In a tightly contested extra-inning game, it was the Miners who prevailed — 3-1 in eight innings Saturday at the Ishpeming Playgrounds.

A pair of underclassmen toed the mound for the two teams to start the contest, with freshman Hannah Burklund for the Knights and sophomore Olivia Peterson for Gogebic.

The first two innings were very quiet with the exception of a one-out double for Burklund in the bottom of the first inning.

In the bottom of the third inning Norway broke the scoreless tie with back-to-back two-out doubles from Kara Stanchina and Burklund, with Stanchina scoring on Burklund’s two-bagger to give Norway a 1-0 lead.

Norway junior Kara Stanchina, who scored Norway’s only run, heads to second base Saturday.

The Miners retied the score in the top half of the fourth inning. After a leadoff double by Kenly Anderson, two walks loaded the bases. Anderson scored on a wild pitch by Burklund.

The score remained 1-1 until the top of the eighth inning when Gogebic plated what ended up being the two game-winning runs. After two walks — one to Peterson and followed by Emma Choronzy — Audrey Stone came up with runners on second and third.

Stone smacked a drive to center field that bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double scoring both Peterson and Choronzy to give the Miners a 3-1 lead. The Knights were retired in order in the bottom of the eighth to send Gogebic to the regional championship game to face Lake Linden-Hubbell.

Despite Norway sweeping two doubleheaders from the Miners in the regular season, the usually aggressive offense for the Knights was quieted by Peterson and senior Madison Luzinski, who came in to pitch in relief of Peterson about the midway point of the game.

The Miners pitching duo combined to strike out 14 Norway batters while allowing six hits. Burklund fanned 10 for the Knights, pitching the duration of the game.

For the second consecutive season, Norway’s season ends at the hands of the Miners. In 2024 Gogebic beat the Knights at Marion Park in a pre-district game.

“Even though we lost to them all four times in the regular season, I knew the tools were there for us if we could put them all together like we did in districts last year,” said Gogebic head coach Kassi Huotari. “The girls have been working hard and I am happy for them.”

By using the mid-game pitching change, Huotari hoped to throw the Norway hitters off guard. Norway veteran head coach Bob Bal felt it did effect his lineup somewhat.

“It kept us off balance and it worked out for them.” Bal said. “In order to advance today, we had to beat a team for the fifth time and we couldn’t do that. They played well, they capitalized on our couple miscues that are uncharacteristic of us,” he added. “The team that played better today won the game. Our bats were much quieter than I would have thought they’d be, and that certainly didn’t help.”

With the loss and end to the season, Norway says goodbye to their two seniors, Emma Dube and Tirah Hauswirth.

“Emma Dube has played for four years, she didn’t play very much as a freshman or sophomore and not much more last year as a junior,” said Bal. “I told her I wished I had more players like her because she never complained and this year she earned a starting spot.”

“Tirah (Hauswirth) is a hard worker, she’s a joy to be around. She split between softball and track and wasn’t a starter but came to practice every day when she wasn’t at track,” Bal added.

Bal was also very complimentary of his team and the season they had, as well as his assistant coaches. “Today is tough to swallow, but we had a great season,” he said.

Gogebic went on to win the regional title, defeating Lake Linden-Hubbell 2-0.

Gogebic — 000 100 02 — 3 6 1

Norway — 001 000 00 — 1 6 1