The 2025 Escanaba softball team poses for a photo during the 2nd Annual Candy Swetkis SISU Strikefest at Lemmerand Park.Courtesy Photo

The 3rd Annual Candy Swetkis SISU Strikefest will be held Saturday, May 9 at the Lemerand Softball Field Complex, located west of the Escanaba High School baseball and football fields. Tournament organizers encourage the community to come out to cheer on the teams and watch some outstanding fastpitch softball!

This year’s tournament features an eight team field including two teams from downstate: Millington and 2024 Swetkis Strikefest Champion Three Rivers. The remaining six teams include Escanaba Varsity (the 2025 SISU Tourney Champion), Gladstone, Houghton, Menominee, Norway and the Escanaba Junior Varsity team.

In addition to providing high quality, competitive softball, the tournament also serves as a fundraiser for the Escanaba Girls’ Softball program as well as for the Candy Swetkis Memorial Endowment. All proceeds from the tournament – which include 50/50 drawings, bucket raffles, tournament shirts, softball BINGO, a concession stand and gate receipts – will be split equally between the girls’ softball program and the Swetkis endowment.

Candy Swetkis is widely known as a softball legend with a fastpitch and slowpitch career that spanned 57 years. She has been inducted into both the UP Sports Hall of Fame as well as the USA Softball of Michigan Hall of Fame. Swetkis passed away in 2022 having played softball until age 75. Candy was also an earth sciences teacher at Escanaba Junior High for 27 years. Before she died, she asked that a scholarship be awarded in her name to a graduating Escanaba senior who intended to enter the teaching profession. The Swetkis Memorial Endowment was created to do that, and two $2,000 scholarships have been awarded to date. Thanks to fundraising efforts such as this tournament, Candy’s scholarship has been increased to $2500 annually and the third scholarship will be awarded later this month. Her endowment has also built three bullpens at the tournament ballfield and provided financial assistance to travel teams.

The tournament begins at 9:00 AM on Saturday May 9th with games on all three fields. Gate admission will be charged for the tournament. Cost for adults is $5 and seniors $3. All school-aged youth 17 years and under are free. The Championship game is slated to begin at 3:00.

The tournament also features the SISU All-Tournament Team. According to tournament organizers, Swetkis was extremely proud of her Finnish heritage and exhibited SISU, a Finnish word that translates roughly to “inner strength, courage, determination and grit.” It also describes a spirit of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity. After every game in pool play, each team will select a player from the opposing team that best exhibited SISU during that game and present her with a SISU Chocolate bar, provided courtesy of Touch of Finland in Marquette. Prior to the Championship game at 3:00, all players who have been selected as SISU players will appear together on center field to be recognized as the 2026 SISU All-Tournament Team.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

Abramson Field Flath Field Kidd Field

9:00 AM Escanaba v. Escanaba JV Millington v. Menominee Norway v. Three Rivers

11:00 AM Millington v. Gladstone Norway v. Escanaba JV Houghton v. Menominee

1:00 PM Escanaba v. Three Rivers Gladstone v. Houghton Escanaba JV v. Pool B #4 (7th and 8th place game)

3:00 PM Pool A #1 v Pool B #1 (Championship Game) Pool A #2 v Pool B #2 (3rd and 4th Place Game) Pool A #3 v Pool B #3 (5th and 6th Place Game)