Jeffers shortstop Meg Ruohonen approaches home plate during the first inning of a game against Lake Linden-Hubbell Saturday at the Houghton High School field in Houghton. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — On a sunny, relatively warm, yet windy Saturday, the Houghton Gremlins softball team hosted the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes, Jeffers Jets, and Gladstone Braves at their home field for the Houghton Invite showcase, where teams played two games each. The Braves defeated Houghton and Lake Linden to finish the day undefeated.

The Gremlins and Lakes both lost to the Braves, but won their other game, while the Jets dropped both games.

Still, playing quality competition is important at this point in the season.

“Right now we’re focusing on playoffs, so every game we’re taking as a playoff game,” said Lakes coach Curtis Kinnunen, whose team jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first inning of their opening game of the day against the Jets, but they found themselves outscored 6-3 over the remainder of the game. “So, battling helps.”

Kinnunen continued.

“Playing really good teams, we are going to be facing really good teams in the playoffs,” he said. “All of this is going to help, pitching-wise and defensive-wise.”

Jeffers coach Wes Frahm echoed that sentiment.

“I think, overall, it’s been important,” he said. “We’re in the WestPAC now, so we’ve been playing a WestPAC schedule. We played Negaunee. We played Calumet. Played Marquette, early in the year at the dome, so we’ve seen good pitching already.”

Lakes pitcher Payton Goldsworthy threw well all day, striking out 13 in the win over the Jets, and then fanning another eight against the Braves.

“Payton’s as good as anybody we’ve seen,” said Wes Frahm. “(She) struck us out 13 times, but I thought we put together quite a few quality at bats, and were to string together some hits. We got a couple of key hits with runners in scoring position, that was huge.”

LAKES 12, JETS 6

The day started with a wild, nine-run top of the first inning as the Lakes nearly ran the Jets off the field entirely.

Third baseman Cleo Milkey drew a walk to lead off. Catcher Taylor Goldsworthy then walked. Payton Goldsworthy doubled to right field, scoring Milkey. Shortstop Sophia Hampton walked, loading the bases. Left fielder Ella Schneiderhan walked, scoring Taylor. Two batters later, second baseman Megan Sutherland singled to left, scoring Payton.

Right fielder Nevaeha Halley singled to center, scoring Hampton. Centerfielder Lissa Johnson singled to bring Schneiderhan home. Milkey was hit by a pitch, scoring Sutherland. Taylor Goldsworthy walked, scoring Halley. Payton Goldsworthy then singled to left field, scoring Milkey and Johnson.

The Jets, to their credit, stormed back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Shortstop Meg Ruohonen walked. Pitcher Janet Mattila doubled to left field, scoring Ruohonen. Third baseman Elli Kuntze then tripled to center, bringing Mattila home. Two batters later, with first baseman Svea Johnson at the plate, Kuntze scored on a passed ball.

The teams settled from there until the top of the third, when Payton Goldsworthy doubled to left field. She later scored by stealing home.

In the bottom of the third, Mattila singled to center. Kuntze walked. Then catcher Naomi Frahm singled to right field, scoring both runners, making the score 10-5 Lake Linden at that point.

The Lakes added two runs in the fifth. Milkey walked. Taylor Goldsworthy brought her home with a triple to center field. Then Payton Goldsworthy knocked her sister home with a ground ball to third.

Jeffers cut the lead in half in the bottom half of the inning. Ruohonen led off with a single to center field. Two batters later, she scored on an error.

BRAVES 24, GREMLINS 9

In the second game of the day, Houghton took a lead 6-4 in the third inning after trailing 4-0 in the first, but fell behind again in the fourth. By the time the sixth ended, they evened the game at 9-9. Gladstone exploded for 15 runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach.

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning, the Gremlins got on the board. Catcher Lexi Burns led off with a single to short. Two batters later, she crossed home plate on a single from shortstop Kia Markham.

In the bottom of the third, first baseman Ellie Hainault picked up a one-out single. Left fielder Katia Rudak and pitcher Josie Switzer both walked to load the bases. Burns then doubled to center field, scoring Hainault and Rudak. Third baseman Romi Mattson tripled to center, scoring Switzer and Burns, and giving the Gremlins the lead. Markham then extended the lead by bringing Mattson home with a sacrifice.

Gladstone answered with three runs in the top of the fourth to take an 8-6 lead. They chipped in another run in the top of the sixth, before Houghton responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Centerfielder Emmy Pietila walked with one out. Right fielder Delaney Salmi reached on an error. Hainault then singled to center field, scoring Pietila. Two batters later, Switzer singled to second, scoring Salmi. Hainault stole home with Burns at the plate.

Burns did get on base, only to have Mattson strike out to end the inning.

After that, everything that could go wrong did for Houghton as the Braves scored 15 runs in the top of the seventh inning.

BRAVES 4, LAKES 3

The Lakes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, only to see the Braves score three times in the bottom of the second. Lake Linden tied things up in the fifth, but a run in the seventh gave Gladstone the win.

Milkey drew a leadoff walk. Taylor Goldsworthy tripled to right field to bring her home. Then Payton Goldsworthy knocked her sister home with a single to center.

Trailing 3-2 in the fifth, the Lakes needed a run. Milkey again got things started, this time with a single to right field. Two batters later, Payton Goldsworthy singled to center. Hampton grounded out, but not before Milkey scored.

The game remained 3-3 into the bottom of the seventh inning, where, with one out, Addy Sanville tripled to center field. The Lakes got the ball back into play, but Payton Goldsworthy made an error, and Sanville scored before the play came to an end, which gave the Braves the win.

GREMLINS 4, JETS 1

The Jets and Gremlins fought to a standstill until the fifth inning, when Houghton broke a scoreless tie with four runs. Jeffers got one back in the sixth, but that was as far as they got.

In the fifth, Salmi led off with a single to center field. Two batters later, Hainault singled to right. Markham then reached on an error, scoring Salmi. Two batters after that, Burns tripled to center, scoring Hainault and Markham. Mattson followed with a single to center, scoring Burns.

Jeffers got to work right away in the top of the sixth. Naomi Frahm doubled to right field. Johnson then singled to center, bringing Frahm home.

Centerfielder Kylee Andrews struck out, KayDee Archambeau flew out, and right fielder Evelyn Sturos struck out to end the inning and the game, however, before the Jets could get any closer.

Lake Linden-Hubbell right fielder Nevaeha Halley connects with a pitch during a game Saturday against Jeffers at the Houghton High School field in Houghton. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)