Northern Wishes third baseman Sylvia Aho breaks for home during a game against Gold Standard Monday at the Boneyard in Lake Linden. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — In what, on paper, appeared should have been a pitcher’s duel, and in a lot of ways, it was, Northern Wishes came up with a key win over Gold Standard in Copper Country Women’s Fastpitch softball play at the Boneyard in Lake Linden Monday evening.

Payton Goldsworthy struck out 14 for Gold Standard and Rosalie Kangas fanned 13 for Northern Wishes, yet Northern Wishes came away with an 11-4 win.

“You can’t win them all, right?” asked Gold Standard coach Curtis Kinnunen. “It’s almost good to get a loss and get you back down here.”

When it came to assessing his team, Kinnunen felt that his team struggled to find ways to attack Kangas’ pitching.

“The girls took awhile to start hitting,” he said. “We had a couple of girls try to bunt, but they just have to watch the ball come in.”

While the loss hurts, with the playoffs next week, Kinnunen believes the team will bounce back.

“Yeah, they’ll bounce back,” he said. “They’re pretty good with that. If they make an error, lose, they’ll bounce back the next game and really put it in.”

Kangas threw seven innings, walking three and giving up seven hits, but when her team needed her to, she found a way to get key outs.

“Rosalie had a good game, for only her second or third time pitching this season,” said Northern Wishes player-coach Kim Aho. “She was good. We debated if we should switch her out at about the fifth, sixth inning, but we kept her in there. It worked out for us.”

The toughest moment for Kangas came in the fifth inning. Northern Wishes led 7-3 at that point as Lissa Johnson stepped in and led off with a single to right field to spark Gold Standard. Naevia Risa followed with a single to center. Ashlyn Steves bunted and reached safely, loading the bases. Two batters later, Goldsworthy, who already had a solo home run in the game, stepped to the plate with just one out. Six pitches later, she drew a walk, scoring Johnson in the process.

Kangas bore down and got Ella Schneiderhan to strike out and then she got Kara Kinnunen to hit a fly ball into right field, right to Savannah Hendrickson, to close out the inning with just one run surrendered

“That was very important,” said Kim Aho. “Rosalie is a skilled pitcher, a seasoned pitcher. (She) knows to not throw her (Goldsworthy) that home run pitch, and she moved it around.

“Of course, she wasn’t hoping to walk her, but the one run was certainly better than if she would have hit anything that wasn’t caught, or even if it was caught, that would have given them a couple runs. The one run was certainly better.”

Of the 10 batters Northern Wishes used in the contest, eight had at least one base hit. Six of the 10 batters scored at least one run as well, giving them depth throughout their lineup.

“My favorite thing about this team is everyone can hit, everyone can get on base,” Kim Aho said. “Offensively, we’re strong pretty much through the order. Even with our girls who aren’t here today, as I said, I look at our lineup and we have everyone who can contribute. Of course, everyone has off days, but the potential is there.”

Northern Wishes got things going quickly in the top of the first inning. Sylvia Aho drew a one-out walk to start the rally. Kangas doubled to center field, scoring Aho. A passed ball moved Kangas to third. A wild pitch brought her home. Meg Ruohonen walked.

Kim Aho tripled to right field, which scored Ruohonen.

In the second inning, Northern Wishes added to their lead. Morgan Erkkila drew a two-out walk. She stole second and reached third on a passed ball. Sylvia Aho then walked, putting runners on the corners. Aho stole second and Naomi Frame followed with a single to center field, bringing both runners home.

With Olivia Shank in the pitcher’s circle for the third for Gold Standard, Northern Wishes added another run. Rachel Kinnunen hit a one-out single to center field. She advanced to second on a passed ball before Savannah Hendrickson was hit by a pitch. Erkkila singled to right field, which brought Kinnunen home.

Finally, in the third inning, Gold Standard was able to string some things together. It started with a one-out bunt by Risa. Two batters later, Shank singled to right field, scoring Risa. However, a defensive error gave Shank a chance to keep running, and she made her way around to score herself on the play. Three pitches later, Goldsworthy launched a ball over the center field fence and suddenly the lead was cut in half at 6-3.

Northern Wishes got one run back in the fourth as Kangas doubled to left to lead off. Two batters later, Kim Aho hit a sacrifice fly, which scored Kangas.

After Gold Standard got their fourth run on the Goldsworthy walk in the fifth, Northern Wishes found three more runs in the top of the sixth. Larissa Peterson got things started with a one-out double to left field. She advanced to third on a passed ball. Kangas then walked and stole second, putting both runners into scoring position. Ruohonen doubled to the left field fence, which scored Peterson and Kangas. Ruohonen advanced to third on an error before the play ended. Kim Aho singled to right field, which scored Ruohonen.

Northern Wishes added one more run in the top of the seventh. Sylvia Aho walked, stole second and reached third on a passed ball. Kangas walked and a passed ball scored Aho with Ruohonen at bat. Ruohonen struck out, which ended the inning.

Gold Standard pitcher Payton Goldsworthy makes her way around the bases after hitting a home run over the center field fence during a game against Northern Wishes Monday at the Boneyard in Lake Linden. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)