FIELD TWP- The Ely Timberwolves softball team came on strong in the latter innings of a road game against the North Woods Grizzlies on Thursday, May 2, going home with a 12-9 victory.
Moved to North Woods due to filed conditions, the game was originally scheduled to be played in Ely, so the Wolves took the field as the home team.
The Grizzlies got off to a hot start in their first at-bat against Ely pitcher Zoe MacKenzie. Leadoff batter Nevada Gauthier got on board with a single and came around to score on an RBI by Zoey Burckhardt. Burckhardt came home on an RBI by River Cheney, who then scored the team’s third run of the inning to put North Woods ahead 3-0.
Ely answered back in the bottom half of the first when Hannah Penke took a 3-2 pitch from Grizzlies starter Zoey Burckhardt deep over the wall for a solo home run, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
North Woods plated three more runs in the second. Evalyn Thiel and Talise Goodsky both crossed the plate after getting on board with singles, and Zoey Burckhardt reached third on a triple. Addison Burckhardt brought her home with a double off of MacKenzie to extend the lead to 6-1.
But the Wolves came snarling back in their second inning stand. MacKenzie led off with a walk, and Brielle Lindland reached base after being hit by a pitch with two outs. A walk to Peyton Huntington loaded the bases, and Clare Thomas was hit by a pitch to bring home Ely’s first run of the frame. Penke and Ella Perish came through with a double and triple respectively to clear the bases as the Wolves plated five runs in all to forge a 6-6 tie.
North Woods went back up again in the third on hits and scores by Emarie Gibson and Ella Kruse, and preserved the 8-6 lead with a three-up, three down turn against the Wolves in the bottom of the inning.
After a scoreless fourth for the Grizzlies, a pair of walks, a pair of steals, and a trio of North Woods errors put Ely back in the driver’s seat in the bottom of the inning, as Huntington, Thomas, and Penke all crossed the plate with Penke picking up her third hit of the game. Ely had finally manufactured a 9-8 lead.
North Woods came back to tie in the fifth when Rory Bundy walked and stole two bases on her way to crossing the plate, but it would be the last time the Grizzlies would cross home.
Lindland scored the decisive run in the bottom of the fifth, coming around to score after being hit by a pitch to give Ely a 10-9 lead. Perish and Maija Mattson scored insurance runs in the top of sixth, and then the Wolves dealt the Grizzlies a three up, three down frame to secure the 12-9 win.
“We found ourselves down early, but we battled back,” Ely Head Coach Cory Lassi said. “It wasn’t our cleanest game, but we found a way to pull off the win. We did a good job erasing a few base runners with solid relays.”
It was the fourth consecutive win for the Wolves, while the loss ended a short two-game win streak for the Grizzlies.