June 4

STAR NEWS

THE

Softball seasons end in regional finals

June 4, Medford, W2015 isconsin

Inside this section:

Ask Ed 11-12

Rodeo 13

Living 17-18

Classifieds 19-23

Pages 2-3

SECOND SECTION

Schmitt, Aldinger headed to state; RL shut out at sectional

by Sports Reporter Bryan Wegter

Pair of Pirates

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Photo by Bryan Wegter

Colton Schmitt hands off the baton to Travis Lato during the 800-meter relay at the Division 3 Athens regional. Schmitt and Lato, along with Tyler Boie and Ethan Aldinger, finished 10th at the Colfax sectional, but Schmitt advanced to state in the boys discus throw.

When the dust, and the rain, settled Friday at the WIAA Division 3 Colfax track sectional, two Gilman Pirates were left standing as the few that would advance to the state track meet this weekend.

Athletes and fans alike had to endure persistent rain throughout the afternoon as storms rolled through western Wisconsin. State qualifiers will converge on the UW-La Crosse campus for the state Division 3 track meet starting on Friday.

Pirates’ senior Colton Schmitt used a throw of 146 feet, 11 inches in the discus to secure a spot at state after finishing second. The throw was just under three feet shorter than his season-long toss of 149-1, but was still more than enough to move on. Sam Welch of Flambeau had the longest throw at 147-1. Abbotsford’s Kasey Kollmansberger advanced with a third place finish after a throw of 137-9 and Nolan Kern of Eau Claire Regis was the final qualifier with a toss of 131-4.

Schmitt will be one of the top contenders at the Division 3 state meet. He is currently seeded fifth in the discus. Tucker Wedig of Belmont recorded a throw of 152-4 at the Bangor sectional and is the top seed heading into state. Wedig won last year’s state title with a throw of 1695. Division 3 state discus competition begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning.

Junior Ethan Aldinger was the other state qualifier for Gilman. His long jump of 20-6.75 was a season best by 5.75 inches and put him in second place behind Sawyer Rubeck of Fall Creek (21-10). Thorp’s Josh Oberle (20-2) finished third while Matt Anderson of Fall Creek (20-0.5) took fourth.

Aldinger jumps into the state meet seeded seventh. Iola-Scandivia’s Kris-

tian Welch, the defending D3 state champion in the long jump, leapt 22-10.5 at the Rosholt sectional and will be the man to beat in La Crosse. State competition for the Division 3 long jump takes place Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.

“I was most impressed with how our guys dealt with the bad weather,” Gilman head coach Mike Gingras said. “Ethan PR’d and actually had the longest jump during the finals round, even in the rain.

Colton threw further and further with every throw even with it getting wetter and wetter out there. We had fantastic performances and it sounds funny, but we’ll be praying for rain at state. They’re pretty pumped to go. Both had set goals of getting to state and they did it.”

Gilman highlights The Pirates’ best other finish came from Aldinger in the 100-meter dash.

After finishing fifth in the preliminary round, the junior posted a time of 11.75 in the finals to finish fifth and just miss a trip to state. Jaxon Brown of Eau Claire Regis took fourth with a time of 11.54 and Athens’ Aaron Wickman took the event title in a time of 11.10.

Desiree Budzinski picked up an eighth-place finish in the girls pole vault after clearing 8 feet. The point she picked up was the only one the Gilman girls posted at the sectional. Elmwood-Plum City’s Jillian Holt took first by clearing 9-3.

“Desiree just missed going to a jump off. She did a fantastic job in the rain.

Vaulting gets harder and harder the wetter it gets,” Gingras said.

Kyla Schoene tied for 11th in the girls high jump by getting over the bar at 4-6.

She tied with four other participants.

See DIVISION 3 on page 14

Raiders return to state in relay; Hamann hurdles to state

by Sports Editor Matt Frey Three days after getting drenched at the regional meet in Tomahawk, Medford’s track and field athletes got drenched again on Friday at the WIAA Division 2 Amery sectional.

Getting soaked is a small price to pay to get to state. Medford’s Margaret Hamann and its boys 3,200-meter relay team didn’t let the conditions stop them from reaching the ultimate goal.

The team of Dalton Hildebrandt, Mark Jablonsky, Josh Kakes and Koltin Ulrich set a season-best time of 8:15.92 to earn its spot at this weekend’s state meet. The Raiders were second out of 16 sectional teams, trailing only their rivals from Lakeland, who won in 8:07.

This will mark the fourth straight year Medford has been represented at state by its boys 3,200-meter relay team.

Hamann, meanwhile, advanced with a third-place finish in the girls 100-meter high hurdles. The senior earned her first state appearance with outstanding outings in both the regional and sectional

meets in this race.

In all, the Raiders had 20 entries in Friday’s meet. Seven of those entries resulted in team points. Four more cracked the top 10. Medford’s girls scored 15 points to take 17th out of 32 scoring teams. The boys scored 10 points to place 21st out of 31 scoring teams.

The state meet is set for Friday and Saturday at UW-La Crosse. Competition starts at 9:30 a.m. on both days. The relay team and Hamann will both race on Friday morning. If Hamann advances to the finals, she’ll race again on Saturday morning.

Back to La Crosse With three of four runners back from last year’s state team, the 3,200-meter relay team has been focused all spring on getting back to La Crosse. They finished that mission on Friday.

“The relay team had their best time of the year,” Medford head coach Mike Bub said. “Dalton Hildebrandt started off and ran a 2:01.5 which put us right at the top of the race. We were two strides out of

Dalton Hildebrandt

Mark Jablonsky

first. I think that got the guys believing, ‘hey, we can do this.’ Then one after another, they kept us right there in second or third. It just became contagious. It’s fun to see them go to state.”

Rice Lake finished third in 8:16.36 and Amery got the fourth and final state berth in the race with a time of 8:17.12.

Prescott was 5.2 seconds behind Amery.

Hildebrandt, Jablonsky and Kakes are seniors. Ulrich is a junior. All but Jablonsky were on the state team last year that

Josh Kakes

Koltin Ulrich

finished 14th in 8:20.4. The Raiders are hoping for a result similar to 2013, where Medford won the “slow” heat and wound up in sixth place and on the awards stand with a school-record time of 8:10.52.

“The big thing for us probably will be Dalton getting us off to a good start again,” Bub said. “If we can get up in front in the race and win our heat with a pretty good time, we could have a podium finish like two years ago. It’s not going to

See ON TO STATE on page 7

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THE ST TAR HE N STAR EWS NEWS

Page 22

Thursday, Thursday, September June22, 4, 2015 2011

Medford’s upset bid at Mosinee falls one out short

by Sports Editor Matt Frey Finally, after 11 straight losses over nearly four full seasons –– including three in the post-season –– the Medford Raiders seemingly had the Mosinee softball team beat and a berth in the WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinals in hand.

And then, just like that, the Indians were celebrating a 6-5 walk-off victory while the Raiders were either brought to tears or were left in stunned silence.

The Indians scored three times in the bottom of the seventh of Friday’s regional final, capped by Kelsey Ludwig’s twoout single to rightfield that easily scored speedster Bailey Schultz from second base with the winning run. Schultz had reached on a two-out error, allowing the tying run to score and stole second.

One out away from finally taking down their nemesis in a crucial post-season matchup, the Raiders couldn’t quite

Rally killer

finish the job.

“It seemed like we were finally getting some breaks here,” head coach Virgil Berndt said moments after the defeat. “It seemed like everything we did with the lineup was working.”

The lineup had to be shuffled due to the absence of junior first baseman Kaitlin Walsh, who injured her ankle the previous night in a regional semifinal win at Antigo. Without Walsh’s glove at first base and her .605 Great Northern Conference batting average in the three-spot, the Raiders made it work with Sydney Elsner taking over at first base and by scoring five runs against a team that had held them to a total of eight runs over their last seven meetings.

They did it by twice setting the table for other key hitter in the middle of the order, Kayla Hartl. Hartl put Medford ahead 3-1 with a two-out, three-run bomb well over the centerfield fence in the

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With head coach Virgil Berndt watching from the dugout entrance, Medford third baseman Alyssa Loertscher makes a tough catch right at the fence to retire Mosinee’s Sierra Holewinski and end Mosinee’s first-inning rally with just one run scoring. The Indians stranded runners at second and third.

third inning. That scored Hailee Clausnitzer, who had led off the inning with a single and moved to second on Rylee Anderson’s bunt, and Jenice Clausnitzer, who had singled with one out.

Then, with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the seventh, Hartl came through by lining a two-run double to right-center to break a 3-3 deadlock and put the Raiders in position to close it out.

The seventh-inning rally started with Tori Lammar reaching on an infield single. Jenna Klemm did the same with one out. Jenice Clausnitzer hit a slow roller to third baseman Sydney Gamble, who couldn’t beat Lammar to the bag, loading the bases for Elsner. She also grounded to Gamble, who threw out Lammar at the plate. That set up Hartl’s big at-bat against Mosinee ace Rochelle Koshalek.

“Without Kayla’s bat, we’re not even in the game at the end,” Berndt said.

Hartl made some big pitches to keep Medford in it as well.

Mosinee jumped ahead 1-0 in the first, but it could’ve been worse. Schultz reached on an infield single and was bunted all the way to third by Ludwig.

Katie Zimick and Koshalek walked to load the bases. Hartl had a chance to get out of it by striking out Autumn Michlig, but McKayla Garski’s infield single deep into the hole at short scored Schultz.

Third baseman Alyssa Loertscher made a huge play, going right up against the fence to catch a foul ball hit by Sierra Holewinski and end the inning.

On a field where things have gone bad for Medford in a hurry in the past, Berndt said that could have been a make or break inning early in the game.

“That was big to get out of that,” he said.

Each team left one runner in the second before Hartl’s blast in the third.

Mosinee had two runners in scoring position with two outs in the fourth when freshman shortstop Hailee Clausnitzer

Painful loss

quickly moved to her right and speared a line drive hit by Zimick.

“That line drive Hailee dove and caught was a huge play,” Berndt said.

Dark skies loomed overhead throughout the game and lightning finally forced a suspension of play in the bottom of the sixth, just as Mosinee was putting pressure on the Raiders again.

Malloree Beste reached on an infield single. Lammar, Medford’s catcher, just barely threw out Gamble at first on her sacrifice bunt, but Schultz reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners. Medford booted Ludwig’s bunt, allowing Beste to score. With an 0-2 count on Zimick, the game was delayed for 90 minutes.

When play resumed, Zimick battled back to single in Schultz with the tying run and took second on the throw back to the infield. Hartl made a big pitch to get Koshalek to fly out to Chelsea Rausch in shallow center. Michlig popped up to Jenice Clausnitzer at second to keep the game tied.

With the Raiders up by two and the Indians bringing their sixth, seventh and eighth hitters to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, things looked good for Medford. But the Indians had other ideas.

Garski worked Hartl for a leadoff walk, but Holewinski popped out to Loertscher for the first out. A wild pitch and passed ball, miscues that hadn’t happened in the first six innings, put Garski on third.

She scored on Beste’s single to left. Beste moved to second on another wild pitch, but Gamble grounded out to short, leaving Medford one out away from a 5-4 win, but now the Raiders had to retire the speedy Schultz, Mosinee’s leadoff hitter.

Schultz hit a dribbler up the first base line that Hartl couldn’t get in her glove, knowing she had to be quick with her throw to first. Ludwig smartly took a

See MEDFORD on page 24

Photos by Matt Frey

Medford catcher Tori Lammar (l.) and second baseman Jenice Clausnitzer show the pain of Friday’s last-inning loss at top-seeded Mosinee in a WIAA Division 2 regional final. The Raiders led the defending WIAA Division 2 state champions 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but a three-run rally gave Mosinee a 6-5 win.

SPORTS THE STAR NEWS

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Page 3

Gilman can’t get on the scoreboard in regional final loss

by Sports Editor Matt Frey

Bunt attempt

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Photo by Matt Frey

Gilman’s Kendall Skabroud tries to put down a sacrifice bunt during the second inning of Thursday’s 15-0 WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal win over Rib Lake. The ball rolled foul, but Skabroud wound up singling in this at-bat to drive in a run.

Rib Lake Sports BASEBALL Friday, June 5 WIAA Div. 4 regional final, #3 Columbus Catholic/#2 Loyal winner vs. #4 Abbotsford/#1 Rib Lake winner. Higher seed hosts. 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 9 WIAA Div. 4 Tigerton sectional. Semifinals at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Championship at 4 p.m. Rib Lake would play in the 11 a.m. semifinal.

Gilman Sports TRACK & FIELD Friday and Saturday, June 5-6 WIAA Div. 3 state meet at UW-La Crosse. Competition starts at 9:30 a.m. both days. Gilman’s Colton Schmitt will compete in the boys discus at 9:30 a.m. on Friday morning.

Gilman’s Ethan Aldinger will compete in the boys long jump at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

SOFTBALL Thursday, June 4 Gilman hosts WIAA Div. 4 sectional final between McDonell Central and Cochrane-Fountain City, 5 p.m.

After a 19-win season, the Gilman Pirates believe, and rightfully so, they are very close to being a WIAA Division 4 state caliber softball team.

But once again on Saturday, the regional final hurdle was one they couldn’t clear as they mustered just three hits on a gray, windy morning and fell 2-0 at topseeded McDonell Central. The game was postponed when wet weather hit Casper Park just before the teams were set to play on Friday afternoon.

Gilman actually outhit the Macks 3-1.

McDonell (20-5) scored both of its runs in the first inning without the aid of a hit to advance to Tuesday’s sectional semifinal at Shell Lake, which it won 13-2. Gilman hosts the sectional final today, Thursday, between McDonell Central and defending sectional champion Cochrane-Fountain City. “The bottom line is, and we told the team this after the game, is we have to score runs,� Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said. “We didn’t score any runs on that day and you can’t win not scoring any runs.�

Since its last state appearance in 2006, Gilman has been to the regional final every year, but is just 1-7 in those games.

McDonell beat Gilman in last year’s final 5-0. “We felt we were right there with that team,� Phelps said. “It was a game we thought we could win. It’s too bad we weren’t able to play on Friday. I think the girls were much more loose and relaxed going in on Friday.�

McDonell freshman Megan Baier kept Gilman off the scoreboard, allowing only

Medford Sports GIRLS SOCCER

Thursday, June 4 WIAA Div. 3 regional semifinal, #6 Medford at #3 Mosinee, 5 p.m.

Saturday, June 6 WIAA Div. 3 regional final, Medford/Mosinee winner vs. #7 Antigo/#2 Lakeland winner. Higher seed hosts. Time TBA.

TRACK & FIELD

Friday and Saturday, June 5-6 WIAA Div. 2 state meet at UW-La Crosse. Competition starts at 9:30 a.m. both days. Medford’s boys 3,200-meter relay team of Dalton Hildebrandt, Mark Jablonsky, Josh Kakes, Koltin Ulrich and alternates Tony Noland and Trey Ulrich will compete in a finals race on Friday morning.

Margaret Hamann will compete in the girls 100-meter high hurdles preliminaries on Friday morning.

The girls 100-meter high hurdle finals will take place on Saturday morning.

BASEBALL

Friday, June 5 WIAA Div. 2 regional final, #3 Tomahawk/#2 Medford winner vs. #5 Wittenberg-Birnamwood/#1 Mosinee winner.

Higher seed hosts. Time TBA. Tuesday, June 9 WIAA Div. 2 Chilton sectional. Semifinals at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Championship at 4 p.m. Medford would play in the 10 a.m. semifinal.

singles to Kasee Burton, Cooper Sherfield and Kayla Chause. The Pirates had one chance for a big inning right away in the top of the first, but Baier got out of it with a pop-up, stranding two runners.

In the bottom half, Gilman’s Emily Johnson, coming off a pair of shortened no-hitters in regional play, had trouble adjusting to a tight strike zone. The Macks walked five times in the inning, though Johnson did wind up striking out the side. Baier and Maddie Rietschel drove in runs with their walks. “Not to make excuses, but it was tough working with a quarter of the strike zone,� Phelps said. “There was nothing called above the waist, which was a big part of our game plan and there was nothing on the outside corner, which also was part of our game plan going in. Once we figured that out, we pitched a good ball game.�

Johnson wound up allowing nine walks, though three of them were intentional. Phelps said if the situation dictated it, the Pirates were not going to let McDonell’s outstanding number-three hitter, Sydney Schemenauer, beat them.

Johnson struck out six and allowed the one hit.

Gilman struck out just three times and had a couple of shots to the outfield get hung up in the wind. The best example was in the sixth after Burton singled, Johnson hit a shot to deep right-center that wound up being caught in front of the fence. “If you would’ve told me before the game that our top five hitters would be held without a hit, I wouldn’t have be-

See GILMAN on page 4

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Page 4

Thursday, Thursday, September June22, 4, 2015 2011

Golf season ends with eighth-place finish at Ashland sectional

by Sports Reporter Bryan Wegter Medford’s golf team bookended its 2015 season with identical 361 team scores. Interestingly, both came at the same course.

As opposed to the season opening meet back on April 16, the stakes were quite a bit higher at the Division 2 Ashland sectional, held on Tuesday at Chequamegon Bay Golf Club. The 361 team score put the Raiders in eighth place among 12 teams at the sectional, putting an end to their season. Only the top two squads earned berths in the state tournament and those slots went to first place Bloomer (338) and runner-up Hayward (341).

Somerset took third (343), followed

by Rice Lake (351), Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau (351), Arcadia (352), Sparta (360), Medford, Lakeland (365), Amery (368), Ellsworth (370) and Black River Falls (383). “We shot about our average and were 20 strokes from going to state, that’s not too bad a sectional for us. This has been one of the most fun years I’ve had coaching golf here. These kids made it a very enjoyable season and we had a good time

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up there Monday and Tuesday. I’m very proud of the kids, they’ve kept improving throughout the year,� Raiders head coach Dave Vaara said.

Junior Mike Knight paced the Raiders with a 16-over-par 88 (41-47). He opened the day with a birdie on the par-5 first and played well from there on. The improvement for Knight over the course of the season was stark. Back at Chequamegon Bay on April 23, he shot a 98. Spenser Scholl managed a 90, despite taking a 49 on the first nine holes. Tyler Kadlecek shot a 91 (48-43) and birdied the par-5 16th hole, while Chas Lehman birdied the second hole but still carded a 92 (47-45) and Klayton Kree had a 95 (44-51). “Mike’s been Mr. Consistent for us late in the year. He doesn’t hit it super far but he keeps himself out of trouble.

Spenser played great on the back and finished his day well. Tyler played well and is going to be a kid to watch for the future. The heat of the moment as a freshman might’ve got to him on the front nine but he settled in. Chas and Klayton had a few bad holes but otherwise played well. We’ve got some good kids coming back and have a bright outlook for next year,� Vaara said.

Bloomer’s Andrew Zillmer and Sparta’s Brett VonRuden tied at 78 to finish first individually. G-E-T’s Nick Anderson shot a 79 to finish third, and Somerset’s Will Gauper and Columbus Catholic’s Ben Alt both shot 80s to finish in a tie for fourth. VonRuden, Anderson and Gauper all qualified individually for the state tournament. Lakeland’s Curtis Geiger finished in a tie for 16th after shooting an 85. Jack Sarama of Northland Pines, playing individually, shot an 85 as

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Blizzards big winners

Submitted photo

Carter Pernsteiner of Medford is a member of the 2003 Northern Wisconsin Blizzards AAA hockey team that has won two major tournaments so far this spring. The team most recently won the 2015 Minnesota Independent Classic, defeating the Thunder Bay Bandits 6-5 in overtime in the championship game. The team also won the Champions of the Cheese Cup tournament in Green Bay in April. Members of this team of 11-12 year-olds include (front) Tucker Stepan, Mosinee; (second row) Garrett Husnick, Antigo; Jake Losch, Rhinelander; Joe Beda, Lakeland; Kyle Mikkola, Houghton, Mich. and Zachary Maillette, Eagle River; (third row) Jake Martin, Eagle River; Dane Johnson, Houghton, Mich.; Max Toijala, Lakeland; Max Brown, Eagle River; Austin Salani, Hancock, Mich.; Carter Pernsteiner, Medford; and River Nicklaus, Lakeland; (back row) Harlan Wojtusik, Rhinelander; coach Nicklaus, Lakeland; coach Wagner, Lakeland; and coach Toijala, Lakeland. Teag Wagner, Lakeland, is not pictured.

Lehman named Academic All-State by GCAW

June 14 at Historic St. Ann’s Church Rib Lake

well.

The state golf tournament will be held

Medford senior Chas Lehman has been named an Academic All-State honoree by the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin (GCAW) for the 2015 boys golf season.

Students are nominated by Chas Lehman GGAW member coaches if they meet the following criteria: a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25, participation in at least 75 percent of their team’s varsity matches and at least be a

sophomore in high school. “Chas is a student-athlete who serves as a great example to others, proving that academic and athletic successes are not mutually exclusive,� said Bob Sullivan, the Academic All-State committee chair.

A record 365 boys from 126 high schools have been honored this year for maintaining high academic standards in the classroom while competing in varsity golf. The average cumulative GPA of this year’s honorees is 3.720.

The GCAW was formed by high school golf coaches in 1986 to help build Wisconsin’s reputation for developing quality junior players by promoting golf in our schools and communities. Besides honoring both boys and girls who succeed as student athletes, the association selects an annual all-state team for boys and girls based on their playing ability.

Gilman falls 2-0 Continued from page 3

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lieved you,� Phelps said. “Their pitcher did a nice job of working in and out and keeping the ball down.�

The Pirates lose three seniors, Shaelan Schmitt, Brooke Webster and Kendall Skabroud, all of whom will play in the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association All-Star Games in Wisconsin Dells on June 16.

They expect to bring back the majority of their roster in 2016, including most of the infield and the battery of Johnson and catcher Morgan Birkenholz. “We won 19 games,� Phelps said. “There are a lot of teams who wished they were in our position. We set a lot of school records, a lot of long-standing school marks were eclipsed this year. This team has a lot to be proud of. It really grew up from those first games of the year in Poynette to where we are today.�

Thursday, June 4, 2015

SPORTS THE STAR NEWS

Page 5

Lady Pirates run past Rib Lake in softball regional semis Johnson no-hits Prentice-Butternut again; Rib Lake stuns Falcons 5-3

by Sports Editor Matt Frey The Rib Lake Lady Redmen pulled off one upset in the WIAA Division 4 regional softball tournament, but the Gilman Lady Pirates weren’t going to let them get a second one in Thursday’s semifinal.

The second-seeded Pirates banged out 10 hits in just two offensive innings and ran the bases at will against the Redmen to easily secure a 15-0, three-inning win.

The Pirates improved to 19-6 and advanced to the regional final at top-seeded McDonell Central (see page 3). Rib Lake finished its year 2-16.

Gilman’s Emily Johnson threw her second no-hitter in as many days, albeit another short one. It was her fourth no-hitter of the season. She walked Rib Lake’s Kyleah Johnson and Lindsay Grubbs in the third. That was it for Rib Lake’s offense.

Gilman was counting on a short outing, so Johnson would be ready for Friday’s final, which wound up being postponed to Saturday morning (see page ?).

“That’s pretty much what we were coming in expecting to do,” Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said. “We wanted a three-inning game.”

After a strong outing the previous night in Rib Lake’s 5-3 weather-shortened upset at third-ranked Flambeau, Regan Dobbs had trouble finding the strike zone and building a rhythm with emergency catcher Hailey Duerr.

“They are a very good team that played to their strengths,” Rib Lake head coach Bruce Peterson said. “I knew they were well-coached and they showed it from the start. I knew we would have to play way above our skill level to beat them and unfortunately we didn’t.”

Gilman scored four in the first. Johnson walked and advanced on two wild pitches. She scored on an illegal pitch.

No chance

Shaelan Schmitt beat out an infield single and went all the way to third on Kendall Skabroud’s sacrifice bunt. Brooke Webster walked. Morgan Birkenholz drove in Schmitt with a sacrifice fly to left. Kayla Chause then crushed a Dobbs offering to the fence in right-center for an RBI triple.

She scored on a wild pitch.

An 11-run second put it away. Kasee Burton led off with a walk and Johnson singled. Both would score on pitches to the backstop. Schmitt walked, stole two bases and scored on Skabroud’s single.

Webster walked. Skabroud and Webster scored on wild pitches.

Peterson then turned to Hailey Wudi to try to stop Gilman’s offense. But Birkenholz greeted her with a single. Chause chased a pitch in the dirt but reached on the passed ball. Taylor Hendricks drove in a run with an infield single. Laura Bolstad drove in a run with a groundout. Skabroud singled in one of the final runs of the big inning.

“They got on us right away,” Peterson said. “They used their speed to get on and advance runners by bunting and stealing bases. Unfortunately Regan was struggling to throw strikes. Hailey was trying her best to hang in there, but in just her second start at catcher in a big game it was asking too much of her even though she gave it a great effort.”

Schmitt, Johnson and Skabroud had two hits each in the shortened game.

Johnson struck out six Redmen.

After the game, Gilman went right back to work, going through a round of batting practice.

“We have to get ready for McDonell,” Phelps said.

Prentice gets nothing Two walks and a misplayed fly ball accounted for Prentice-Butternut’s only base runners as Johnson struck out five

Photos by Matt Frey

Rib Lake catcher Hailey Duerr and third baseman Erin Probst converge on a bunt hit by Gilman’s Shaelan Schmitt but have no chance to throw the speedster out during the second inning of Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal.

Fifth run

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Rib Lake pitcher Regan Dobbs can only watch as Gilman’s Kasee Burton slides safely into home plate in the bottom of the second, giving the Lady Pirates a 5-0 lead during Thursday’s WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal. in the May 27 10-0 shutout win in the regional semifinal. It marked the second straight year Johnson had no-hit Prentice-Butternut in the regional semifinal round.

And, much like last year’s game, it took a five-run fifth-inning rally to finally break the game open. In this case, it ended the game.

“It took us awhile but eventually we started to rattle them,” Phelps said.

Johnson walked and scored on Skabroud’s single in the first. A two-out rally in the third made it 3-0. Webster doubled and scored on a Birkenholz single.

Chause’s double chased home Birkenholz. Johnson and Schmitt had RBI hits EASTERN CLOVERBELT CONFERENCE SOFTBALL FINAL STANDINGS Conf.

Overall W L W L Spencer 14 0 23 3 Gilman 12 2 19 7 Loyal-Granton 9 5 12 10 Greenwood 8 6 14 11 Neillsville 7 7 12 12 Columbus Cath.

3 11 3 14 Colby 3 11 3 14 Owen-Withee 0 14 0 17 May 27 WIAA Div. 4 regionals: Gilman 10, Prentice-Butternut 0; Greenwood 13, Columbus Catholic 2; Abbotsford 19, Owen-Withee 0.

May 27 WIAA Div. 3 regionals: Loyal-Granton 10, Auburndale 1; Stratford 15, Colby 0.

May 28 WIAA Div. 4 regional semifinals: Gilman 15, Rib Lake 0; Thorp 15, Greenwood 3.

May 28 WIAA Div. 3 regional semifinals: Neillsville 5, Fall Creek 3; Spencer 3, LoyalGranton 0.

May 29 WIAA Div. 3 regional final: Neillsville 7, Osseo-Fairchild 3.

May 30 WIAA Div. 4 regional final: McDonell Central 2, Gilman 0.

May 30 WIAA Div. 3 regional final: Marathon 9, Spencer 1.

June 2 WIAA Div. 3 sectional semifinal: Bloomer 3, Neillsville 0.

in the fourth.

Chause walked with one out to start the clinching fifth-inning rally. Hendricks reached on an error. Cooper Sherfield singled in Chause, and Mariah Person’s single knocked in Hendricks. Johnson singled in a run. Schmitt knocked in two with a base hit to end it.

Johnson had hits in her last three atbats. Schmitt and Sherfield had two hits apiece.

Brianna Dunbar took the loss for the visitors, allowing 12 hits and four walks.

Prentice-Butternut finished the season at 5-15. The team was dropped to the seventh seed in the regional bracket when it was not represented at the seeding meeting.

Rib Lake’s regional win Rib Lake got some good fortune in breaking its 15-game losing streak, but the Redmen also played some of their best softball of the season while upsetting third-seeded Flambeau 5-3 in a game shortened to five innings due to stormy weather.

The first item of good fortune was just being in Flambeau after the team was elevated above Prentice-Butternut to the sixth seed.

“The Flambeau game was the best game we played all year and it was perfect timing for us,” Peterson said. “We had to start Hailey Duerr at catcher and it was her first time playing there she said since T-ball and she did a great job. Regan did well pitching to the third catcher she was paired with this season and kept the ball up to where Hailey didn’t have to block too many.”

Rib Lake set the tone with a two-run top of the first. Duerr, hitting leadoff for

See RIB LAKE on page 9

THE STAR NEWS

SPORTS

Page 6

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Host of Pirates and Redmen advance from delayed Athens track regional

by Sports Reporter Bryan Wegter Storms on the night of May 27 pushed competition at the Athens Division 3 track regional ––which had already been postponed by a day –– late into the night.

But even with the distractions both the Gilman Pirates and Rib Lake Redmen propelled plenty of athletes through to the sectional level, held in Colfax on Friday.

The Pirates boys finished in sixth with 67 points, while the Redmen were fourth with 70 points. On the girls side, Rib Lake finished sixth with 54 points while Gilman was seventh after scoring 51 points. The host Blue Jays claimed both the boys and girls team titles. The top four finishers in each event earned spots in Fridays sectional.

“The kids handled the late night well. As soon as we got back out they were focused and ready to go,” Redmen head coach Mark Krommenacker said. Gilman’s track coach, Mike Gingras, also talked about handling the delay.

“Team wise I though we dealt with the delay well. We didn’t get back to Gilman until after midnight, which on a school night is very late,” he said.

Gilman highlights Colton Schmitt secured a berth to sectionals and 10 points for the team score with a throw of 145-4 in the discus. While not his longest throw of the season, it was enough to top Kasey Kollmansberger of Abbotsford (1374), who finished second. Bobby Quinnell took 16th with a throw of 84-4 and Parker Rosemeyer was 18th after a toss of 80-2.

Kyla Schoene won a title in the girls high jump after clearing a season-best 4-9. Alexis Munroe of Cadott came in second at 4-8.

“It was a neat surprise for Kyla to win the high jump.

It was good for her self confidence,” Gingras said.

Ethan Aldinger narrowly beat his competition to win the boys long jump with a distance of 19-6.5. Josh Oberle of Thorp was just behind in second place at 196. Aldinger’s jump was five inches shy of his previous season-best distance. Aldinger also clinched a sectional berth in the 100-meter dash by finished second in 11.66.

Athens’ Aaron Wickman took the top spot in a time of 11.23.

The boys 800-meter relay team of Tyler Boie, Travis Lato, Schmitt and Aldinger were a distant second in that event, but advanced to sectionals with a time of 1:40.83. Athens’ entry finished in 1:33.38 to take the win.

Desiree Budzinski earned a trip to the next level with a third place finish in the girls 400-meter dash in a time of 1:05.48. Elizabeth Kyes of Cadott took first in a time of 58.14. Budzinski clinched the final sectional berth in the pole vault by taking fourth by clearing 8-3, which topped her previous season best by three inches.

Both of the Pirates relays in the 4x400 secured top four finishes to move on to sectionals. The girls team of Makaylen Skabroud, Mackenzie Elwood, Camryn Skabroud and Budzinski finished in a time of 4:44.80. The time shattered their previous best by 11 seconds. The boys relay of Bryce Sromek, Lato, Tyler Swoboda and Ryan Tkachuk finished with a time of 4:03.14. The effort bested their previous record by nearly one second.

Gilmans boys relay in the 3,200 meters took second in a time of 9:28.57, 12 seconds behind Athens’ winning relay. That group consisted of Sromek, Lato, Swoboda and Tkachuk.

Sromek advanced individually by finishing third in the 3200-meter relay with a time of 11:12.78. The senior beat his previous record time by five seconds.

Rebecca Heier kept up her strong run in the girls discus with a third place finish after a throw of 88-6. Pirates teammate Amanda Dahl finished 16th with a toss of 53-9.

Savannah Janke of Athens had the top throw at 108-2 and her teammate Kelsi Ellenbecker took second with a distance of 97-0. Heier just missed advancing in the shot put after finishing sixth with a throw of 29-11. Dahl took 16th by recording a toss of 21-6.5.

Several other Pirates just missed moving on from regionals. Makaylen Skabroud’s jump of 13-4 put her in sixth in the girls long jump. Sydney Wilund of Prentice had the best distance at 15-6.25. Kyla Schoene was 13th at 12-3 and Mackenzie Webster was 17th with a jump of 11-1.75.

The girls 400-meter relay took fifth with a time of 56.12, 0.6 seconds behind fourth-place Rib Lake. The Pirates’ relay crew consisted of Elwood, Katelynn Monson, Makaylen Skabroud and Budzinski.

Monson just missed advancing individually in the triple jump with a fifth place finish. Her jump of 30-11 was 1.5 inches shorter than fourth place Makenzie Klieforth of Abbotsford. Prentice’s Wilund had the longest distance at 34-7.5. Schoene took ninth with a jump of 258.

Camryn Skabroud was four seconds away from advancing in the girls 1,600-meter run after finishing fifth with a time of 6:12.96. She also finished eighth in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:56.96. Schmitt’s throw of 42-1 wasn’t enough to advance in the boys shot put. He finished sixth, while Abbotsford’s Kollmansberger took first with a toss of 48-5. Quinnell took 20th with a throw of 30-2 and Rosemeyer was 22nd with a distance of 27-11.

Swoboda finished fifth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.32. Sromek placed sixth in the pole vault by clearing 8-9. Eric Nedland of Cornell-Lake Holcombe took first by getting 12-0. Hailey Zach took 17th in the girls 100-meter dash in a time of 16.24 and was 13th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 35.14. Anthony Guentner took 10th for the Pirates in the 1,600-meter run in a time of 5:42.41. Boie was seventh in the 200-meter dash with a season-best time of 25.84 in the preliminaries before running 26.13 in the finals. Athens’ Aaron Wickman took first with a time of 22.41.

Rib Lake highlights

Triple jump

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Gilman’s Kyla Schoene is about to land on her attempt at the triple jump during the Athens track regional. Schoene took ninth in the triple jump, but won the girls high jump competition.

The Redmen found each of their three event wins in the distance runs. Mariah Thums claimed a pair of wins in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. In the 1,600 she finished first with a time of 6:01.7, two seconds faster than second-place Paige Kocian of Abbotsford. In the 3,200, her time of 12:53.6 was 38 seconds faster than secondplace Sierra Lake of Prentice. Thums’ time crushed her previous best by 17 seconds.

Donald Dums won the meet title in the boys 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:09.09. Dums also clinched a sectional spot with a third-place finish in the 1600-meter run in a time of 5:08.69. Joshua Langteau of Athens blew away the rest of the competition in first place with a time of 4:54.59. Rib Lake freshman Josh Probst took sixth with a time of 5:27.65.

Ciara Scheithauer punched her ticket to sectionals in two different sprint events. In the 100-meter dash she

Eisner takes off

Photos by Bryan Wegter

Rib Lake’s Nick Eisner goes all out during this attempt on the triple jump at last Wednesday’s Athens track regional. finished third in the final round with a time of 13.86 and in the 200 she came in fourth in a time of 29.08. CornellLake Holcombe’s Jordan Geist won the 100 while Autumn Wickman of Athens took the 200.

Hunter Swan grabbed a second place finish in the boys 400-meter dash in a time of 54.25, just over a second behind Brandon Peterson of Cadott. Swan didn’t advance in the 100-meter dash after finishing sixth with a time of 12.17.

Nick Eisner didn’t have his best long jump, but his distance of 18-11 was still good enough to earn a thirdplace finish and punch his ticket to sectionals. Jordan Blomberg took 12th (15-0.5) and Zach Makovsky came in 15th (14-5.25).

Freshman Emily Espinosa took third in the 800-meter dash in a time of 2:41.19. Cadott’s Elizabeth Kyes took first in a time of 2:25.79.

Ricky Boomer picked up sectional berths in both the high and low hurdles. He took second in the 110-meter highs and picked up eight team points with a time of 19.25. In the 300-meter low hurdles he posted a time of 49.38 to finish third. Cadott’s Ben Kyes swept both events with a time of 16.13 in the 110 and 49.38 in the 300.

Rib Lake’s relay teams also picked up plenty of invites to the sectional meet.

Both 400-meter relays used fourth-place finishes to move on. The girls team, made up of Jasmine Fitzl, Casey Scheithauer, Espinosa and Ciara Scheithauer, finished in a time of 55.51 seconds. Abbotsford had the top time in 53.17 seconds. The boys team of Cody Blomberg, Zach Makovsky, Armando Sosa and Jordan Blomberg finished in 50.49 seconds, with Athens taking the event with a time of 46.31 seconds. The Redmen’s entry in the girls 3,200-meter relay of Espinosa, Casey Scheithauer, Caitlyn Fitzl and Jasmine Fitzl took third in a time of 11:49.15, which was 35 seconds behind the winning relay from Cadott. The boys side of the 3,200 also advanced to sectionals with a fourth place finish in a time of 10:14.26. That group consisted of Probst, Cody Blomberg, Damon Lueck and Sosa.

“We were pretty happy with how the regional went.

Our sprint relays were impressive. We had about 90 percent of the team make it to sectionals. We have a small

See REGIONAL on page 14

THE STAR NEWS

SPORTS

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Page 7

On to state track meet for Hamann, Medford relay team Continued from page 1 be easy. But it’s the state meet. You’re running against the best of the best.”

Osy Ekwueme, a sophomore, placed seventh in the boys triple jump with a personal-best jump of 41 feet, 5.25 inches.

He was 16.25 inches behind the fourthplace state qualifier Robert Stevens of Altoona. Garret Schleis of Cameron won the sectional title at 43-9.

“Here’s a guy who had never triple jumped before this year and at the end of the year, he’s doing 41-5,” Bub said of Ekwueme. “He’s been fun to watch and he has two more years left. I talked to him after the meet and said, ‘you know what your goal has to be now.’ He just looked at me and said, ‘school record.’

That’s the response I was looking for. I know basketball is his favorite sport, but he had a great track season.”

The 1,600-meter relay team of Hildebrandt, Mark Jablonsky, Jacob Way and Ulrich fell one spot short of scoring. The Raiders had a ninth-place time of 3:38.95, 0.78 seconds behind eighth-place Arcadia. Rice Lake (3:29.42), Northwestern (3:32.33), Somerset (3:32.34) and Northland Pines (3:33.53) advanced.

In the field, senior Elliot Marshall didn’t have his best day in the high jump, topping out at 5-6 and settling for a fourway tie for 10th place that included Lakeland’s Tony Neri. Cameron’s Justin Harriman, Stevens and Ethan Ellingsworth of Osceola all went over 6-1 to take the top three spots in the competition.

Junior Jacob Mahner fell 0.12 seconds shy of making the 100-meter dash finals, finishing his preliminary race in 11.52 seconds to place 10th. He cut another hundredth of a second off his regional time to put a fine cap on his strong last month of the season. Jonah Bauer of Elk Mound won the sectional title in 10.8 seconds. Way, a senior, was 13th in the 200-meter dash in 23.79, improving from his regional time by 0.3 seconds. He was 0.63 seconds shy of making the finals, won by Rice Lake freshman Kenny Bednarek in 21.83 seconds.

The 800-meter relay team of Mahner, Victor Rinaldi, Jacob Jablonsky and Jacob Way took 12th out of 16 teams in 1:36.89. Rice Lake won in 1:31.44, while Somerset (1:32.7), Northwestern (1:33.2) and Osceola (1:33.65) also advanced.

Mahner, Rinaldi, Jablonsky and Brayden Fultz were 14th in the 400-meter relay at 47.94 seconds, beating Cameron by 0.07 seconds. Rice Lake (44.31), Black River Falls (44.62), Osceola (44.78) and Elk Mound (44.82) advanced to state.

Senior Ruben Alvarado finished his career with a 15th-place time of 17.58 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles.

He beat Mondovi’s Ryan Jans by 0.36 seconds. He was 1.11 seconds shy of making the finals, which were won by Max Praschak of Somerset in 14.84 seconds.

John Puffer of Northland Pines qualified for state with a third-place time of 15.74 seconds.

Great Northern Conference champion Lakeland won the sectional title with 87 team points, beating Rice Lake by 16. Spooner (63), Northwestern (44) and Osceola (42) rounded out the top five.

Northland Pines of the GNC scored 20 points to place 13th while Mosinee tied St. Croix Falls for 19th with 13 points.

Hamann in the hurdles Hamann qualified for the Amery meet with a regional time of 16.43 seconds. She bettered that in both of her races on Friday.

First, she posted a time of 16.24 seconds in the preliminaries, good for third.

Third place is where she stayed with a new personal-best time of 16.04 seconds in the finals. Only Shanna Laehn, a senior from Mondovi (15.7) and Hannah Gullixson, a junior from Baldwin-Woodville (15.91) were faster. Haley Beams of Black River Falls was fourth in 16.08 seconds.

“You could see it in the trials,” Bub said. “She just ran a great race. You could tell she was smooth, confident. You always try to guess where your kids might finish. We were thinking maybe 16.3.

Maybe 16.2. Then she runs a 16.04.

I know she blew coach (Steve) Russ away and blew me away. There was one big smile on that girl’s face.”

Based on sectional times, Hamann has some work to do at state to get to the Margaret finals, but Bub isn’t Hamann betting against his senior.

“The last two years, that time would’ve gotten her to the finals and she did that in the rain on Friday,” Bub said. “To say she’s going to win the state title probably isn’t a good prediction, but does she have a chance to make the finals, absolutely she does.”

The Raiders were hoping for a pair of state hurdlers, but it didn’t quite work out. Freshman Mandi Baker finished ninth in the high hurdle preliminaries in 17.35 seconds. She missed making the finals by 0.14 seconds. Baker took 10th in the 300-meter low hurdles at 50.47 seconds, falling 1.51 seconds shy of scoring.

Laehn won in 46.85 seconds, just 0.03 seconds ahead of Osceola’s Hannah Salami.

Stanley-Boyd’s Peyton McCauley (47.78) and Gullixson (47.86) also advanced.

Hamann also had hopes of qualifying in the pole vault, but she topped out at 8-6, good for ninth place. Lakeland’s Kayela Carroll won it, clearing an impressive 10-7.

Senior Jen Stolp had hopes of advancing in one or both of the horizontal jumps. She held fourth place in the triple jump for awhile, but she wound up sixth at 34-4, one of her better jumps of the spring. Osceola’s Jess Bjerke was the fourth-place finisher at 34-8. Bloomer’s Kyra Arendt won it at 36-0.25. Stolp finished seventh in the long jump at 15-8.

She was 8.5 inches behind fourth-place jumper Abbey Zastrow of Arcadia. Ar-

endt won it at 17 feet.

Medford finished seventh in two relays to score four points. Lakyn Kummer, Taylor Adleman, Lainey Brunner and Baker finished the meet with a time of 4:18.89 in the 1,600-meter race, cutting 4.95 seconds off its regional time. They were 5.91 seconds behind the fourth-place team from St. Croix Falls. WittenbergBirnamwood (4:08.25), Osceola (4:11.12) and Arcadia (4:12.1) also qualified for state. Kummer, Maddy Higgins, Stolp and Cassandra Meyer ran the 800-meter relay in 1:51.6 to take seventh. They were 1.47 seconds behind fourth-place Arcadia. Hayward (1:49.61), WittenbergBirnamwood (1:49.64) and St. Croix Falls (1:50.04) got state berths.

Kummer, Higgins, Stolp and Meyer were 10th in the 400-meter relay at 53.62 seconds. Hayward (52.16), Altoona (52.28), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (52.76) and Arcadia (52.87) were the state qualifiers.

Meyer, a junior, placed 11th out of 16 sprinters in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.6 seconds, improving from her regional time by 0.61 seconds. She missed the finals by a half-second. Maddy Pietz of Wittenberg-Birnamwood won the championship in 25.84 seconds, 0.56 seconds ahead of Gabby Herfindahl of Northland Pines.

Senior Samantha Bowe was 14th in the 800-meter run with a personal-best time of 2:37.85. Cameron freshman Carli Wanink won in 2:24.62.

“Sam was the last sectional qualifier for this race,” Bub said. “She just did a great job. It was cold. It was raining and in her last race, she ran the best race of her life. That was exciting.”

Wittenberg-Birnamwood won the team title with 89 points, followed by Osceola (77), Hayward (59.5), Bloomer (38) and Baldwin-Woodville (38). Lakeland tied Amery for 10th with 26 points, Northland Pines was 12th with 25.5 points, Mosinee tied Ladysmith for 21st with nine points and Tomahawk tied Somerset for 26th with five.

WIAA Div. 2 state track and field qualifiers Boys 3,200-meter relay

Heat 1 1. McFarland, 8:12.06; 2. Waupun, 8:13.25; 3. Medford, 8:15.92; 4. Rice Lake, 8:16.36; 5. Amery, 8:17.12; 6.

West Salem, 8:17.61.

Heat 2 1. Shorewood, 7:59.61; 2. East Troy, 8:00.07; 3. Little Chute, 8:02.32; 4. Milwaukee Lutheran, 8:06.91; 5. Lakeland, 8:07; 6. Kiel, 8:07.8; 7. Monroe, 8:08.73; 8. Freedom, 8:09.85; 9. Winneconne, 8:10.89; 10. Dodgeville-Mineral Point, 8:11.1.

Girls 100-meter high hurdles

Evans, Sr., Platteville, 16.01; 4. Shanna Laehn, Sr., Mondovi, 15.7; 5. Mikaela Grant, Jr., Jefferson, 14.86; 6. Kari Schneiss, Sr., Kettle Moraine Lutheran, 15.28; 7. Emma Severson, Sr., Columbus, 15.89; 8. Margaret Hamann, Sr., Medford, 16.04; 9. Ellie Luke, Sr., Mauston, 16.18.

Heat 2 2. Emily Stiefvater, Jr., Chilton, 16.07; 3. Hannah Gullixson, Jr., Baldwin-Woodville, 15.91; 4. Kassi Spees, Jr., Nekoosa, 15.64; 5. Meghan Pingel, Jr., Lakeside Lutheran, 14.82; 6. Krista Diaz, So., Belleville-New Glarus, 15.54; 7. Sydney Rossow, Jr., Kettle Moraine Lutheran, 15.74; 8. Cara Volz, Jr., Weyauwega-Fremont, 16.04; 9.

Chrissy Betz, Sr., Clintonville, 16.26.

Heat 1 2. Hailey Beams, Jr., Black River Falls, 16.08; 3. Julia

WIAA Div. 3 state track and field qualifiers Boys discus

Flight 1 1. Ben Burkholder, Jr., Cuba City, 129-9; 2. Nolan Kern, Sr., Regis, 131-4; 3. Logan Garski, Jr., Rosholt, 1318; 4. Collin Kempka, Sr., Coleman, 135-6; 5. AJ Coulthard, Sr., Darlington, 137-0; 6. Kasey Kollmansberger, Sr., Abbotsford, 137-9; 7. CJ Pillath, Sr., Coleman, 138-4; 8. Eric Washkovick, Jr., Lourdes Academy, 141-9.

Flight 2 1. Kurt Mueller, Jr., Saint Mary’s Springs, 143-1; 2.

Jeff Ford, Sr., Newman Catholic, 144-6; 3. Devin Kostichka, Sr., Algoma, 144-8; 4. Colton Schmitt, Sr., Gilman, 146-11; 5. Sam Welch, So., Flambeau, 147-1; 6. Branden Drews, Jr., Princeton-Green Lake, 149-2; 7.

Caiden Haake, So., Alma-Pepin, 151-6; 8. Tucker Wedig, Sr., Belmont, 152-4.

Boys long jump

Flight 1 1. Tanner Hudziak, Jr., Wild Rose, 19-8.5; 2. Courtney Thompson, Sr., The Prairie School, 19-10.25; 3. Thom Jefferson Ang, So., Wonewoc-Center, 19-11.5; 4. Matt Anderson, Sr., Fall Creek, 20-0.5; 5. Josh Oberle, Sr., Thorp, 20-2; 6. Matt Miller, Sr., Kickapoo-LaFarge, 20-2; 7. Sawyer Soda, Sr., Princeton-Green Lake, 20-2.75; 8. Akeem Bates, Sr., Gillett, 20-3.75.

Flight 2 1. Abraham Hall, Sr., Osseo-Fairchild, 20-4.5; 2. Ethan Aldinger, Jr., Gilman, 20-6.75; 3. Alex Grulkowski, Jr., Independence-Gilmanton 20-7; 4. Grant Johnson, Sr., Lake Country Lutheran, 20-9.5; 5. Alex Idonije, Jr., Wayland Academy, 21-4; 6. Drew Payne, Sr., GreshamBowler, 21-6.75; 7. Sawyer Rubeck, Jr., Fall Creek, 21-10; 8. Kristian Welch, Jr., Iola-Scandinavia, 22-10.5.

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SPORTS THE STAR NEWS

Page 8

Thursday, Thursday, September June22, 4, 2015 2011

Pirates give Greenwood a better fight in regional, beat Falcons

by Sports Editor Matt Frey

Ends the threat

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Photo by Matt Frey

Gilman shortstop Zach Person hustles to second base to record the final out of Thursday’s 11-10 non-conference win over Flambeau. The Falcons had two runners on with no outs to start the inning, but Gilman kept them from scoring.

Redmen get ready for tourney with two fine performances

by Sports Editor Matt Frey The Rib Lake baseball team appeared to be heading into WIAA Division 4 tournament play on a roll early this week despite finishing the regular season on Monday with a 3-1 non-conference loss at Neillsville.

The Warriors, who are ranked fifth in Division 3 in the latest state coaches poll, improved to 20-1 with the win. Rib Lake beat another highly-regarded team, Athens, by a score of 4-0 on Thursday to wrap up conference play in the Marawood North.

Rib Lake finished the regular season at 14-7.

Monday’s late addition to the schedule was a perfect post-season primer for both teams. Rib Lake’s Marawood Crossover game at Stratford on Friday was rained out.

“It was a really, really good high school game,” Rib Lake head coach Dick Iverson said. “We made some nice plays.

They made some really nice plays. We played well against a very good team on the road.”

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Neillsville turned a trio of Rib Lake mistakes, about the only ones the Redmen made, into two unearned runs. The Warriors tacked on one more in the sixth to go up 3-0.

Rib Lake made it interesting in the top of the seventh. Joe Frombach and Noah Weinke walked. An error allowed Frombach to score. Rib Lake then had runners on first and second, but a fly ball to center and a nice play by Neillsville’s second baseman to nab a line drive hit by Bryan Solis Arenivas ended the threat.

Iverson said Rib Lake had some other chances to score. The team left multiple runners on in the second, fourth and sixth innings. The sixth ended on another liner that was snagged by the Warriors.

Frombach took the loss, allowing two unearned runs, four hits and two walks while striking out two in five innings.

Weinke gave up a run and a hit in the sixth.

“Joe pitched a great game,” Iverson said.

Rib Lake, the top seed in its Division 4 regional, was set to face fourth-seeded Abbotsford Wednesday in a regional semifinal. The Falcons’ Treven Gorst no-hit Granton 15-0 in five innings in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal. Rib Lake swept the Falcons handily in two regular-season meetings. Wednesday’s winner will play either third-seeded Columbus Catholic or second-seeded Loyal on Friday in the regional final. If the game is in Rib Lake, it will start at 4:30 p.m.

The regional champion will head to the Tigerton sectional on Tuesday to play in an 11 a.m. semifinal. The championship game is set for 4 p.m.

The odds weren’t good for Gilman’s baseball team entering Tuesday’s WIAA Division 4 baseball regional opener considering the sixth-seeded Pirates had been outscored 34-0 in two meetings this season with third-seeded Greenwood.

The Pirates didn’t win on Tuesday, but they did make the Indians work a little harder for the 14-4 win that ended Gilman’s season at 3-17.

The Pirates surprised Greenwood with a three-run top of the first and led 4-3 in the middle of the third inning before the Indians took over. They improved to 12-14 overall and were set to travel to second-seeded Eau Claire Immanuel for a regional semifinal on Wednesday.

“We competed better against them than the first two games we played against them this year,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said.

Gilman had six hits in the five-inning game, two of which came in that big first inning.

James Copenhaver started the game with a single, followed by walks drawn

by Elliot Wininger and Jesse Ogle to load the bases. Copenhaver scored on a wild pitch. Chanse Rosemeyer brought home the other two with a clutch base hit.

The Indians came right back with three runs in their half on four hits and a sacrifice fly. After a scoreless second inning, Gilman got its final run in the top of the third when Cassidy Ogle doubled and scored on Mike Drexler’s single.

Three hits led to three Greenwood runs in the bottom of the third. Four hits and two errors were part of a five-run fifth that broke it open at 11-4. Two hits and two walks helped end the game via the 10-run rule in the fifth.

Wininger, a freshman, got the start and went four innings. He struck out one and walked one. Thirteen hits and 11 runs were charged to him. Jesse Ogle went one-third of an inning, allowing two hits and three runs.

Jesse Ogle and Jordan Vieras had hits for the Pirates, who will look to use the

experience gained this year to their advantage next year when the majority of their roster is expected to return.

Rally killed, Gilman wins The Flambeau Falcons appeared to have momentum in the last inning of a back-and-forth slugfest to wrap up the regular season on Thursday, but Jesse Ogle pitched Gilman out of a jam and the Pirates enjoyed an 11-10 victory.

The team’s third win of the season allowed the seniors to savor their last game on their home diamond. It was a nice rebound after a tough game the night before against Thorp.

“Last night, we walked 18 batters and hit four,” Rosemeyer said. “We lost 22-5.

They put 22 on base like that and scored 22 runs. But tonight we walked one.”

Fewer free passes made a difference, especially early when Flambeau did hit the ball hard. The Falcons put up a fivespot in the top of the first inning on two triples, two doubles, a single and two errors. But by the end of the third, Gilman had an 8-6 lead.

The Pirates got three in the first. Zach Person’s two-out double scored Copenhaver. Rosemeyer walked. A throwing error on a double steal scored Person and Rosemeyer. Gilman closed the gap to 6-5 in the second, thanks to a clutch, two-out single by Jesse Ogle. Vieras had the big hit in the three-run third with a two-run double. Wininger also drove one in with a fielder’s choice. Lucas Zach and Vieras had the RBI hits in a two-run fourth that made it 10-7.

Jesse Ogle walked and wound up scoring on a wild pitch in the fifth to make it 11-7.

The Falcons gained ground with a three-run sixth. Dylan Stoneberg singled and Chase Groothausen belted a double over the head of Vieras in left. Justice Groothausen crushed his third triple of the game, this one to deep right to score both runners. Zach Montwicz’s sacrifice fly to left brought in Groothausen.

See PIRATES on page 14

Superb outing The pitching and defense were superb on Thursday when Rib Lake shut out visiting Athens 4-0 to drop the Blue Jays into a first-place tie with Chequamegon in the Marawood North.

The Blue Jays and Screaming Eagles shared the conference title with 10-2 league marks. Rib Lake finished third at 9-3.

See REDMEN on page 14

Back to the bag

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Photo by Donald Watson

Rib Lake’s Dalton Strebig dives safely back into first base and avoids being picked off after drawing a fourth-inning walk during Thursday’s 4-0 win over Athens.

THE STAR NEWS

SPORTS

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Page 9

Raiders get revenge in Antigo, trounce T-Birds in early rounds

by Sports Editor Matt Frey For the second time in just over a week, the Medford softball team had a big first inning at Antigo during Thursday’s WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal.

But unlike their 6-3 loss to the Red Robins on May 19 when they were shut out after the first, the Raiders kept tacking on runs and didn’t let Antigo back in this one, earning a spot in the regional championship game with an 8-4 win.

Kayla Hartl went two for four with a two-run, first-inning homer and Sydney Elsner hit a key two-run single in the fourth and also went two for four to lead the offense. Hartl also allowed just seven hits as she and the Medford defense kept second-seeded Antigo off the board until the bottom of the fifth. By then Medford had built an 8-0 lead.

The win sent third-seeded Medford to top-seeded Mosinee on Friday, where it lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to the Indians (see page 2) to finish the season 19-8.

The only drawback from Thursday’s win was the loss of first baseman Kaitlin Walsh to an ankle injury in the fifth inning. Walsh, the team’s most consistent hitter this season, left the game and was unable to play the next day in Mosinee.

She had reached base in all three of her plate appearances at Antigo.

Elsner and Walsh singled ahead of Hartl’s first-inning blast. Elsner scored on an error after Walsh’s hit. Hartl’s home run made it 3-0. With two outs, Chelsea Rausch singled. She wound up scoring on Alyssa Loertscher’s base hit to push the lead to 4-0. Medford’s defense then turned a double play to get out of a first-and-third situation in the bottom half.

“We went in there and hit the ball hard in the first inning and put up four runs,” head coach Virgil Berndt said.

“They had runners on first and third. We get a double play to get out of the first.

They weren’t in the game after that. We just kept tacking on.”

Walsh walked and scored an unearned run in the third. Singles by Hailee Clausnitzer and Tori Lammar set up Elsner’s clutch two-out, two-run single in the fourth. Walsh reached on an error to lead off the fifth, but was injured as she stole second base, stepping on an Antigo infielder’s foot. Rausch wound up doubling in the run. She was two for three in the win.

Medford had 10 hits off Antigo hurler Alison Kondzela.

Berndt said the Raiders were noticeably deflated after the Walsh injury. Antigo took advantage, scoring three in its half of the fifth. Kendall Smith doubled in one run and Laurissa Belott clubbed

a two-run homer. The Raiders got out of a minor jam in the sixth, stranding two Red Robins. Antigo used an error to get a run on a close play at the plate in the seventh, but the Raiders finished the game with a fabulous running catch by Rausch, who ranged from left-center all the way to right-center to catch a drive

by Kara Wilhelm before it hit the fence.

“That was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen one of our girls ever make,” Berndt said. “It was unbelievable.”

Medford and Antigo were part of a three-way tie with Rhinelander for sec-

Little League Baseball (age 11-12) games scheduled for Tuesday, June 9 are Athens at Abbotsford, Whittlesey 2 at Phillips, Prentice at Colby 2, Medford at Rib Lake, Stetsonville 2 at Whittlesey 1 and Colby 1 at Stetsonville 1.

Girls Softball (age 10-12) games scheduled for Tuesday, June 9 are Phil-

Easy first-round win The Raiders took care of business in the regional opener on May 27, breezing to a 12-0 win in five innings over sixthseeded Lakeland. The Thunderbirds finished the season with a 4-20 record.

Elsner, Hartl and Hailee Clausnitzer combined to hold Lakeland to just one hit, a fourth-inning double by Lauren Rentmeester.

Medford had nine hits off two Lakeland pitchers and took advantage of some mistakes to score all of its runs in the first three innings.

The Raiders had a shot to put the game away via the 15-run rule in the third inning, but let the T-Birds off the hook. On the other hand, extending the game allowed Berndt to liberally use his bench players.

“That’s why I got everybody in so early because we were playing with the mandatory 15-run rule,” Berndt said. “It was all right because Hailee got to throw a couple of innings. 20-0 or 12-0, it really doesn’t matter.”

A three-run first set the tone. Jenice Clausnitzer lined a base hit to left, stole second and took third on Elsner’s fly ball to right-center. Walsh’s pop-up was dropped when Rentmeester, the second baseman, and first baseman Kallin Lenz collided, allowing Clausnitzer to score.

After a wild pitch and a Kayla Hartl walk, Maggie Butkus beat out a bunt single to the right side. An errant throw late in the play brought in Walsh. Rausch’s groundout to pitcher Molly Cox plated Hartl.

Jenice Clausnitzer singled in a run and Walsh cracked a two-run single up the middle in the second to make it 6-0. A six-run third put it away.

Loertscher hit a towering infield pop-up that no one on Lakeland’s defense claimed. Loertscher turned that

into a double and stole third. Hailee Clausnitzer walked and stole second.

Lammar’s bunt single loaded the bases.

Lakeland couldn’t get an out on Jenna Klemm’s fielder’s choice, which scored Loertscher. Marissa Laher walked in a run. An error on a comebacker hit by Kara Rudolph and a wild pitch made it 10-0. Rylee Anderson hit a run-scoring single to left and Mackenzie Fries drew a bases-loaded walk before Sarah Volosek relieved Cox and set down the next three Raiders.

Volosek also pitched a scoreless fourth for Lakeland, allowing just one hit. Cox, meanwhile, allowed 12 runs, nine of which were earned, in two-plus innings.

She allowed eight hits and walked seven.

She struck out two.

The only blemish for Elsner in two innings was Lakeland’s Courtney Wisnosky reaching on an error. Wisnosky wound up being thrown out trying to steal third. Elsner struck out two. Hartl pitched a perfect third with two strikeouts. Hailee Clausnitzer got all six of her outs via strikeout, while walking two and allowing the lone hit.

Jenice Clausnitzer was two for two to lead the offense.

GREAT NORTHERN CONFERENCE SOFTBALL FINAL STANDINGS Conf.

Overall W L W L Mosinee 12 0 23 5 Medford 8 4 19 8 Rhinelander 8 4 19 8 Antigo 8 4 16 9 Tomahawk 4 8 9 11 Lakeland 1 11 4 20 Northland Pines 1 11 1 19 May 27 WIAA Div. 2 regionals: Medford 12, Lakeland 0; Antigo 21, Northland Pines 0; Rhinelander 4, Tomahawk 1.

May 28 WIAA Div. 2 regional semifinals: Medford 8, Antigo 4; Mosinee 8, Rhinelander 3.

May 29 WIAA Div. 2 regional final: Mosinee 6, Medford 5.

June 2 WIAA Div. 2 sectional semifinal: La Crosse Logan 2, Mosinee 1.

Rib Lake upsets Flambeau Continued from page 5

Easy catch

Photo by Matt Frey

Medford’s Kaitlin Walsh makes an easy catch in foul territory during the team’s 12-0 win on May 27 in a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal.

Sports Shorts T-Ball League (age 6-8) games scheduled for Monday, June 8 are Stetsonville 1 at Rib Lake 5, Whittlesey 2 at Rib Lake 4, Holway 1 at Whittlesey 1, Ogema at Holway 2, Rib Lake 1 at Stetsonville 2 and Rib Lake 3 at Athens. Rib Lake 2 has a bye.

ond place in the Great Northern Conference at 8-4. The Red Robins finished the year 16-9 overall.

lips 2 at Whittlesey, Stetsonville at Phillips 1, Colby at Medford and Rib Lake at Prentice. Abbotsford has a bye.

Little League Baseball (age 9-10) games scheduled for Wednesday, June 10 are Athens at Colby 1, Colby 2 at Whittlesey, Phillips 2 at Abbotsford, Rib Lake 1 at Phillips 1, Medford 3 at Rib Lake 2, Medford 1 at Holway and Prentice at Medford 2.

Girls Softball (age 13-16) games scheduled for Thursday, June 11 are Colby at Medford, Stetsonville 1 at Rib Lake, Ogema at Owen and Phillips at Stetsonville 2.

the first time, walked. She went to second on Probst’s sacrifice, stole third and scored on the overthrow. Wudi singled, stole second and scored on Shawna Annala’s single. Flambeau got a single run in the third. Then Rib Lake got three huge runs in the fifth to go up 5-1.

Emily Richardson and Duerr walked.

Richardson was wiped out at third on Erin Probst’s fielder’s choice. With two outs, Wudi drove in Duerr with a hit.

Dobbs hit a huge two-run double. Annala singled, but Dobbs was thrown out trying to score for the third out.

Flambeau turned two walks, some stolen bases, a wild pitch and a hit by Brooke Sterba into two runs. But Dobbs got two big outs to end the inning. After Rib Lake went scoreless in the top of the sixth, the storm hit. After about a 90-minute wait, the game was called, reverting back to the last completed inning.

“Our defense was very good behind Regan,” Peterson said. “Overall I was proud of the girls. All season we talked about building a tradition for Rib Lake softball and they were the ones to lay the foundation for that. Despite a 1-15 season and being short-handed in the tournament due to dual sporting and an unforeseen circumstance for one of our players the girls did not just mail it in and they gave a great effort to come away with a win in the opening round of the tournament. I am sure that was a win no one saw coming. That made me proud of the girls as it

showed a lot of character to come out and play so hard and start the new tradition of Rib Lake softball. I am sad to see my seniors leave but I am looking forward to coaching this group of girls next year.”

Dobbs struck out two, walked four, hit one and allowed three hits in the big win.

Taylor Moore took the loss. Rib Lake had six hits, including two each from Annala and Wudi. Moore walked five and struck out four.

MARAWOOD NORTH DIVISION SOFTBALL FINAL STANDINGS Conf.

Overall W L W L Chequamegon 11 1 17 8 Athens 10 2 17 7 Phillips 8 4 17 7 Abbotsford 7 5 12 6 Edgar 4 8 6 16 Prent.-Butter.

2 10 5 15 Rib Lake 0 12 2 16 May 27 WIAA Div. 4 regionals: Rib Lake 5, Flambeau 3; Gilman 10, Prentice-Butternut 0; Abbotsford 19, Owen-Withee 0.

May 27 WIAA Div. 3 regional semifinal: Hurley 6, Chequaemgon 4.

May 27 WIAA Div. 3 regional: Marathon 8, Edgar 5.

May 28 WIAA Div. 4 regional semifinals: Gilman 15, Rib Lake 0; Athens 9, Abbotsford 2.

May 28 WIAA Div. 3 regional semifinal: Phillips 9, Ladysmith 1.

May 30 WIAA Div. 4 regional final: Thorp 6, Athens 2.

May 30 WIAA Div. 3 regional final: Phillips 10, Hurley 5.

June 2 WIAA Div. 3 sectional semifinal: Grantsburg 9, Phillips 2.

SPORTS

Thursday, Thursday, September June22, 4, 2015 2011

THE STAR NEWS

Page 10

GNC title dreams burst in 13run inning; Mosinee wins 4-3

by Sports Editor Matt Frey

Start of a tough inning

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Photo by Matt Frey

Medford catcher Jacob Geiger doesn’t receive the throw in time to prevent Antigo’s Arin Verhagen from sliding behind him and scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth inning of this May 27 Great Northern Conference contest. The run was the first of 13 Antigo scored in the sixth to win 15-2.

Needing two wins to earn a piece of the Great Northern Conference championship, Medford’s baseball team instead lost twice to end its regular season with two contrasting final scores against the teams who wound up sharing the title.

On Thursday, the Raiders sent out freshman hurler Brady Loertscher to face one of the league’s best in Mosinee’s Bryce Graveen. This was no mismatch, however, as the Raiders battled until the final out before falling 4-3. With the win, Mosinee finished 10-2 in league play to tie Antigo, a team it beat twice.

“It was a great game,” Medford head coach Justin Hraby said. “We competed for seven innings with one of the best teams in Division 2. Brady Loertscher went toe to toe with the best pitchers in the GNC. He was very good, changing speeds and keeping them off balance.”

Medford (7-5, 11-13) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. From there, the lead went back and forth. Lloyd Bernatz’s double scored Trenton Woebbeking to give the Raiders that early lead. Mosinee answered in the bottom half when Landon Stepan doubled and scored on William Sprink’s single. Sprink would up scoring on Chris Tomski’s sacrifice fly.

Medford regained the lead in the third.

Jacob Geiger singled and Woebbeking and Bernatz followed with one-out hits

to load the bases. Geiger scored on Mikel Delzer’s fielder’s choice. An errant pickoff throw scored Woebbeking. Nathan Gradberg singled, but Mosinee made a fine defensive play to cut down Delzer at third and end the rally.

Mosinee went back on top in the fifth with a two-out rally. Sprink singled and stole second. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Tomski beat out an infield single. Trevor Grabow’s single to right pushed Tomski to third. Graveen then singled in the go-ahead run.

Graveen struck out six and walked one in seven innings. Medford got nine hits off him. Bernatz and Geiger each went two for three. Woebbeking was two for four and scored twice.

Loertscher allowed eight hits in six innings. All four Mosinee runs were earned. He walked one.

Second-seeded Medford was set to host third-seeded Tomahawk in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal on Wednesday at Raider Field. Tomahawk beat sixthseeded Northland Pines 11-1 in a regional quarterfinal on Tuesday. Wednesday’s winner gets either fifth-seeded Wittenberg-Birnamwood or top-seeded Mosinee in the regional final on Friday.

The sectional tournament is set for Tuesday in Chilton with the first semifinal starting at 10 a.m. The championship is slated for a 4 p.m. start.

See BASEBALL on page 16

Raiders take three-goal lead, can’t hold on against Amherst

by Sports Reporter Bryan Wegter The Medford Raiders girls soccer team matched their season high for goals in a game in the first 20 minutes of their match with the visiting Amherst Falcons on Monday, but their scoring bonanza ran dry and they had to settle for a 3-3 draw in their regular season finale.

The Raiders got a glimpse of a goal in the fourth minute, but Sydney Emmerich’s shot went inches wide of the left post. Three minutes later, Olivia Way muscled her way through a pair of Falcons defenders and fired a shot past the keeper to make it a 1-0 game. After absorbing an Amherst counterattack, Medford doubled their lead in the 16th minute off Emmerich’s team-leading ninth goal of the season. Way picked up the assist after crossing the ball into the box. The goal spree continued in the 20th minute when Sophia Pernsteiner battled past her marker before cracking a shot off the Falcons keeper and into the net to give the Raiders a three-goal lead in the early goings.

Whether the big lead made Medford a bit too relaxed or they had expended all their energy building the lead, Amherst wasn’t phased by the quick deficit and came flying back into the contest. Rowen Kilawee bagged a pair of goals in the remaining minutes of the first half to make it a 3-2 game at the break.

Coming out of halftime, Becca Glisczinski broke through Medford’s defense to score the equalizer. Neither team could muster a game-winning goal over the rest of the second half, though there were chances aplenty.

“They stopped us and our defense

collapsed. Overall we played good, the girls were playing hard. We were well matched with them. I told them to go out and play like this was a playoff game and they started great, but ran out of juice,” Raiders head coach Dan Felix said.

The Raiders matched their season high with three goals scored in the game, and with the stout defense Medford has shown throughout the season, that total should’ve been more than enough to claim the win. They’ll now have to quickly turn their gaze to their regional opponent, Mosinee.

“It will depend which Medford team shows up. We’ve had good games against Mosinee, Lakeland and Pines so we’ve shown we can compete. We’re capable of going farther but it will depend on what group shows up,” Felix said.

Medford will open its WIAA Division 3 postseason run with a game at three-seed Mosinee on Thursday, tonight, starting at 5 p.m. The Raiders enter the regional as a six-seed with a 4-11-3 overall record.

Back on April 23, Medford earned a 1-1 draw with the Indians in a home game, while in the away rematch on May 19 the Raiders fell 3-1. Mosinee finished fourth, while the Raiders were fifth, in the GNC this season.

The winner of Thursday’s contest will take on the winner of seven-seed Antigo and two-seed Lakeland, also tonight.

Number-four Waupaca takes on five-seed Amherst with the winner traveling to one-seed New London. The top-seeded Bulldogs finished sixth in the Bay Conference this year and carry an 11-9-1 record into the postseason.

See SOCCER on page 24

Equal footing

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Photo by Bryan Wegter

Medford’s Sophia Pernsteiner (left) challenges Amherst’s Anja Werner for the ball in the first half of the Raiders 3-3 draw with the Falcons. Pernsteiner scored her third goal of the season in the 20th minute.

Page 14

THE STAR NEWS

SPORTS

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Division 3 sectional meet features good efforts, lots of rain Continued from page 1 Kayla Neff of Regis took first by clearing 5 feet.

The 800-meter boys relay of Tyler Boie, Travis Lato, Schmitt and Aldinger took 10th in a time of 1:41.52. The top time

belonged to Athens’ foursome of Chase Vitort, Tristin Falk-Lefay, Tyler Masephol and Wickman in 1:32.18.

The Pirates’ relay in the boys 1,600-me-

Regional Continued from page 6

Cruising to sectionals Rib Lake’s Mariah Thums continues to add onto her lead during the girls 3200-meter run at the Athens regional last Thursday. Thums beat her nearest challenger by 37 seconds in the two mile run.

Photo by Bryan Wegter

team so that’s a great number,” Krommenacker said.

Eisner’s promising season in the triple jump came to an end at the regional level after he finished fifth with a jump of 38-9.5, two inches behind fourth place Tyler Gillet of Cadott. His best jump this year had been 40-7. Jordan Blomberg took sixth with a distance of 37-6. Espinosa was the Redmen’s top finisher in the girls long jump in eighth place after a jump of 128.25. Corissa Scheithauer took 18th with a distance of 10-8.5. Hunter Swan led the way in the boys discus in 15th place with a throw of 87-11. Cody Blomberg came in 20th with a toss of 76-09 and Probst was 24th with a throw of 45-0. Swan was also the top Rib Lake entry in the shot put in 10th place with a throw of 37-6.5. Blomberg was 14th (34-0) and Makovsky was 16th (31-4). Bryanne Brugger came in ninth in the girls shot put with a distance of 26-11 and was 13th in the discus with a toss of 64-7. Ciara Scheithauer placed seventh in the girls high jump by clearing 4-4. Michaela Blomberg finished 11th in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 20.79 and 10th in the 300-meter lows with a time of 1:01.64. The girls 4x400-meter relay squad of Michaeal Blomberg, Casey Scheithauer, Caitlyn Fitzl and Jasmine Fitzl took sixth in 4:53.24. Probst grabbed a 10th place finish in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:30.09.

Athens took the girls team title with 148 points. Cornell-Lake Holcombe was second (118) followed by Cadott (114), Abbotsford (102), Prentice (77), Rib Lake, Gilman, Owen-Withee (10) and Thorp (3).

The boys side of the Blue Jays won with 156 points. Cadott moved up to second with 101, followed by Abbotsford (73.5), Rib Lake, Cornell-Lake Holcombe (69.5), Gilman, Owen-Withee (51), Prentice (46) and Thorp (45).

Rib Lake shuts out Athens Continued from page 8 Jerry Reinhardt pitched a completegame shutout, allowing just five hits.

Athens put the ball in play, striking out only twice, but Redmen played errorless ball behind him. Reinhardt walked just one batter and hit one.

The Redmen beat Marawood North Player of the Year Shane Coker, though they only got one earned run against him in five innings. He walked five and struck out only four.

“We finished one game behind,” Iverson said. “We could’ve won the game in Athens and we could’ve won at home against Chequamegon, so we had a shot as far as conference goes. I told the kids let’s play this one like it’s our championship game. They really responded to that.

I was really happy with how we played that game.”

Rib Lake’s big inning was the fifth. Reinhardt drew a walk and Austin Zondlo reached on a throwing error after laying down a bunt to start the rally. Both advanced on Frombach’s bunt. Weinke then delivered the hit of the day, singling in both runners. He had actually tried to put down a suicide squeeze earlier in the count but fouled it off. With two strikes he delivered. Weinke went to second on

a bunt by Joe Scheithauer and scored on an errant pickoff throw after Dalton Strebig walked.

The Redmen got an insurance run off reliever Marshall Westfall in the sixth.

Arenivas walked and was eventually knocked in by Zondlo.

Athens didn’t pose many serious threats. The Jays got back-to-back, twoout singles in the first, but an infield popup ended the threat. They had two on with two out in the second, but Strebig threw out a would-be base stealer at second to end the inning.

Athens had two on with two out in the fourth, but Reinhardt got out of it with a ground ball to keep the game scoreless.

Reinhardt, Zondlo and Weinke had Rib Lake’s hits. Strebig drew three of Rib Lake’s seven walks. The Redmen had some early trouble on the base paths with two runners getting picked off first base and Strebig getting tagged out at home in the fourth on the front end of an attempted double steal.

But the Redmen got the runners in when they had to late in the contest.

“Jerry was just outstanding,” Iverson said. “We really played good defense behind him.”

ter relay, Bryce Sromek, Lato, Travis Swoboda and Ryan Tkachuk, took 16th in a time of 4:10.64. Elmwood-Plum City finished on top of the pile with a time of 3:32.35.

The 3,200-meter relay group of Sromek, Lato, Swoboda and Tkachuk took 14th in a time of 9:38.39. First place went to Webster in a time of 8:26.40.

The girls 1,600-meter team took 13th with their time of 4:39.54. That group consisted of Makaylen Skabroud, Mackenzie Elwood, Camryn Skabroud and Budzinski. Glenwood City won the relay with a time of 4:15.57.

Sromek took 15th in the boys 3,200-meter run in a time of 11:23.42. Chequamegon’s Kevin Koski took the top spot in 9:48.63. Budzinski was 11th in the girls 400-meter dash at 1:07.41, a race won by Elizabeth Kyes of Cadott in 58.09 seconds.

“We’ve really come together as a team this season. It was a fun year and the kids supported each other,” Gingras said.

Rib Lake highlights The Redmen’s best finish came from Hunter Swan in the boys 400-meter dash.

The sophomore finished in sixth with a time of 54.13. Andrew Davis of Turtle Lake had the fastest time at 50.31.

“Hunter ran his best 400 of the year.

That’s big for him and shows how hard he’s worked and will continue to work,” Rib Lake head coach Mark Krommenacker said.

Mariah Thums wrapped up a surprising season in the distance runs with an eighth-place result in the girls 3,200-meter run. Her time of 13:14.81 grabbed a point for the team and was 21 seconds slower than the season best time she posted at the regional level. Thums took 10th in the 1,600-meter run in a time of 6:10.69. Emily Jaeger of Fall Creek won the 3,200 in a time of 12:07.40 and the 1,600 in 5:30.77.

Junior Nick Eisner couldn’t make the jump to state and finished 10th in the boys long jump after recording a distance of 18-7.5, just over a foot short of his previous season long, 19-8.

“Mariah and Nick were right on the edge of going to state and it’s going to motivate both of them to work hard to get back here again,” Krommenacker said.

Rib Lake’s relay in the girls 3,200 took 10th in 11:32.14. The time was a sea-

son best by 15 seconds for the foursome of Emily Espinosa, Casey Scheithauer, Caitlyn Fitzl and Jasmine Fitzl. Espinosa’s time of 2:43.78 put her in 13th place in the 800-meter run. Kyes took the win in 2:27.31.

The 400-meter girls relay of Jasmine Fitzl, Casey Scheithauer, Espinosa and Ciara Scheithauer finished ninth in 55.6 seconds. Regis claimed the top spot in a time of 52.18 seconds.

The boys 400-meter team of Cody Blomberg, Zach Makovsky, Armando Sosa and Jordan Blomberg took 14th with a time of 51.3 seconds. Regis (44.08) continued to dominate.

Ricky Boomer took ninth in the 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 19.57 seconds. Cadott’s Ben Kyes took first in 15.4. Boomer’s time of 51.38 seconds in the 300-meter intermediates put him in 15th.

Senior Ciara Scheithauer capped her season by finishing 11th in the 100-meter dash in 13.68 and a 13th place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.69. Kayla Neff of Regis took the 100-meter title with a time of 12.98 in the final heat. Athens’ Autumn Wickman won the 200 in 26.44.

“It was good for Ciara to come out and compete at three events in sectionals in her first year in track,” Krommenacker said.

After winning the boys 1,600-meter run at the Athens regional, Donald Dums was dropped to 14th at the sectional after running the mile in a time of 5:16.36.

Chequamegon’s Koski took first in a time of 4:31.32. Dums was 14th in the 3,200-meter run at 11:12.92.

The boys relay in the 3,200 meters, made up of Probst, Cody Blomberg, Damon Lueck and Sosa, took 15th in a time of 9:56.30. Webster’s relay took the top spot in 8:26.40 after narrowly edging the second place team from Unity (8:26.97).

“We’re definitely a young team with only a few seniors, the future is looking good. If the kids we have stick with it we’ll have success. Competition gets really tough when you get to sectionals and its good for us to compete against other good teams,” Krommenacker said.

Regis won the girls meet with 73 points. Rib Lake and Gilman tied for 29th with a point apiece. Athens claimed the boys title with a one-point win over Fall Creek (55). Gilman placed 16th with 20 points. Rib Lake was 27th with three.

Gilman outlasts Flambeau Continued from page 8 After Gilman went quietly in the bottom of the sixth, Flambeau started another potential uprising in the seventh.

A single and an error put two on with no outs for the top of Flambeau’s order.

That’s when Rosemeyer went to Jesse Ogle to replace Wininger on the mound.

The senior struck out Rowdy Kochevar looking, got Stoneberg to fly out to Vieras and induced a ground ball to short from Chase Groothausen that Person scooped up and took to second base for the unassisted putout to end it.

“That was a heck of a save,” Rosemeyer said. “Our first save this year.”

Wininger threw strikes and that’s what kept Gilman in it. He allowed 15 hits and struck out five to get the win.

His biggest K may have come in the fifth. Flambeau had two on and two out for Kochevar, who lined a shot down the leftfield line that curved foul by an inch or two. He then struck him out swinging to cap a scoreless inning. Jesse Ogle was two for three and Vieras was two for four to lead Gilman’s offense. On this night, it was the Pirates taking advantage of walks, drawing eight walks and getting

hit with four pitches.

Forgettable one Other than a four-run second-inning rally, not much went right in the 22-5 loss to visiting Thorp on May 27.

The Cardinals put five runs on the board in the first and nine in the second on walks, three hit batters and five hits to go up 14-0. It didn’t seem to matter who threw the ball for Gilman. Jesse Ogle, Copenhaver and Rosemeyer all struggled to find the strike zone. When Thorp got one of its 12 hits, it usually drove in runners who had gotten free passes.

Gilman closed within 15-5 in the fourth, but a seven-run fifth iced it for the Cardinals.

Copenhaver, Jesse Ogle, Person, Rosemeyer, Cassidy Ogle and Vieras had a hit apiece for Gilman in the loss.

In the second inning, Rosemeyer hit a one-out single and Cassidy Ogle and Drexler both walked. With two down, Vieras singled and Copenhaver doubled to each drive in two runs.

Cassidy Ogle singled and scored an unearned run in the fourth.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

SPORTS THE STAR NEWS

Page 15

Reds win again in extras; Ticks, Osprey and Trojans all get a win

by Sports Editor Matt Frey The Whittlesey Reds won their second extra-inning game of the Dairyland League baseball season on Sunday, outlasting the host Tomahawk Titans 6-5 in 10 innings to maintain their early hold on first place following the busiest weekend thus far of league play.

The Reds improved to 3-0 with Sunday’s win, putting them a half-game ahead of the 2-0 Marshfield Chaparrals, who finished off two games on Saturday that had either been suspended or postponed earlier in May. A low-scoring game suddenly turned to the offensive side in the 10th at Tomahawk’s Tyler Kahle Memorial Field.

With the game tied at 2-2, Whittlesey got a two-run single from Thomas Mildbrand, an RBI single from Brandon Loertscher and took advantage of three Tomahawk errors to take a 6-2 lead.

The Titans, though, didn’t go down quietly. They scored three runs off Reds reliever Nick Meyer before Cody Loertscher put out the fire by striking out three of the four batters he faced. Lorne Ahrens hit a two-run double and Schoone singled in a run for Tomahawk in the rally, but Schoone never got past second base.

Meyer got credit for the win. Dan Cypher started on the hill for the Reds and left with a 2-1 lead. Jeff Kraschnewski’s single knocked in a run in the first. After the Titans got a run in the third on Fletcher Schoone’s RBI single, Derek Nichols singled for the Reds in the fifth, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Meyer’s hit.

Tomahawk scored an unearned run in the eighth, charged to Kraschnewski.

Schoone was the losing pitcher for Tomahawk, who fell to 2-2 in league play.

Whittlesey does not have a league game this weekend.

There was plenty of other local action in the Dairyland this past weekend.

Interwald cruises Interwald got an early fight from host Greenwood on Sunday, but their offense eventually was too much for the 0-3 Gamecocks in a 15-5, seven-inning decision.

The Woodticks are off to a 3-1 start in league play.

Craig Scheithauer was four for six at

Dairyland Baseball W L Whittlesey 3 0 Marshfield 2 0 Everest 1 0 Interwald 3 1 Westboro 2 1 Rib Lake 2 1 Merrill 2 2 Tomahawk 2 2 Rock Falls 1 2 Wausau 0 1 Abbotsford 0 1 Greenwood 0 3 Spirit 0 4 May 30: Tomahawk 2, Westboro 1; Marshfield 10, Greenwood 0; Marshfield 12, Rock Falls 2.

May 31: Interwald 15, Greenwood 5; Westboro 8, Abbotsford 3; Whittlesey 6, Tomahawk 5 (10 inn.); Merrill 4, Spirit 3; Rib Lake 8, Rock Falls 1.

June 3, 7:30 p.m.: Merrill at Everest.

June 5, 7:30 p.m.: Greenwood at Rib Lake.

June 6, 1:30 p.m.: Spirit at Marshfield.

June 7, 1:30 p.m.: Everest at Interwald, Rock Falls at Spirit, Westboro at Wausau, Abbotsford at Tomahawk.

June 10, 7 p.m.: Wausau at Marshfield.

the plate for Interwald with two RBIs, while Zack Iverson was three for five and drove in two. David Fliehs was two for four.

Iverson got the win. In four innings, he worked around three hits, three walks and a hit batter. He struck out two and was charged with four earned runs.

Scheithauer gave up an unearned run, struck out two and walked one in two innings. Peter Devine allowed a hit in a scoreless seventh.

Interwald touched Greenwood and starting pitcher Jake Johnson for five runs in the top of the first on three hits, four walks and an error. Scheithauer and Iverson had run-scoring singles.

The Gamecocks, though, got three back in their half. Landon Hintz singled, Ryne Gerstberger walked and Chandler Probst was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Zach Butera and Derek Thieme drove in runs with groundouts. Johnson doubled in the third run.

The Woodticks went up 8-3 in the top of the second. Kyle Stibbe singled in one, Blake Smola drew a bases-loaded walk and Iverson singled in a run. A bloop single by Randy Raasch and a base hit

by Jordan Arkola drove in runs in the third to make it 10-3. Butera doubled for Greenwood in the bottom half and scored on Thieme’s grounder.

Interwald tacked on two in the fourth and one in the fifth. Leading 13-5, the Woodticks put it away in the seventh on an RBI single by Scheithauer and a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Jacob Wicks.

Hintz went two for four to lead Greenwood. Johnson took the loss, allowing 10 runs, five of which were earned, in 2.2 innings. He allowed nine hits and seven walks with one strikeout. Hintz went 4.1 innings and allowed five runs, four of which were earned. He allowed six hits and four walks. He struck out one.

Greenwood lost 10-0 at Marshfield on Saturday. The Gamecocks are at Rib Lake on Friday night for a 7:30 p.m. first pitch. Interwald hosts Everest in Rib Lake at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Rib Lake rolls Driven by a pair of home runs from Ryan Beard, the Rib Lake Osprey moved to 2-1 with an 8-1 win at Rock Falls on Sunday.

Beard hit a two-run blast in the top of the first inning to put Rib Lake on the board. He capped the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth. He was three for four in the win.

Jeff Ziembo was two for four and scored three times out of the leadoff spot.

He doubled in Cole Klemm, who had singled, in the second inning. Jake Brehm singled in Ziembo to make it 4-0. Brehm and Beard singled in the fifth with Brehm scoring on a fielder’s choice by Jon Dallmann. With the bases loaded in the seventh, Dallmann walked and Jason Rappe was hit by a pitch to drive in runs.

Rib Lake outhit the Gunners (1-2) by a 10-5 count. Brent Mueller got the start for Rib Lake and was not stressed much by the home team. Rock Falls got its only run in the sixth with two hits and help from a Rib Lake error.

Rock Falls hitters drew three walks and struck out five times.

Rock Falls will visit the Spirit Twins on Sunday. Spirit fell to 0-4 with a tough 4-3 loss at Merrill this past Sunday.

Win one, lose one The Westboro Trojans played their first two home games of the season, losing 2-1 to Tomahawk on Saturday and beating Abbotsford 8-3 on Sunday.

Gets one out

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Photo by Matt Frey

Greenwood shortstop Ryne Gerstberger thinks about throwing to first base to try to get a double play, but holds on to the ball as he avoids the sliding Brad Borchardt during the sixth inning of Sunday’s game. The force play was the first out in the only scoreless inning Interwald had in a 15-5 win.

In Sunday’s win, Skyler Anderson went four for four and drove in five runs, while Marcus Klemm and Bryan Meszaros each went two for four. Kole Hartwig picked up the win on the pitcher’s mound.

Westboro nearly got out of a first-inning bases-loaded, no-out jam but an errant throw on a double-play ball brought in two runs for the Merchants. Those, however, would be Abbotsford’s last runs until the eighth.

Dustin Freeman’s sacrifice fly in the first drove in Ryan Schumacher, who had walked and stolen second. Judd Hraby led off the second with a single. Meszaros later singled and with runners on second and third, Anderson got the big hit, singling to drive in both, giving the Trojans a 3-2 lead.

A four-run sixth broke it open. Derek Niemi and Meszaros singled and then pulled off a double steal. Schumacher walked to load the bases. Anderson knocked his second two-run single of the game. Ground balls by Hartwig and Freeman drove in the next two runs to make it 7-2.

Westboro answered Tyler Klieforth’s RBI double in the eighth with Anderson’s third straight run-scoring hit. He brought in Schumacher, who had doubled. Schumacher scored three runs in the win.

Ned Hogden was three for five to lead Abbotsford, who was playing its first league game of the season.

Jake Goebel, in his first pitching appearance in a year and a half since tearing his labrum, struck out six to work around six hits and six walks in seven innings, but the offense was stymied by Tomahawk’s Nick Bolte in Saturday’s 2-1 loss.

Bolte struck out nine, walked four and scattered six hits in the win.

Tomahawk got a two-out break in the first when Jacob Hodgdon was hit by a pitch. He scored on a double by Ahrens.

Goebel worked out of a fifth-inning jam, but Tomahawk got him for one in the sixth when Ahrens walked, moved to

second on a wild pitch and scored on Nate Schoone’s single.

Westboro left the bases loaded in the second and single runners in each of the next four innings before breaking through in the seventh. Niemi and Kyle Nicks singled. Anderson’s groundout eventually drove in Niemi. Westboro had two on with one out in the ninth but Anderson hit into a game-ending double play.

Westboro (2-1) plays the Wausau Riverhawks this Sunday at Athletic Park.

Trap League Range Boys Club Week 3: Bird Bustin’ Babes, 3-0; Sparky’s Sport Shop, 3-0; Lloyd’s Carpentry, 3-0; Wild Things Taxidermy, 3-0; Hunters Choice II, 3-0; Central Culvert & Supply, 2.5-.5; Ray’s Market, 2-1; Smith Sales, 2-1; Clay Crushing Crew, 2-1; Dummy Team, 2-1; Hunters Choice I, 1-2; Short Lane Ag Supply I, 1-2; Robin’s Nest, 1-2; Alliance Collection Agency, 1-2; It’s Miller Time, 1-2; Dic-Wisco Farms, 1-2; Melvin Zenner, 1-2; Ruesch Farms, .52.5; Short Lane Ag Supply II, 0-3; Frane Auto Body, 0-3; Dent Solutions, 0-3; Jakel Plumbing, 0-3.

High Shooters: Craig Oehmichen 24, Dale Mokry 23, Logan Ruesch 22, Chase Oehmichen 21, Jeremy Resech 21, Dave Telshow 21, Tom Neumann 21, Mike Miller 21, Curtis Schjoneman 21.

Softball 35 and Over League Fuzzy’s, 3-0; Craig’s Auto, 2-0; Pot Belly, 2-1; Cindy’s, 2-1; Thirsty Moose, 2-1; Stetsonville, 1-2; Gad, 0-2; D’s Liquor Box Saloon, 0-2; Comstock, 0-3.

May 27: Thirsty Moose 15, Pot Belly 11; Fuzzy’s 7, Gad 1; Stetsonville 13, Comstock 1; Craig’s Auto 15, Cindy’s 8.

THE STAR NEWS

SPORTS

Page 16

KWD

An Outdoorman’s Journal

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KOMAREK

Mark Walters sponsored by

Wednesday, May 13 High 67, Low 29 There was frost on top of our turkey blind this morning when my 14-year-old daughter, Selina Walters and I got inside of it. No problem. I had a two-burner propane stove hooked up to a 20-pound propane tank that was camouflaged and outside the blind.

Last fall, I kind of ran my stove over with my truck.

This morning when I lit it, there was a boom, which was an explosion, which meant no stove today.

Last fall I went through three stoves in 30 days, one due to natural causes, another destroyed by a storm, which also destroyed my brand new screen tent, and the one I backed over with my truck.

So today, Selina and I are both trying to whack a tom with our bows and arrows. Both of us have already harvested a mature tom earlier in the season. We are hunting our food plot, which has become a wildlife mecca.

Last May, Selina and I planted about a half-acre of clover. Then in August we planted beets, turnips and radishes on another quarter acre next to it. A pond is within spitting distance of the beets. The plot is surrounded on three sides by a jack pine and oak forest.

For the most part, Selina does all of the whitetail hunting with a bow here. I have found it is very difficult for a 12-year-old and then a 13-year-old girl to be close enough to a deer to make a decent shot with a compound bow set at about 42 pounds.

Last summer, Selina was 13 and she did a lot of practicing. I have to tell you folks, in that age bracket, it is hard for a girl to comfortably and unnoticeably pull a bow back that is set over 42 pounds from a tree stand.

In our situation, at least in the last two years, Selina has to be in a tree on the edge of the plot. She has a max “comfort” range of about 18-20 yards.

So we’re in our blind this morning and, as always, we are having fun.

Deep in the forest toms are gobbling. As time passes, they are making their way to our plot.

When they arrived, they were 40 yards away. One of them was quite possibly the biggest tom I have ever seen while turkey hunting. The super tom had at least a 13inch beard and I am thinking he would tip the scale at close to 30 pounds. The other tom was a dandy in the typical 23-pound range with maybe a 10-inch beard.

These toms were in the plot for 45 minutes and never got closer than 35 yards. Though Selina had a 12 gauge in

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the blind, she did not want to take the chance of wounding the big guy and not recovering him.

Friday, May 15 High 73, Low 37 Selina made a major announcement to me today.

Next year, when she is in high school, she wants her major sports to be hunting and fishing (she will still do basketball and either track or softball).

So we’re in the blind maybe two hours and have another two hours of daylight left. One of my plans for the plot this year is to put five rows of corn on the outside of it and let the blind become a part of it all. Perhaps Selina can whack a deer or a turkey from it this fall.

We watch deer feed on the clover and three hens do the same. Then in the woods, near the pond, I thought I heard the cluck of a hen. I look that way and wait. Soon, two hens appear and then a very large tom.

Selina has her bow, her shotgun and, most importantly, a strong desire to harvest her second mature tom of the spring. The tom is making his love dance to the hens. Selina cannot see him due to some jack pine branches in her way. She has made her choice to use the shotgun.

The tom’s luck runs out when Selina spots him and absolutely pummels him with a load of 1.75-ounce four shot. Though he was not the super tom, Selina’s trophy had an 11-inch beard, 1.25-inch spurs. Though I did not weigh him, he weighed every bit of 25 pounds.

Folks I have been to a gazzilion ball games and they are all a beautiful thing. But if you ain’t hunting with your kids, you’re missing out!

Sunset

Volleyball 8th Street Co-Ed League June 1: Unknowns 2, Bella Zen Salon 1; The Elbow Room 2, Bump, Set, Spike 1; Feet-N-Motion 3, Sand Slingers 0; 8th Street 3, Stetsonville Lumber 0.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Baseball loss Continued from page 10

One very big inning A 2-2 pitcher’s duel through five innings suddenly went very wrong for the Raiders in the top of the sixth on May 27 when visiting Antigo sent 17 batters to the plate, collected 12 hits and scored 13 runs to earn a 15-2 win.

With two outs and three runs already scored, the Red Robins cracked seven straight hits and 10 straight batters reached base before Delzer finally struck out Nick Greening to end the onslaught. The Raiders let more than one chance to get the last out at home plate get away, but much credit went to the Robins, who hit the ball hard, spraying it all over the outfield.

“We played very well with a good team for five innings,” Hraby said. “Then they hit like no team I have ever seen in one inning. Hats off to them. They earned it.”

Raider starter Taylor Shaw started the sixth inning by striking out Brady Tatro for his second punch out of the game. His second walk of the game, this one to Arin Verhagen, got the ball rolling for Antigo. Cam Noskowiak then singled to left. Noskowiak, the eighth hitter in Antigo’s order, went four for four in the game.

Number-nine hitter Luke Osborne, who was two for two and reached base in all four of his plate appearances, yanked a single that just stayed inside the rightfield foul line to score the go-ahead run.

Brett Paul relieved Shaw at that point. He was greeted by Max Nowinsky’s liner to left-center that went for a two-run double. Paul got Jake Husnick to fly out to Gradberg in left for the second out. Then the floodgates opened.

Hunter Kirsch singled to center to score Nowinsky.

Greening pulled a triple down the rightfield line. Jed Weix singled to center to make it 8-2. Hraby turned to Zach Smola to try to get the final out of the inning, but Tatro, Verhagen, Noskowiak and Osborne all singled.

Nowinsky was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Husnick doubled in two more runs. Kirsch greeted Delzer with a double to deep right for the final blow.

Medford grabbed a 1-0 first-inning lead. Drott walked.

Two outs later, Brad Acker was hit by an 0-2 pitch from Verhagen. Delzer crushed a double to deep right-center to score Drott, but Acker ran out of gas after rounding third and was thrown out at the plate.

Noskowiak’s two-out bloop single to right-center scored two runs in the top of the fourth. Medford tied it in the bottom half when Gradberg walked and went to third on Hunter Anderson’s hit-and-run single. Woebbeking blooped a single behind first base to score Gradberg. But Kirsch relieved Verhagen and killed the rally by retiring the next three hitters, aided by a great defensive play by Tatro, the first baseman. He fielded Geiger’s sacrifice bunt attempt and, as he was falling down, threw a perfect strike to third to nab Anderson for the first out.

Kirsch got the relief win. He allowed just one hit in three innings, striking out three. Verhagen allowed six hits while striking out two while walking three and hitting one in three-plus innings.

Anderson was two for two for Medford, while Delzer was two for three. Verhagen was three for three and Husnick and Kirsch both had two hits for Antigo.

Shaw took the loss, allowing eight of Antigo’s 17 hits and five earned runs.

Pinewood ace

Gilman’s elementary team

Submitted photo

Gilman took second at state in the elementary school division and sent several archers to nationals. Team members include (front l. to r.) Kaitlyn Malchow, Kiersten Webster, Wayne McAlpine, Casey Grunseth, Caleb Marion, Tyler Schellhammer, Gordon Jensen, (back) Grace Weir, Tatum Weir, Bowie Oberle, Hanna Vick, Zack Marion, Grady Kroeplin, Anna Crick and Brooks Kraus. The wrong picture ran with this information in the May 21 issue of The Star News. We apologize for the error.

Gary Robida of Medford (second from left) hit a hole-in-one on Monday, May 4 at Pinewood Country Club in Harshaw. He used a 5-iron to hit the shot on the 148-yard, par3 hole. He is pictured with his playing partners and witnesses (from left) Bob Loether, Bill Heikkinen and Gaylon Heise.

Submitted photo

SPORTS THE STAR NEWS

Page 24

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Medford Continued from page 2

pitch, allowing Schultz to steal second.

The left-handed hitter cleanly bounced her single through the hole to end it.

Jenice Clausnitzer was three for four and scored twice, Hailee Clausnitzer was two for three with a pair of two-strike singles. Hartl drove in all five runs while going two for four.

Hartl struck out three, walked four and allowed 11 hits and three earned runs in 6.2 innings. Koshalek struck out six, walked none and allowed nine hits.

All five of Medford’s runs were earned.

In the teams’ last two meetings, the Raiders started to solve the pitcher that had shut them down so many times, scoring nine runs and collecting 15 hits, five of which went for extra bases. But Berndt said Koshalek is still impressive. “When she wanted to rear back and just bring it, she could,� he said. “She mixes it up so well.�

Mosinee won its fourth straight regional championship. Medford’s last win over Mosinee (23-5) came in the 2011

4

regional final. The defending Division 2 state champions lost 2-1 at La Crosse Logan in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal.

Medford hosts the sectional final between Logan and Baldwin-Woodville today, Thursday, at 5 p.m.

The game was the final appearance for Medford’s seniors Hartl, Loertscher and Marissa Laher. Hartl and Loertscher will play in the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association All-Star Games in Wisconsin Dells on June 16.

The Raiders finished the season with a 19-8 overall record.

Horseshoes Medford Tuesday Night League Genglers 17, Point 08 13, Kountry Korner 13, Last Straw 10, Tapper’s 1, The Roost Bar 0.

May 19: Kountry Korner 4, Roost Bar 0; Genglers 9, Point 08 5; Last Straw 9, Tapper’s 0.

May 26: Kountry Korner 9, Roost Bar 0; Point 08 8, Last Straw 1; Genglers 8, Tapper’s 1.

th Placagee Design

Stunned

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Photo by Matt Frey

Medford leftfielder Maggie Butkus kneels in stunned silence as Mosinee celebrates its 6-5 win in Friday’s WIAA Division 2 regional softball final.

Soccer no match for Hodags

Front P

Continued from page 10 the game, with 25 being on net. Bergman made 15 saves in the loss.

The Raiders finished their conference schedule with a 4-7-1 record, good enough for fifth place in the seven team GNC. They scored 11 goals (0.9 per game) and gave up 36 (3 per game). Rhinelander won the conference with a 11-0-1 record. They scored 86 goals and only gave up four.

GREAT NORTHERN CONFERENCE GIRLS SOCCER FINAL STANDINGS Conf.

Overall W-L-T W-L-T Rhinelander 11-0-1 17-3-2 Lakeland 8-2-2 12-7-3 Northland Pines 8-3-1 12-7-3 Mosinee 5-4-3 9-7-3 Medford 4-7-1 4-11-3 Antigo 1-10-1 1-14-1 Newman Cath.

0-11-1 0-13-1 May 28: Rhinelander 10, Medford 0; Northland Pines 5, Antigo 0; Mosinee 1, Newman Catholic 0; Ashland 4, Lakeland 1.

May 29: Northland Pines 2, Three Lakes 0.

June 1: Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia 3, Medford 3.

June 2: Mosinee at W.R. Assumption.

June 4 WIAA Div. 3 regional semifinals: Medford at Mosinee, Antigo at Lakeland.

June 4 WIAA Div. 2 regional semifinal: Merrill at Rhinelander.

June 4 WIAA Div. 4 regional semifinal: Newman Catholic at Northland Pines.

June 6 WIAA Div. 3 regional final: Medford/ Mosinee winner vs. Antigo/Lakeland winner.

June 6 WIAA Div. 2 regional final: Shawano/ Hortonville winner vs. Merrill/Rhinelander winner.

June 6 WIAA Div. 4 regional final: Three Lakes/Regis-McDonell Central winner vs. Newman Catholic/Northland Pines winner.

June 11: WIAA Div. 3, 2 and 4sectional semifinals.

n a i r B Wilson

Congratu g

Blasted by Hodags The Raiders closed the book on their Great Northern season by falling to a 10-0 loss to the conference champion Rhinelander Hodags last Thursday on the road.

The home Hodags had plenty to cheer about. In addition to celebrating their official GNC title, they honored their seniors, and for good measure, blasted Medford for 10 goals. “The girls got a bit distracted and lost their focus. Rhinelander is faster than we are and they’ve been playing together in the offseason. You can definitely see the difference,� Felix said.

The GNC’s second-leading scorer, Sydney Zettler, got the scoring started in the 13th minute off an assist from Alayna Franson. Not to be outdone by her teammate, Gabbe Millot, the conference’s top scorer, notched a goal in the 26th minute on a pass from Claire Hjelle. Millot doubled her total in the 30th minute and scored again in the 39th to complete her hat-trick before halftime. Jessica Lucas netted a goal in between at the 33rd minute.

Zettler led off the second half with a goal in the 46th minute. Millot bagged her fourth goal in the 55th and scored again in the 58th minute. The five goal outburst boosted her conference leading total to 32 goals for the season. Anna Sturzl got an assist from Zettler to make it 9-0 and Emily Kadlec wrapped up the scoring with a goal in the 74th minute.

The Hodags shelled Medford keeper Abbie Bergman and the rest of her defense all night. They earned 21 corner kicks in the game and totaled 52 shots in

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