Hancock pitcher Sadie Biekkola (8) arrives at home plate as her teammates swarm her after hitting a home run during a game against Coleman during the Copper Country Softball Invite Saturday at the Hancock Driving Park. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — Shouts, cheers, and music blared from the Hancock Driving Park for over seven hours Saturday afternoon as the Hancock Bulldogs debuted the Copper Country Softball Invitational at the Hancock Driving Park. The Bulldogs, Houghton Gremlins, Calumet Copper Kings, and Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes played hosts to the Coleman Cougars, the Niagara Badgers, the Hurley Northstars, and the Menominee Maroons.

“For the rest of the local schools to be able to get some exposure to these other teams that are coming up, it’s been quite a few years in the making to be able to get teams willing to come up here,” said Bulldogs coach Craig Biekkola. “It’s been due to success locally, and we’ve built some relationships by traveling to play against these schools recently. So, it’s worked out really nice.”

With temperatures in the low 50s, with little wind, and plenty of sun, the invite went smoothly.

“They’re all happy that it’s sunny and not freezing,” Biekkola said. “I guess they enjoy it, coming out to play in a different place. Hurley’s the only one that’s been up here before. They were gracious enough to come, and (we’re) hoping to continue this type of stuff as we go into the next couple of years.”

Joel Rastello, coach of the Copper Kings, said that he heard nothing but positive comments about the afternoon.

“We were at Kingsford earlier in the week, and then we were in Lake Linden,” he said. “We were looking forward to this little tournament. Hancock’s done a great job. We really appreciate them for putting this together. Everybody here has been nothing but great comments on this.

“We really looked forward to this. We had a big red circle on our calendar.”

For Lakes coach Curtis Kinnunen, simply getting his team outdoors at all has been a struggle due to the weather the Copper Country has endured.

“It feels great to get out and start playing,” he said. “It’s been a struggle to get out to our field. This is probably the nicest day we’ve seen so far early in the season.”

For the Gremlins, getting out and seeing teams they would not normally see was a positive.

“It’s great to see,” coach Mel Baker said. “I love that the fields are nice and close. The feeling out here, it’s indescribable.”

Baker agreed that getting outside to play games is beneficial at this point.

“We faced some downstate teams in the (Superior) Dome, and you could tell they’ve been outside for a while, just with backing up and pop-ups,” she said. “So, to get on the field, where it’s not 35 degrees, it’s nice, and it’s a good start to the season. You really find the love of softball when you’re back outside.”

Lakes earn split

With eight games over the seven and a half hours, there was plenty of excitement in the games.

In one of the opening games, the Lakes and Badgers battled on the Givens Field, with the Lakes coming away with a 14-1 win.

Ashlyn Steves got the ball rolling by reaching on an error in the top of the first inning. Two batters later, Emily Jokela walked. Both runners scored. Two batters after that, Payton Goldsworthy got to second on an error, and she scored on a single by Kyara Mills.

In the top of second, Ella Schneiderhan doubled to lead off. Two batters later, Steves walked, and stole second, which allowed Schneiderhan to score. Two batters later, Jokela reached on an error before Goldsworthy drilled a home run to left field, pushing the score to 7-0.

The Badgers got one back in the bottom of the second, but in the top of the third, Steves reached on an error. Cleo Milkey walked. Jokela singled to score Steves. Then Goldsworthy doubled off the center field fence to score Milkey and Jokela. Corrigan then singled to score Goldsoworthy to push the lead to 10, 11-1.

In the fifth, Milkey singled and then scored on a single by Jokela. Then Goldsworthy hit her second home run of the day to center field, scoring Jokela as well and giving the Lakes the 13-run lead they needed to win.

Their second game was a 15-5 loss to the Cougars.

Milkey got the Lakes on the board in the first inning with a single. Two batters later, she scored on a double by Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy later scored on a single by Mills.

The Cougars responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first. The Lakes later trailed 7-2 before Goldsworth doubled and scored on a single by Mills.

The Lakes added two more runs in the sixth as Jokela doubled and then was brought home as part of a two-run home run by Goldworthy.

Gremlins sweep

On the Schaaf Field, Houghton had a big first inning and big fourth as well in a 13-2 win over Hurley.

Ellie Hainault sparked the Gremlins’ bats with a double to lead off. Romi Mattson, who was celebrating her 17th birthday, drove a home run over the center field fence as the next batter. Stella Soumis then doubled, stole third, and scored on a defensive error to put her team up 3-0.

In the second, Lexi Burns doubled and later scored on a wild pitch. In the third, Kenzie Collard singled and later scored on a double by Kia Markham.

Houghton added to the lead again in the fourth when Emmy Pietila reached on an error and scored on a double by Mattson. Mattson scored on a double by Collard, and then Collard scored on a two-run home run by Soumis to center field.

Markham singled and later scored on a single by Josie Switzer, putting Houghton up 10-0 after four.

After the Northstars scored a pair of runs over two innings, Houghton got going again in the seventh with a Markham single. Two batters later, Switzer doubled to drive her home. Burns reached on an error, and then both scored on a double by Pietila, which capped the scoring.

The Bulldogs battled the Cougars in their opening game of the day, jumping out to a 6-1 lead early. The Cougars fought back to make it 6-5 before exploding for five runs to take a 10-6 lead. They extended that lead to 13-6 before the Bulldogs cut it back to 13-9, but they could not get any closer.

In their second game, Houghton racked up five in the fourth inning en route to a 13-8 victory over the Maroons.

Mattson walked in the top of the first and later scored by stealing home with Collard at the plate. Collard walked and later scored on a single by Markham.

In the second, Pietila singled with two outs, and then scored on a triple by Hainault. Hainault scored on a passed ball. Mattson then walked and scored on a single by Collard to make it 5-0.

Menominee battled all the way back to 5-5 before the Gremlins got back on the board in the fourth. Hainault singled and scored on a passed ball. Collard then doubled. She was brought home by a two-run home run by Soumis to left field. Reagan Moyle and Switzer both walked. Both were knocked home by a double from Burns, putting the Gremlins back up 10-5.

In the fifth, Soumis singled and scored on a double by Markham. With the score 12-6, Burns singled and later scored on a play where Hainault reached on an error.

The Maroons scored twice in the bottom of the sixth, but that was close as they got.

Bulldogs split

The Bulldogs dropped their opening game of the day to the Cougars, 13-9 in a wild game that saw Hancock jump out to a 6-1 lead early. The Cougars shaved that down to 6-5 before a five-run inning pushed them ahead 10-6. Coleman kept pushing and led 13-6 before Hancock stormed back in the bottom of the seventh and cut the lead down to four before recording their final out.

Sadie Biekkola got the start in the pitcher’s circle and helped herself out with a two-run home run in the game.

In their nightcap, Hancock jumped all over the Badgers early and never looked back en route to a mercy win.

Copper Kings sweep

The Copper Kings played the final two games of the day on the Schaaf Field, and they opened their day with a 7-4 win over the Northstars that saw them score three runs each in the second and fifth innings.

Hurley led 1-0 in the bottom of the second when Chloe Coppo led off with a single. Kaylee Christopherson followed with a single that scored Coppo. Jaysa Wilks doubled and Kaylee Newsom singled, which brought Wilks home after Christopherson scored on a wild pitch.

Hurley evened the game in the third.

Calumet then took the lead back in the fourth when Wilks reached on an error and scored on a double by Newsom. The next inning, Lena Myhren singled and scored on a double by Isabella Coppo. Then Coppo scored on a double by Chloe Coppo. Chloe Coppo then scored herself on a sacrifice by Christopherson.

Hurley managed to get one run back, but that was as close as they got.

In their nightcap, the Copper Kings trailed the Maroons 13-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning before scoring 18 runs to jump ahead 22-13. They added one more run in the sixth on a passed ball to seal a 23-13 victory.

In the game, with the score 0-0 in the bottom of the first inning, Bethany Garrow led off with a home run to get Calumet on the board.

The Maroons quickly jumped ahead 5-1 in the top of the second and led 6-1 after three.

Garrow, looking to spark the Copper Kings’ offense, did just that in the bottom of the third with a single. Emily Laplander had already walked before Garrow’s drive. Isabella Coppo knocked them both home with a single to left field and Calumet trailed 6-3.

Menominee led 7-3 going into the bottom of the fourth before Amina Tarnowski singled to lead off. Laplander brought her home two batters later with a sacrifice.

From there, the Maroons pushed their advantage up to 13-4 in the top of the fifth before the Copper Kings got to work on their big inning.