Todd Rose | Daily Press Rapid River’s Emily Goodacre (right) hits the ball as Superior Central’s Shae Lampinen (left) plays catcher Wednesday at Rapid River.

RAPID RIVER — The Rapid River Rockets and Superior Central Cougars split — the Cougars won the first game 12-11, and the Rockets took the second 6-2 — Wednesday evening in Rapid River.

“We limited our errors (in the second game),” said Rockets head coach George Kanyuh. “We had some timely hitting, and however she did it, Natalie (Belanger) threw a better game in the second one than the first one.”

The tides turned in favor of the Rockets in the bottom of the third inning of the second game.

Rapid River started down 1-0 after the Cougars Olivia Millin hit a flyball to rightfield to bring Rachel Johnson home in the second.

With two outs already on the board in the third, Cecilia Pilon stepped into the batter’s box. She connected to send the ball deep into left field for a bases-empty triple. From there, Pilon stole home on an errant pitch from the Cougars with Emily Goodacre at bat.

Goodacre hit a single, and Natalie Belanger followed with a double that allowed Goodacre to cross home plate.

Ahead by one, the Rockets continued to roll in the fifth inning. Another hit from Belanger — a single groundball to centerfield — drove in two runs to make it 4-1. By the end of the inning, Rapid River had extended its lead to 6-1.

The Cougars brought in one more run in the sixth, but it was all they could muster in the closing innings.

Pilon was 3-3 and scored two runs in the game for the Rockets. Belanger had excelled on the mound and in the box, going 2-3 with an RBI and pitching for six strikeouts, no walks and eight hits.

In the opener, the Cougars were able to stifle a late-game rally by the Rockets to take the win, leaving Belanger in scoring position when the final out was called at first base.

It was a tale of two games for the Rockets. In the first, they gave up 10 hits, eight walks, and had eight errors. In the second, they only had one error and Belanger gave up zero walks.

“(We had) way too many mistakes (in the first game),” said Kanyuh. “I think our scorebook said we had eight errors, (and) we gave up and eight walks. So that’s 16 runners they got on base. You don’t win games doing that.

“Natalie had an off game that first game, but she’s going to do her thing and come around. I’m not pressing any panic button right now.”

Kanyuh said the team is excited to be able to play after a year without softball.

“The girls are loving it. They’re chomping at the bit to get out here.”

For Cougars head coach Derek Swajanen, the focus was on the first game, while the second allowed them to try some different things.

“We won the big one, 12-11,” Swajanen said. “I don’t even know who had the hits and who didn’t have the hits, but I know we had a lot of RBIs going there.”

The games were the third and fourth for the Cougars after playing two games downstate to open the season this past weekend.

Like the Rockets, the Cougars are just glad to be back on the field.

“Well, we had four practices last year, and it was done,” said Swajanen. “So, the girls are happy to get back.”

Rapid River plays against Bark River-Harris Monday in Harris. The Cougars host Negaunee in Eben Wednesday.