Hancock poses at the Houghton High School field Thursday after winning the Copper Bat by defeating Houghton. Pictured are: Coach Craig Biekkola, Kaelyn Rouleau, Alice Larson, Chloe Bastian, Lucy Biekkola, Jana Pietila, Emery Chynoweth, Diem Kilpela, Vaeda Brooks, Tally Storm, Briell L’Esperance and coach Sophie Heinonen. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Rivalry week continued on Thursday for spring sports as the Hancock and Houghton softball teams battled it out for the Copper Bat. Just like the Hancock boys did on Wednesday, the Bulldog girls stayed golden with a 4-3 win over the Gremlins.

Both pitchers were excellent in the circle Thursday in a matchup between the Houghton Gremlins and the Hancock Bulldogs. Both starting pitchers went the distance, both struck out at least 10 batters and both gave up four hits, but in the end, only one came out on top.

Bulldogs coach Craig Biekkola credited strong pitching by his daughter, Lucy, as a key to victory. She earned a complete-game win. She had 10 strikeouts with no walks over the course of seven innings.

“She threw strikes, and we had the defense to back it up,” said Craig Biekkola. “We also took advantage of a couple of errors which helped us score enough to win.”

Ellie Hainault suffered the loss in the circle for the Gremlins in this low-scoring affair. She also went seven innings. She struck out 11, walked five, and surrendered four hits.

At the plate, Bulldogs’ third baseman Emery Chynoweth was the only hitter on either team to collect multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk.

The Gremlins got on the scoreboard first with a run in the opening frame. A passed ball on a third strike to third baseman Romi Mattson led her to score a couple batters later.

Hancock’s first run came in the second in a similar fashion.

A walk to Chynoweth led to her scoring on a fielder’s choice by Chloe Bastian. It was a 1-1 game after two, and it stayed that way for the next three innings.

In the top of the sixth, the Bulldogs broke the knot with two runs. In that frame right fielder Jana Pietila led off with a single. Chynoweth joined her on the base paths after reaching on an error. After Vaeda Brooks flew out to center, left fielder Tally Storm poked a ball through the left side scoring both Pietila and Chynoweth.

The Bulldogs now led 3-1 with six outs to go.

“Game ball goes to Lucy, and Tally, whose hit in the late inning put us ahead,” said Craig Biekkola.

The Gremlins went down one, two, three in the sixth while the Bulldogs added an insurance run in the seventh. It came courtesy of shortstop Kaelyn Rouleau, who reached on a fielder’s choice and touched home on another Gremlins’ error.

They needed that fourth run as the Gremlins rallied with two in the bottom of the seventh.

After a ground out to short by catcher Lexi Burns, shortstop Kia Markham and centerfielder Emmy Pietila both posted hits. Annika Schlief stepped up to the plate as the tying run. Schlief almost cleared the fence with a long smash to the gap in center. It dropped in and scored Pietila and Markham, and put her on first with a long single.

It was now up to Delaney Salmi to bring home. However a riser to the right fielder had her looking at strike three, and it was game over.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 10-7. The Gremlins fell to 7-13-1.