Mosinee clinches GNC title in extra-inning thriller

MOSINEE - Rhinelander pitcher Ali Schickert was the story of the game through six innings Tuesday.

But when the game reached extra innings, Mosinee’s Jaycie Dulak stole the show.

The third baseman saved a run with a smart defensive play in the eighth inning, then scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the inning as Mosinee wrapped up its eighth straight Great Northern Conference title with a 4-3 win over the Hodags.

“She has come such a long way this season,” Mosinee coach Todd Felch said of Dulak. “She had some self-confidence issues at the start of the season, but, wow, has she turned into a player.”

Mosinee improved to 15-2 overall and 11-0 in the GNC. Rhinelander, which finishes the conference schedule against Medford, fell to 16-5 overall and 9-2 in conference play.

“It shows a lot (about the team),” Mosinee centerfielder Bailey Schultz said. “We never pack it in. They were up 2-0 at one point and we just knew that we couldn’t give up.”

Mosinee rallied for two runs in the seventh to force the game into the dramatic eighth inning.

Rhinelander had the go-ahead run at third with one out in the eighth, and Dulak fielded an attempted squeeze bunt in front of home plate. Dulak pump-faked a throw to first and then turned to see the Hodags Taylor Trachte halfway between home and third. Trachte was eventually caught in a rundown and tagged out by Mosinee catcher Janel Logsdon.

“I figured that (Trachte) was coming because they had called time and I thought they would bunt,” Dulak said. “We were all ready for it and Felch said (before the play), ‘Look her back or fake (the throw).’ I practiced it in practice and it paid off this time.”

Dulak then walked to lead off the bottom of the inning and never stopped running on a sacrifice bunt by Jayde Ganser and slid into third ahead of a relay throw from first.

“I figured they were going to throw it to first and when I saw it I was like, ‘OK, I need to get to third if we are going to get this run in.’”

Schultz then drew a walk, and a few moments later Schickert’s 129th pitch of the game got past catcher Makayla Kuester and Dulak broke for home and slid in ahead of the tag.

Schickert finished with nine strikeouts and controlled Mosinee for six innings but walked three of the first four batters to open the seventh.

Ganser scored on a wild pitch and Schultz tied the game as she beat a throw home as Brooke Wiezbanowski grounded to third.

Mosinee had the bases loaded with no outs, but Schickert got a pair of groundouts and a strikeout to end the inning.

Rhinelander, which lost to Mosinee 5-0 earlier this season, threatened in the first as Lindsay Juedes was thrown out at home by Schultz trying to score from second on a single by Katie Detert.

The Hodags scored two runs on a pair of singles and a ground-rule double. All three hits came with the batters facing an 0-2 count.

Rhinelander’s Makayla Kuester and Kim Bilogan had a double and a single to put runners at the corners to open the third. Mosinee’s Megan Soukup got out of jam by getting two straight popouts and then a groundout to short to end the inning.

Mosinee was held to two hits over the opening three innings, but the first four batters reached in the fourth, including a RBI single by Natasha Stubbe.

Mosinee had the bases loaded with no outs in the inning but Schickert got two straight strikeouts and the got Schultz to fly out to left to end the threat.

Rhinelander added an insurance run in the sixth as Taylor Trachte led off with a single and eventually scored on a Mosinee error.

Rhinelander’s leadoff batter reached safely in five of the eight innings and two scored a run.

“We struggle every once in awhile, but this group seems to feed off each other a lot,” Felch said. “All of a sudden someone hits the ball and it just goes. We never know who is going to do it each game, but somebody always steps up and (the players) believe in themselves.”

WP-Sydni Gburek. LP--Ali Schickert. 2B-R, Makayla Kuester, Kim Bilogan, Taylor Trachte. M, Maloree Beste.

Records: Mosinee 15-2, 11-0 Great Northern Conference; Rhinelander 16-5, 9-2 GNC.

Tim Johnson: 715-845-0731, or timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @timmyjo11