Hancock catcher Brooke Koskela awaits a foul ball during a game against Houghton Wednesday at Houghton Field. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Coming into Wednesday’s Copper Bat matchup between the Houghton Gremlins and Hancock Bulldogs softball teams, the two squads had been on different trajectories. The Gremlins had started their season fast, but were in the midst of a tough stretch that had seen them drop five of their last eight games. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, started their season slowly, but came into the game having gone 10-3 in their last 13.

Gremlins coach Mel Baker had felt, after the Gremlins had dropped a pair of games to the Calumet Copper Kings, like her team needed a reset. They got it Wednesday afternoon, coming back twice to earn a 6-4 win over the Bulldogs.

“It felt good to be back playing ball instead of whatever Calumet was,” she said. “You know, we were all very frustrated with ourselves, the entire team. I mean, they were frustrated. They were just hitting the ball with little droops. They weren’t getting good contact.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), we had a day of practice, and they were just fired up to just hit that reset button. They wanted pop up after pop up, grounder after grounder. Then they wanted live pitching. It just tells you something about the team when they just get that own reset button and that fire under their belts to, ‘Hey, we can do better than this. What are our goals against Hancock?’ I mean, (two of) the last three times we played Hancock, we’ve lost. So coming into it, it was like they needed a true reset button, and it was good to see.”

On the other side of the diamond, the Bulldogs, who had been hitting more consistently lately, seemed to have some old issues resurface the longer the game went on.

“We got the lead with, I guess, without any hits,” said Bulldogs coach Craig Biekkola. “We were able to get some runs off of some walks, on a couple errors, which was good. Never got the bats rolling. We hit the ball hard quite a few times, just happened to be right at them. They made the plays, and I got to give credit to the Gremlins.”

Craig Biekkola knows his team is better than they showed Wednesday.

“We’ve just got to focus on having a complete game from start to finish,” he said. “We can’t have three, four innings without scoring a run. When you’re playing against good teams, if you get the jump on them, you have to keep the pedal on the gas, and you have to keep scoring runs. If you happen to fall behind, you have to find a way to catch up, make a run, and score some runs that way.

“I’m not disappointed with the effort. There’s just a couple mistakes in the field, and a couple on the bases, and that’s the difference in close games.”

The Bulldogs opened the game quickly as left fielder Sofie Freeman led off with a ground ball towards short. She reached first base safely on an error. Shortstop Kaelyn Rouleau then did the same thing with a grounder towards third and suddenly Hancock had runners on the corners without recording a hit or an out.

Catcher Brooke Koskela popped out, but Freeman scored after tagging. Pitcher Sadie Biekkola then reached on an error and Hancock had runners on the corners again. Third baseman Lucy Biekkola then popped out to center, scoring Rouleau on the play. Second baseman Romey Koskela then reached on an error and Sadie Biekkola scored.

Just like that, Hancock was up 3-0.

In the bottom half of the first, Houghton started chipping away at that lead. Third baseman Ellie Hainault hit a pop fly to right field, and she reached on an error. With the ball still live, she made her way to third before the play came to an end. Center fielder Romi Mattson drew a walk. Two batters later, pitcher Stella Soumis drew a walk, and suddenly the bases were loaded with first baseman Reagan Moyle coming to the plate. She walked on four straight pitches to score Hainault from third.

Sadie Biekkola then buckled down and struck out second baseman Jacey Sleeman and Josie Switzer to end the inning.

The game remained 3-1 in favor of Hancock into the bottom of the fourth inning before Houghton found the plate again.

Moyle got the rally started with a single to right field. Sleeman drew a walk. Shortstop Kia Markham walked and suddenly the bases were loaded with just one out.

Catcher Lexi Burns singled to deep left field, scoring Moyle and Sleeman and just like that, Houghton had tied things at 3-3.

“At that point, I think we had four errors, right?” said Baker. “We kept the energy up and just kept battling back. We showed our grit coming back.”

Hancock regained the lead in the top of the fifth. Freeman laid down a bunt and reached on an error with one out. Two batters later, Brooke Koskela reached on an error, which allowed Freeman to score.

That 4-3 lead was short-lived however, as the Gremlins got right back to work in the bottom half of the inning. Right fielder Kenzie Collard walked to lead off. Then Soumis drilled a ball into deep right field, and rounded third without breaking her stride as she crossed home plate with a two-run, inside-the-park home run, and that put Houghton up 5-4.

The Gremlins added one final run in the sixth. Markham hit a line drive into left field and reached on an error. With the ball still live, she rounded second and made it to third safely. A pick-off attempt at third left Markham injured, so she was replaced on the basepath by Thora Bier. Burns then flew out to right field, but that was enough to score Bier and give Houghton breathing room.

Soumis went the distance in the pitcher’s circle for the Gremlins to earn the win. She struck out three, walked one and gave up just one hit.

For the Bulldogs, Sadie Biekkola went four innings, striking out five, walking five and giving up three hits. Lucy Biekkola threw two innings in relief, striking out four, walking one, and giving up one hit.

Houghton third baseman Ellie Hainault is congratulated by coach Mel Baker after Hainault hit a triple in the bottom of the first inning of a game against Hancock Wednesday at Houghton Field. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)