Marquette’s Charlye Swajanen takes a lap around the bases after hitting a home run in the bottom of the third inning during a Spring Swing high school softball game played against Bark River-Harris at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday, March 30, 2024. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

By STEVE

BROWNLEE

Journal Sports Editor

MARQUETTE — The annual Spring Swing high school softball event will be held inside the Superior Dome this weekend, according to a schedule posted on the Marquette Senior High School softball Facebook website.

Including mostly, but not all, Upper Peninsula high school varsity teams, there will be several Lower Peninsula teams — Homer, Cass City and Otisville LakeVille — along with a handful of junior varsity teams from three U.P. schools — Westwood, Escanaba and Houghton.

Homer is located between Battle Creek and Jackson, Cass City is in the Thumb and Otisville is about 15 miles northeast of Flint.

Two temporary fields will be in use this weekend on the floor of the dome, which are listed by their locations, No. 1 being “main door” and No. 2 is “garage door.”

There will be a dozen games Friday, 18 games Saturday and eight more Sunday for a total of 38.

The area teams listed as participating are the host Sentinels, as this is listed as their major fundraiser for the year, Negaunee, the Westwood JV (not varsity), Gwinn, Superior Central, Baraga and Manistique.

Marquette’s American Legion post, Richard M. Jopling Post 44, is listed as MVP sponsor of the event, too.

Other U.P. varsity teams listed are Hancock, Houghton, Jeffers, Calumet, Lake Linden-Hubbell, Menominee, Escanaba and Norway.

In past years, admission has been charged for adults, though younger children were admitted free, and concession stands were also available.

Kicking off the event will be two games at 1 p.m. Friday — Superior Central vs. Hancock on Field #1 and Gwinn vs. Baraga on Field #2.

Generally, there has been a one-hour, 15-minute time limit to games as they are scheduled 90 minutes apart throughout the event.

The final games Friday are set to start at 8:30 p.m. — Marquette vs. Superior Central on Field #1 and Lake Linden-Hubbell vs. Escanaba JV on Field #2.

There’s a full 12 hours of games listed Saturday, which will actually be more than that as starting times are listed from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Sunday again kicks off at 7:30 a.m. with the final games beginning at noon.

Here is the schedule:

FRIDAY

1 p.m. — Superior Central vs. Hancock, Field #1; Gwinn vs. Baraga, Field #2

2:30 p.m. — Negaunee vs. Calumet, Field #1; Baraga vs. Manistique, Field #2

4 p.m. — Westwood JV vs. Jeffers, Field #1; Escanaba vs. Cass City, Field #2

5:30 p.m. — Marquette vs. Manistique, Field #1; Escanaba JV vs. Houghton JV, Field #2

7 p.m. — Houghton vs. Otisville LakeVille, Field #1; Escanaba vs. Homer, Field #2

8:30 p.m. — Marquette vs. Superior Central, Field #1; Lake Linden-Hubbell vs. Escanaba JV, Field #2

SATURDAY

7:30 a.m. — Westwood JV vs. Escanaba JV, Field #1; Gwinn vs. Manistique, Field #2

9 a.m. — Menominee vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell, Field #1; Jeffers vs. Houghton JV, Field #2

10:30 a.m. — Houghton vs. Menominee, Field #1; Negaunee vs. Cass City, Field #2

Noon — Gwinn vs. Houghton JV, Field #1; Hancock vs. Homer, Field #2

1:30 p.m. — Cass City vs. Otisville LakeVille, Field #1; Menominee vs. Hancock, Field #2

3 p.m. — Houghton vs. Calumet, Field #1; Superior Central vs. Escanaba JV, Field #2

4:30 p.m. — Marquette vs. Calumet, Field #1; Escanaba vs. Otisville LakeVille, Field #2

6 p.m. — Westwood JV vs. Houghton JV, Field #1; Superior Central vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell, Field #2

7:30 p.m. — Marquette vs. Homer, Field #1; Escanaba vs. Hancock, Field #2

SUNDAY

7:30 a.m. — Homer vs. Cass City, Field #1; Norway vs. Houghton, Field #2

9 a.m. — Negaunee vs. Otisville LakeVille, Field #1; Norway vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell, Field #2

10:30 a.m. — Calumet vs. Menominee, Field #1; Gwinn vs. Westwood JV, Field #2

Noon — Manistique vs. Jeffers, Field #1; Negaunee vs. Norway, Field #2

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.