Calumet pitcher Kaylee Newsom rocks and fires from the pitcher's circle during the second game of a doubleheader against Houghton Monday in Calumet. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

CALUMET — Joel Rastello, coach of the Calumet Copper Kings softball team, had been on the search this spring for a complete game from his girls. He found what he was looking for on Monday, not once, but twice.

The Copper Kings took two from the visiting Houghton Gremlins. The opener was a 10-0 shutout, and they outhit their opponent 8-4 in the nightcap.

“I am very happy,” said Rastello. “We played up to our potential. We have good players, but we have struggled to put together a complete game. That problem just ended.”

The star of the opener was pitcher Lena Myhren. She earned a complete-game win, striking out five, and allowing just three hits and no walks.

“No walks was key,” Rastello added, “and we had timely hitting.”

The Copper Kings posted three runs in the first inning, and added two more in the second, before scoring four in the third to take a 9-0 lead into the fourth inning.

Swinging big bats were shortstop Molly Erkkila. She was 4-for-4 and had four RBI. Bethany Garrow, Chloe Coppo, Kaydence Christopherson and Jailyn Poshak all were 2-for-3 at the plate.

“The girls swung the bat well and played good defense,” noted Rastello.

This one ended in the sixth due to the 10-run mercy rule.

The second game began as a pitchers’ duel. It pitted Houghton’s Romi Mattson against Calumet’s Kaylee Newsom. While Calumet took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, Houghton had baserunners on in each inning.

The Copper Kings, however, put some distance between the Gremlins in the fourth. Two of those runs came in on a Garrow double to deep left.

It didn’t strop there. In the fifth, Myhren opened the frame with a triple and trotted home a batter later on Isabella Coppo’s double. Added to that was a Amiina Tarnowski single which knocked in Isabella. It was now a 6-0 game, and the Copper Kings (9-7) had, by that point, outscored the Gremlins 16-0 in 11 innings.

The Gremlins did avoid another goose egg by scoring two in the sixth and two in the seventh. Stella Soumis got her team on the scoreboard with a solo home run over the left field fence in the sixth. Reagan Moyle then doubled and came home later on a wild pitch.

In the seventh, Mattson doubled and was knocked in by Jacey Sleeman, who later scored on a fielder’s choice. Four runs was not enough for the Gremlins, and this one ended 8-4.

This was the Gremlins’ (13-6) fourth loss in five games. Their coach Mel Baker summed it up best.

“We are in a slump,” she stated. “I think we are tired and need a good practice. We just need to regroup.”

Up Next

The Copper Kings played in Westwood on Tuesday. The Gremlins will welcome the Hancock Bulldogs to their field on Wednesday.