LAONA, Wis. — The Florence Ladycats jumped on host Laona-Wabeno for four runs in the top of the first, but the Rebels answered back in the middle innings and defeated Florence 8-5 on Tuesday in a Northern Lakes Conference softball clash.

Allison Wood and Morgan Tomczak belted home runs in the top of the first to put Florence up early. L-W scored five times in the bottom of the third to creep ahead before the Ladycats tied the score at 5-all with a single tally in the fourth.

However, the Rebels plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth and made those hold up for the win.

“They outhit us (and) with a couple of errors we could not recover,” Florence coach Daniel Robinson said. “To the credit of all the girls, they never quit.”

Wood went the distance in the circle, allowing eight hits in six innings. She issued just one walk and struck out five.

Isabella Millan recorded a single and a double in four trips for the Ladycats, while Leighton Lambert and Hannah Holdaway posted a single each.

HEMATITES SWEEP MOUNTAINEERS

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Ishpeming Hematites used their bats and a strong pitching performance from junior Payton Manninen to sweep a doubleheader against host Iron Mountain on Monday.

In the first game, Manninen held the Mountaineers to three runs, while Ishpeming powered 11 runs across the plate. Manninen struck out eight in notching the victory.

Juliana Tapio knocked in two of Iron Mountain’s runs with a triple in the third inning.

Ellison Powell pitched the first two innings for the Mountaineers and Macy Linsenbigler finished up from there.

In the second game, Ishpeming broke a 10-10 tie with four runs in the fifth inning and went on to outslug Iron Mountain for a 16-10 win.

Powell drove in two runs with a double in the second inning for the Mountaineers. Linsenbigler pitched six innings for the home team.

“Comes down to errors — running errors and fielding errors,” IM coach Bruce Tapio said. “We worked on those in practice (Tuesday), so hopefully those things will settle in.”