Crush’s Emily Jokela bats against Tervo Agency in the Copper Country Women’s Softball semifinal on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Lake Linden, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — The ladies of Crush softball lived up to their name once again with a 15-5 win over the Tervo Agency in Copper Country Women’s Softball semifinal playoff action at the Boneyard on Tuesday.

“We hit the ball hard, and our pitching has been very strong,” said Crush’s coach Curtis Kinnunen.

With Emily Jokela starting on the mound, Crush put down Tervo’s first five batters and got to work at the plate. They went through the lineup with big hits coming from Ryleigh Johnson, Laura Lyons and Ashlee Johnson.

In the second, they had another five-run showcase. Jokela started things off with a base hit up the middle. Two batters later, Lyons followed with a double and then came three consecutive walks for Tervo’s starter and player/coach Mel Baker. When the dust settled it was a 10-0 Crush tilt after just two innings.

“Laura put on a show tonight at the plate,” Kinnunen said. “She had a single and double to start the game which was good to see.”

In the top of the third, Tervo broke the silence when they posted two runs. Third baseman Alana Nolan started the frame off with a single to right. Heather Huffmaster brought her in on a double to center. Ashley Steer would then walk and cross home two batters later off a Jill Keskimaki single.

Tervo would add three more runs in the fourth to make it a 10-5 game. Baker, Nolan and Steer all had base raps and made it home it that inning. However that’s where the run-scoring ended for

Tervo as Olivia Shank came in to relieve Jokela and shut Tervo down. The two Crush pitchers combined for four strikeouts in five innings and they were backed in the field with a strong-playing infield and outfield inning after inning.

“They are a good team,” said Tervo’s Baker. “They can hit the ball and we gave up too many errors.”

With the 10-5 victory, Crush will face Superior National Bank in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Boneyard. During the regular season, Crush won their first meeting against SNB 8-4 and the two teams battled to an 8-8 tie (due to time limit) in their second meeting.

SNB’s player/coach Kim Aho knows that she and her team have their work cut out.

She said, “For us to win, we are go have to keep hitting like we’ve been doing. We have solid hitters right through the batting order, and that will certainly help us. However, I think the real key to winning Monday’s game is going to be our fielding. Crush has a lot of strong hitters, and we will need to keep our errors limited in the field.”

Tervo 002 30 — 5

Crush 550 23 — 15