for the first out. The potential rally quickly fizzled after that with a fly out to left and an infield pop-up.
“(Dallmann’s lineout) probably scores a run and we might have runners at the corners and the fly ball is likely a sacrifice fly,” Scheithauer said. “That play potentially took away two runs. Kiana hit it hard. That was one of those where you just throw the glove up as a pitcher. I know, I’ve been there.”
Thorp’s momentum continued to build after that. A three-run bottom of the second included three hits, an error and a sacrifice fly.
Rib Lake got on the board in the third, loading the bases with one out on an Addison Gumz double and walks to Tahlia Scheithauer and Niemi. Weik drove in Gumz with a ground ball, but that was all the Redmen got. The Redmen were an out away from getting out of the bottom half, but a hit by pitch to the number-nine hitter loaded the bases, and a two-run single made it 7-1.
Dallmann led off the top of the fourth with a triple to deep rightfield and scored on Ava Dallmann’s one-out grounder.
“That might’ve been one of Kiana’s best swings all year,” Scheithauer said.
A four-run fourth, however, put it out of reach at 11-2 keyed by a two-run double with one out.
“Kiana made a good pitch,” Scheithauer said. “It was a change-up down and away and their girl flipped the bal out there and hit it well.”
The Redmen were an out away from getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. Kiana Dallmann got a big strikeout for the second out, but a fly ball from the next hitter couldn’t be corralled, ending the game via the 10-run rule.
Gumz went two for three for the Redmen. Weik, Blomberg and Dallmann had the other hits.
Weik pitched the first three innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs. She struck out one. Scheithauer said Rib Lake made the switch to Dallmann in the fourth just to try to change things up and see if it could slow down Thorp’s offense. Three of the runs Dallmann allowed were earned. She struck out three and the two walks she issued were intentional in the fifth.
The loss ended a season where the Redmen took a couple of more steps forward, winning the Marawood North and the program’s first WIAA regional title in 21 years. They’ll lose three key seniors in Kiana Dallmann, Gumz and Lily Butler. But much of the core group should return.
“We were more experienced this year and that certainly helped us,” Scheithauer said. “Every year is different in the league. Teams lose some to graduation. Some lost more than we did. But we played pretty well, especially down the stretch. We learned from our mistakes.
“In this game, the errors didn’t give us much of a chance,” he added. “We didn’t play a clean game and we had some balls that didn’t go our way. That’s part of the game.”