Local Sports

Pair of Bulldogs softball players named All-Region

Five Lakes also named

HANCOCK -- In early June, a pair of Hancock Bulldogs softball players were named to the Region 25 All-Region Team. They were joined by five members of the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes to give the Copper Country seven players honored.

Hancock third baseman Emery Chynoweth and pitcher Lucy Biekkola were both honored. Both players were instrumental in the Bulldogs' victory in the District 97 championship over the Lakes.

Also honored were Lake Linden-Hubbell's centerfielder Ashlyn Steves, catcher Taylor Goldsworthy, utility player Kyara Mills, and shortstop Sophia Hampton.

Bulldogs coach Craig Biekkola was proud of his two girls.

"It’s always nice to get representation, and for Lucy and Emery, I think the body of work that they had over the course of the season was noticed," he said, "and they were rewarded for it."

Chynoweth, a senior for Hancock, was one of those players who was not on the original roster for the Bulldogs before the season began. Actually, the Bulldogs did not even have a full roster at first. The other senior, catcher Alice Larson, sought out Chynoweth in school, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Chynoweth had not played softball competitively since she was a child, but this season she was Hancock's top offensive threat. She hit .389, with an OPS of 1.046. She had 21 singles, five doubles and two triples as part of a 28-hit season. She knocked in 21 runs and scored 27 times.

She also drew 15 walks.

"We’re thankful that she came and played, because if she didn’t, at the time she decided to play, most likely we would not have had a team," Craig Biekkola said. "Obviously, she’s an outstanding athlete, a great basketball player. We knew that we were getting a really good athlete, but we didn’t really know what to expect, because she had not played for so many years.

"The year started off, I guess, a little bit slow for her. But by the end of the season, obviously, she led her team in batting average. I think she led us in stolen bases. So, when she was on base, she was really dangerous, and that helped us score some runs."

Her coach loved how Chynoweth came to play in big moments.

"At the end of the season, she had a couple of the biggest hits," he said. "She had the hit to tie up the game against Lake Linden, and in the game against Norway, she caused some havoc on the bases, got us the first run.

"She brought energy that was very much needed with our group from the beginning of the season all the way through to the end."

Despite the slow start, Craig Biekkola felt that, in May, she found her game.

"It took probably three to four weeks into the season," he said. "She came out with a lot of energy, but you could see there were times where she, I guess, was unsure of her abilities out there, and she was tentative to begin the season as well. But once we got into the second week of May, and she had some good games against Houghton and Norway, and some good at bats against Negaunee. I think she realized that she was one of our better players, and that we needed her and could count on her to come through in big moments."

Lucy Biekkola, who spent the 2025 season as the second pitcher for the Bulldogs behind her older sister Sadie, became, essentially, Hancock's only option in 2026.

She pitched in 26 games, starting 24 of them, racking up 148 2/3 innings. She put up a 16-5 record with 198 strikeouts and 54 walks. She finished with an earned run average of 2.966.

At the plate, she was the Bulldogs' second-most consistent hitter. She hit .382 with an OPS of 1.166. Of her 29 hits, 16 were singles, nine were doubles, three were triples, and she had one home run as well.

"Obviously, I’m pleased and I’m proud of the effort that she put in," said Craig Biekkola, her father and coach. "Once again, coming into the year, we were really thin over the whole lineup that we had, pitching especially, and at the beginning of the season, she went through some back troubles. We had to kind of turn away some doubleheaders and just play one game.

"I appreciate other coaches locally that allowed that to happen, because she was fighting those issues. Once we got into the middle of May, I think she figured out what she needed to do to help herself with her back soreness.

"Once she got through that, that’s when she really started to pitch well. It’s difficult pitching that many innings, but once she was able to get through that stuff, I think it helped out big time once we got into the really important games at the end of the year."

Her father was proud of her for stepping out of Sadie's shadow and finding her own success.

"That was nice to see," he said. "It’s a part of growing up. She had a good role model ahead of her. Sadie put in a lot of work, and that paid off over the course of her career, and Lucy, I think, was able to see that.

"She put in the work that she needed to do this season, and she was rewarded for her efforts."