SAULT STE. MARIE — The Gogebic Miners battled to the very end, but it wasn’t enough to prevent them from dropping a 9-1 softball decision to the Hillman Tigers here Tuesday.

Hillman (27-7) faces Mendon (31-2) in a semifinal contest at Michigan State University Friday. The Miners, who reached the quarterfinals for the first time, finished 18-11.

The Miners struggled to generate offense off junior Gretchen Weiland, who had a perfect game going until the fifth inning when junior Emily Delfavero reached on an infield single and advanced to second base on a throwing error on this cloudy and cool afternoon at Locey Field.

Classmate Morgan Maki scored in the sixth on Delfavero’s double to centerfield, but later was thrown out while trying to score on a passed ball.

“The girls always give it 100 percent,” Gogebic coach Kassi Huotari said. “This was very much a learning experience. The girls came here with a good mentality. It was very important for us to win the regional. This shows we’re building a program.”

Weiland pitched the entire game, striking out eight, walking one and scattering four hits.

“The biggest take-away is our defense,” Hillman coach Jason Weiland said. “We have two great pitchers and our third-baseman did an amazing job. That’s a good team. They have a lot of girls. It would be nice to have that many on our team.”

Gretchen Weiland set the single-game school strikeout record at 19 in a 6-0 victory over Rudyard in Saturday’s regional opener.

The Tigers then needed just four innings to eliminate Onaway 22-1 in the championship game.

Hillman scored two runs on a home run to center by sophomore Rylee Lis in the second frame Tuesday.

The Tigers added a pair of runs in the fifth. Senior Hannah Crane scored on a fielding error which allowed Gretchen Weiland to reach third.

Wieland then scored on senior Autumn Lis’s single to center, giving them a four-run cushion.

Hillman put the game out of reach in the fifth when it scored five times on five hits.

The Tigers, who reached the semifinals last year, collected 11 hits.

Rylee Lis finished with two, including an RBI double to right-center in the sixth.

“Rylee is our strength hitter,” coach Weiland said. “She played an amazing game and our leadoff hitter (Crane) started the game with a single. It was very important to have that experience. It gave the girls a better idea of what to expect this time.”

Sophomore Brook Linseman also had two hits and an RBI double in the sixth as did freshman Peyton Szlag, who provided the Tigers with an RBI single to left.

The Miners committed three errors and Hillman had one.

“All the girls are very close,” Huotari said. “We’re just glad we were able to come here and compete and see what we could do. Their pitcher is fast. We prepared for that the last couple days, but couldn’t find the gaps.”

Delfavero had two of the Miners’ four hits.

At Ishpeming, the Miners avenged four regular-season losses by defeating Norway 3-1 in eight innings Saturday.

Gogebic, which dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Lake Linden-Hubbell May 9 in Ramsay, then blanked the Lakes 2-0 for the regional title.