Northern Wishes baserunner Naomi Frahm takes a lead off first while Old Bats of Michigan Made's first baseman Danielle Thoune keeps her close during a quarterfinal game Monday at the Boneyard in Lake Linden. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — It was playoff time Monday for the Copper Country Women’s Fastpitch softball league. At the Boneyard, the Northern Wishes bats got hot in the quarterfinal game against Old Bats of Michigan Made, where they won 13-5, and stayed warm in a semifinal 9-0 shutout victory over Gold Standard.

With that win, the ladies in teal will play Finnish Coat Wednesday for the coveted Holly McCullah Trophy at the Boneyard at 6:30 p.m.

The semifinal shutout of Gold Standard was the more impressive of the two wins. Gold Standard had lost just one game all season, and that was against Northern Wishes. To hand them their second loss, Northern Wishes had to play their best, and they did not disappoint according to their player-coach Kim Aho.

“This is a big win,” she stated. “Game ball goes to Larissa Peterson, our pitcher. “She threw strikes and kept them off balance.”

This included six strikeouts by the crafty right hander.

She was opposed by Emily Jokela, who toed the rubber for Gold Standard. Northern Wishes got to her early with a two-run first inning. It started with Theresa Anderson and Morgan Erkkila both walking and scoring on a Rosalie Kangas single. They added to their 2-0 lead with another two in the fourth.

In that frame, a hit-by-pitch to Kangas and a walk to Peterson both led them to scoring. This time it was the Northern Wishes catcher, Naomi Frahm, who had two RBIs with a base hit.

Four runs would prove to be more than enough to win this one, however the Northern Wishes bats added the proverbial nail in the coffin with a five-run seventh inning. Three of the runs came from walks given up by Jokela. A base hit by Peterson and a single by Janet Mattila help in the scoring.

Gold Standard went down one, two, three in the bottom of the seventh and their season ended abruptly.

“We didn’t hit the ball well tonight,” said Gold Standard’s coach Curtis Kinnunen. “We played good defense, but if you cannot get on base, you cannot get runs.”

Northern Wishes 13, Old Bats of Michigan Made 5

Northern Wishes hit parade began in their quarterfinal win over Old Bats of Michigan Made. A two-run lead after the first inning morphed into a nine-run second inning, and just kept going to the tune of a 13-5 win.

“When we batted around the order in the second, that was the turning point in this one,” noted Aho. “It gave us a solid lead, but, even better, we didn’t slow down.”

Swinging big bats that inning Erkkila, Anderson and Kangas – all had RBI hits with two outs and crossed home. Frahm contributed the final RBI of the second before Mattila ended the inning with a strikeout.

Kangas added runs 12 and 13 in the third inning with a two-run blast over the fence to left center.

She earned the win the circle for Northern Wishes, while Mel Baker suffered the loss for Old Bats.

We had good pitching and strong fielding in this one and we didn’t give up,” Aho added.

The Old Bats scoring took place in the third, where they scored three, and in the fourth and the seventh, where they scored one each.

Despite the loss, Old Bats player-coach Danielle Thoune said it was a good season of softball.

“We had fun,” she noted. “One of the things that I am most proud of is how positive and supportive everyone had been on and off the field. It’s less about the wins and more about building a great team culture, and I think we have really done that well this year.”

Northern Wishes shortstop Theresa Anderson fields a ball Monday and throws to first in a semifinal game against Gold Standard at the Boneyard in Lake Linden. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)