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Women's Fastpitch

A Cinderella story

Tervo Agency wins championship over JB’s

By Eddie O'Neill 4 min read

By Eddie O'Neill

eoneill@mininggazette.com

LAKE LINDEN -- Less than two weeks ago, Tervo Agency had not won a single game in this summer's Copper Country softball league. However, on Saturday at the Boneyard, they were holding the Holly McCullah Memorial Trophy high and mighty as champions of the fastpitch league. They defeated JB's Sales and Service 8-7.

How did they go from 0-8 to being champions? To coin a cliché, they won when it was most important. Just ask Tervo's player-coach Danielle Thoune.

"From last to first, that's the story," she said with a big smile. "You could not count us out - particularly when it came time for playoffs. You get a fresh start in the postseason, and we won three games for the title."

Tervo's three-game winning streak began Wednesday in quarterfinal playoff action. That night, they downed Superior National Bank 5-1 with strong pitching and good fielding. That led to Saturday morning's semifinal game against Superior Service, which they won 4-3 with Olivia Wakeham as the winning pitcher. She also held that title in the championship game and in the quarterfinal game Wednesday.

"We won our semifinal game with our bats," Thoune added.

JB's road to the championship game included a bye as a top seed in Wednesday's quarterfinal round. They faced REL, Inc. on Saturday and won 7-4.

Sadie Biekkola was JB's starting pitcher and was replaced by Stella Soumis in the fourth.

As the playoff tournament's lowest seed, Tervo hit first in all three of their games as visitors. However, they wasted no time in the championship game to making themselves feel right at home. They opened the game with three hits off the bats of Wakeham, outfielder Alana Nolan and shortstop Amber Schoenicke. Wakeham scored to make it a 1-0 lead, but JB's countered with three runs of their own.

Those runs came courtesy of first baseman Clea Ollanketo, shortstop Cori Jahfetson and Biekkola. In the second frame, Ollanketo got her second hit of the game and scored again to take a 4-1 JB's lead into the third inning.

Like the first, the third inning for Tervo opened with three hits. Nolan, Schoenicke and outfielder Heather Huffmaster all got on and scored to tie it at four apiece.

"We found our spots at the plate, and our defense kept us in this one," Thoune noted.

Tervo took their second lead of the game in the fourth inning with an addition of three runs. Singles by Nolan and Huffmaster proved to be key, but JB's wasn't done at the plate. Now down by three in their fourth frame, Ollanketo and third baseman Fayah Zapolnik had back-to-back home runs to rally within one run. While it provided an offensive spark, it wouldn't be enough in this now 7-6 matchup.

In the top of the sixth, Wakeham helped her own cause with a solo blast of her own to score Tervo's eighth, and decisive, run.

With just six outs to go, JB's Soumis hoped to spark another run to catch Tervo with a solo blast and the fourth home run of the game. While it provided a seventh run, it would not be enough.

In the bottom of the seventh, JB's had the winning run on second but could not get her home. This one ended on a grounder to the shortstop off the bat of Soumis.

After accepting the second-place trophy, JB's player-coach Mackenzie Ekdahl summed her team's year up best.

She said, "While this was a tough loss, I am proud of our team. We played well all season."

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