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This time a year ago, the Ely Timberwolves took Section 7A by surprise, reaching the final four of the section softball tournament for the first time in program history.
Ely won’t be able to sneak up on anyone this year.
Fueled by one of the leading pitchers in the section in Zoe MacKenzie and a potent lineup, the Wolves are well over the .500 mark as the regular season winds down.
A home sweep against Mt. Iron-Buhl on Monday kept the Wolves’ hopes for a home playoff game alive, and they’ll likely need to extend their present win streak in order to move into the topfour and gain home-field advantage.
Pending a three-game set to close the regular season over the weekend, Ely was 11-4 overall and riding a three-game winning streak.
The Wolves will likely need to pass South Ridge, which knocked off the Wolves 8-4 in a May 9 encounter, in order to ensure a home playoff date when the postseason begins Tuesday.
Ely moved all the way to the final four of the section in 2024 as a six-seed.
Moose Lake-Willow River, Cherry, Silver Bay and South Ridge remained ahead of the Wolves heading into the weekend, but Ely lost by only a run to Silver Bay and was competitive in its loss to South Ridge.
Since the South Ridge defeat, Ely has rattled off three straight wins, including the impressive doubleheader on a hot spring day at the high school softball field.
MacKenzie, a junior, got the pitching win in both contests.
She went the distance in both, scattering eight hits in the opening game, walking just onc, and notching three strikeouts.
Ely pulled away late, scoring eight times in the last three frames to erase a 3-2 deficit.
Ella Perish drove in the tying run in the top of the fifth, and the go-ahead run scored when senior Maija Mattson reached base on an error.
Three MIB errors contributed to a four-run sixth inning, and eighth-grader Lindi Zemke added the icing in the seventh with an inside-
