Norman Tesch/For the Gazette The Hancock softball team poses with the team trophy after winning the Division 4 District 97 tournament over Ironwood Friday in Ironwood.

IRONWOOD — It was an historic day for the Hancock softball program here Friday as the Bulldogs captured their first Division 4 district title with a hard-fought 8-4 triumph over defending champion Ironwood.

The victory enables the Bulldogs to make their regional tournament debut June 8 at Norway where they will face Rudyard.

“We want to let this sink in,” said Hancock coach Randy Heinonen. “We’re excited. It feels great to be moving on. This is uncharted territory for us. We can’t wait to get back to practice on Monday. We’ll finetune some things next week.”

Hancock was clinging to a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning until senior Emma Almquist launched a three-run homer over the rightfield fence for a four-run cushion.

“It feels great to be part of this,” said Almquist, who will attend classes at Minnesota-Duluth this fall. “When the pitch was coming in, I knew I had to give it my all. There was a sense of relief when the ball went out. I know how strong our team is and knew we could keep it up. Delaney (Heinonen) was a big part of this. She pitched well.”

Heinonen went the distance, striking out 11, walking five and allowing seven hits.

The Bulldogs were up 5-1 in the fifth. Ironwood then answered with three runs, slicing its deficit to 5-4.

“I was feeling comfortable when it was 5-1,” said Heinonen, who plans to continue her softball career at Finlandia next season. “I’ll be honest. I was a little bit nervous when it was 5-4, but I knew I had my teammates behind me and felt confident we would hold up. We count on Emma to hit the long balls and she has been waiting for a hit like that. I felt more comfortable when we went back out in the field in the seventh. It’s awesome to be part of this.”

Senior Jacquelyn Wiemeri pulled the Red Devils within 5-2 while sophomore Madeline Vaughn got caught in a rundown and was thrown out. Classmate Kazlyn Weber then scored on a fielder’s choice and Sydnee Lorenson made it 5-4 on a fielding error in the fifth.

“We dug a little hole early,” said Ironwood coach John Lorenson. “I thought we’d come back. We started hitting their pitcher and thought she was running out of gas, but she came back strong. Kudos to her.”

Vaughn gave Ironwood an early lead on a passed ball, but the Bulldogs evened the score on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Janie Berg.

D’Andre Kero’s bases-clearing triple put Hancock up 4-1 and Delaney Heinonen’s double to left made it 5-1 in the second.

“We met with our seniors before the game and told them ‘if we’re going to in it, we’re going to win with you leading us,'” said coach Heinonen. “Things started coming together after the Calumet seriies. After that we felt if we played well, we could win some games.”

The Bulldogs collected 15 hits, including three each by Delaney Heinonen and Gabrielle Mukavitz. Almquist and Sophie Heinonen added two apiece.

Vaughn finished with three hits and Weber had two for the Devils, who committed two errors. The Bulldogs had one miscue.

Losing pitcher Madison Huotari pitched the first 1 1/3 frames and came back in relief in the sixth. She struck out one, walked one and gave up five runs on eight hits. Jordan Tanula worked four frames, fanned three, walked two and surrendered three runs on seven hits.

“I thought we did well,” said coach Lorenson. “We had a couple good plays in a couple spots and gained some momentum. We threw a couple sophomores and we’re proud of the way they pitched. We’re losing six seniors, but we still have some youth.”

Hancock reached the final by blanking Gogebic 15-0 in just three innings. Ironwood eliminated Jeffers 18-7 in five frames.

Ironwood led by as much as 18-1 before the Jets scored six times with two out in the fifth.

“The third inning is when Ironwood scored a bunch of runs,” said Jets’ coach Stephanie Sterbenz. “At that point the game was basically out of reach. Then it was just a matter of trying to close the gap. Losing 18-7 feels better than losing 18-1. We have a young team. Most of these girls had never played softball before this year. We brought only 10 players and don’t have the advantage of having a flex hitter. We play with what we have.”

Junior Linnea Heinonen had two hits for the Jets.

“Madisyn Holombo was probably our best hitter this year,” said Sterbenz. “Our catcher (Irene Pennaka) takes control and has the attitude to be a good player and our third-baseman (Kaydence Kilpela is a solid player. We like to look at this as a new team.”