Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette As Hancock’s Mallory Sporalski reaches home plate after hitting a home run, her teammates swarm her in congratulations during the first game of a doubleheader against Calumet Tuesday at the Bill Givens Memorial Little League Field at the Hancock Driving Park.

HANCOCK — In an evening where the weather kept changing from sunny to cloudy back to sunny and then back to cloudy again, the Hancock Bulldogs and the Calumet Copper Kings each earned wins in a softball doubleheader at the Bill Givens Memorial Little League Field at the Hancock Driving Park Tuesday.

The Bulldogs took the opener (6-3) behind another strong performance in the pitcher’s circle from Sadie Biekkola, earning the conference win in the process. In the nightcap, the Copper Kings powered to an 11-3 win thanks to a pair of home runs from Isabella Coppo and smart pitching from Audrey Erkkila.

With the split, the Bulldogs improved to 12-2 on the season, and coach Craig Biekkola felt that his group left too many batters on base in the nightcap, which proved costly.

“Pitching and defensively, in the first game that we played, well, we scored enough runs to get the win, but we just never got the bats going consistently today,” he said. “We had a couple of home runs, but other than that, we left runners stranded when we had chances. When you don’t score when you have opportunities, well, sometimes you end up on the short end of it.”

On the other side of the field, the Copper Kings, who are starting five freshmen and sophomores, earning a split meant that they remained adobe .500 at 6-5, but after scoring three runs in the seventh inning of Game One, they were able to keep the bats moving in Game Two.

“To be able to kind of carry that over into the second game, well, we had too many errors in that first game,” said Calumet coach Joel Rastello. “(We had) a lot of baubles, and drops, and hitting the ball at people. So, it was very important to get the kids fired up, and (to) know that they can hit the ball like we know they can.”

In the bottom of the first, Hancock got on the board quickly. Sofie Freeman got things started by leading off with a single to center field. Two batters later, Sadie Biekkola grounded out to the pitcher, but Freeman scored on the play.

In the second, Ella Storm reached first base on a dropped third strike. Two batters later, Kaelyn Rouleau grounded out, but Storm managed to score, putting Hancock up 2-0.

In the fourth, Rouleau got on board again with a fly ball that was dropped in center by Kaylee Newsom. She reached second before the play came to an end. Mallory Sporalski followed up with a two-run home run over the left field fence, doubling the Bulldogs’ lead.

Megan Pelto doubled to center field to get Hancock another baserunner in the fifth, and she scored on fielder’s choice.

Alice Larson reached first in the sixth and later scored on a dropped third strike thrown to Freeman, putting the Bulldogs up 6-0.

Calumet’s rally in the top of the seventh started with two outs. Kaydence Chrisopherson doubled to left field. Molly Erkkila followed with a single to right field, scoring Christopherson. After Newsom walked, Audrey Erkkila hit a fly ball at Freeman, who could not make the catch. Molly Erkkila and Newsom both scored on the play.

With Audrey Erkkila still on base, Bethany Garrow singled, putting runners on the corners. Ryleigh Johnson connected with a pitch and launched it into center field, but Storm got underneath it and made the catch to end the game.

Sadie Biekkola threw six strikeouts and walked one, scattering seven hits to earn the win.

“Up to this point, she’s pitched really well,” said Craig Biekkola. “She’s limiting the number of walks, which is huge, and defensively behind her, we’ve played really well.”

Garrow, who was hitting in the leadoff spot for the Copper Kings, went 3-for-4 in the game at the plate. Lena Myhren took the loss in the circle, striking out five and walking one while scattering five hits.

In the nightcap, the two teams battled to a 0-0 tie heading into the top of the third, when Calumet broke the proverbial ice. Molly Erkkila led off with a single to start the inning. Three batters later, Garrow singled. Johnson then singled to right field, which brought both Erkkila and Garrow home.

In the fourth, Calumet struck again. Isabella Coppo turned on a pitch from Sydnie Scholie and ripped a home run over the left field fence on the second pitch she saw.

Hancock got two runs back quickly in the bottom half of the inning as Brooke Koskela singled to center and Sadie Biekkola drilled a home run that looked very similar to Coppo’s, with the ball landing in almost the same place beyond the left field fence.

Hancock had a chance to take the lead with Sporalski and Larson both on base, but Diem Kilpela struck out and Freeman followed with a ground out, ending the threat.

Calumet then had a chance to extend the lead in the sixth with Myhren on base after a line drive to right field. Isabella Coppo launched a ball over the right field fence to put her team back up three, 5-2.

Molly and Audrey Erkkila both got on base in the top of the seventh, and both were brought home on a single by Garrow. Two batters later, Myhren was intentionally walked to load the bases with Isabella Coppo coming to the plate. She drew a walk, scoring Garrow in the process. Chloe Coppo then singled to knock in Myhren and Isabella Coppo. Christopherson then added one more run with a single to left field, making the score 11-2 in favor of Calumet.

In the bottom half of the seventh, Scholie lead off with a single to left field. Two batters later, Larson reached first on a fielder’s choice, and a defensive error allowed Storm to score. With Larson on third before the play ended, Hancock still had two outs to work with. However, a pop out by Rouleau and a strike out by Pelto ended the game.

Audrey Erkkila struck out five and walked three while scattering three hits to earn the win for the Copper Kings.

Rastello was pleased with his team’s pitching in both games.

“Lena did a nice job,” he said. “She gave us a chance to win. That’s all you can ask for the pitchers. Audrey did a nice job too. Audrey’s a little loopy, a little bit harder to hit. They were both effective.”

Scholie struck out eight and walked two while surrendering 11 hits in the loss for Hancock.

UP NEXT

Hancock was back in action Wednesday at Lake Linden-Hubbell. Calumet is off until Friday, when they host Gwinn, starting at 4 p.m.