SURVIVAL SUNDAY! Gladstone Boys, Girls Alive

BOYNE CITY---The Gladstone Major Girls had outscored their opponents 41-0 at the state tournament in Boyne City. But in the state quarterfinals on Sunday, the girls had to claw their way from behind to beat a fundamentally-sound Taylor team, 3-2.

Meanwhile, in Iron Mountain, the Gladstone Major Boys stunned Iron Mountain North, 10-0, to set up a winner-take-all district championship game Monday night.

For the girls, it was apparent early on that Taylor would be no push-overs.

The District Five champions from Detroit's Downriver area made several outstanding defensive plays in the first couple of innings that kept the Gladstone girls off of the scoreboard.

Namely, third baseman Sharmaye Becraft's catch of Natalie Hansen's line drive in the third inning.

How about shortstop Morgan Cartwright's snag of Taylor Trudeau's shot in the second inning?

Or, what about center fielder Savannah Leleniewski's catch of a Brittany Schwartz bomb with two on base in the fifth inning?

The downstate team's defense was flawless, with no fielding or throwing errors. But Gladstone's defense sprung a leak early on, and that put the girls in a two-run hole.

Taylor Trudeau robbed by Morgan Cartwright

Schwartz got two strikes on Diana Lipe, but hit her with an inside pitch. Teara Brown popped up a bunt, and it landed in the infield.

The Gladstone fielder threw it off the glove of the first baseman and into right field. Then, the ball was picked up there and thrown across the diamond past third base and into the Taylor dugout. A run scored for the downstate club. Moments later, a ball off the mit of catcher Natalie Hanson allowed the second Taylor run to score.

And then there was another error on a ground ball that inning, but right fielder Maddie Ahlgren was backing up the play in foul ground and got the girl tryng to make it to second base.

Gladstone had another problem.

Kaily Nissen, who normally catches for Taylor, was in the pitcher's circle. And she had the Gladstone batters guessing at times. The Purple finally got to her in the third inning when Ahlgren had an infield hit, Grace DeLaire walked, and Tina Olson smacked an RBI single to make it 2-1.

Gladstone tied the game in the fifth inning.

With two outs (Gladstone did not get the lead-off batter on a single time in the game) Sydney Herioux lofted one to right field, and ended up with a triple when the outfielders collided trying to pick up the ball.

Natalie Hansen RBI hit.

Hansen came through with an RBI single up the middle as the Taylor coach was at the backstop trying to verify the batting order. It was so loud there that the home plate umpire never heard tournament officials' asking for time out. The play stood.

Taylor had a scoring chance in the bottom of the fifth when Nissen smoked a bomb to the right field fence for a two-out triple. But Schwartz managed to get Becraft to bounce out. Then in the bottom of the sixth, Lipe led off with a single. After Schwartz struck out Brown, Kayla Pannett came to the plate and ripped one toward the right field line.

First baseman Taelor Zeise raced over, caught the ball, and then touched the bag for a clutch double play, sending us into extra innings.

In the top of the seventh, the Purple again got two quick outs. But Hansen smacked a bouble, bringing Olson to the plate.

She was 3-for-3 in the game, and first base was open, but she was not intentionally walked. Olson promptly smashed one up the middle for her fourth base hit of the game, and second run batted in. Gladstone took a 3-2 lead to the bottom of the seventh.

With two out, Cartwright got an infield hit. But with the Taylor crowd cheering loudly, Schwartz was able to get Leleniewski to ground out to end the game.

Tina Olson RBI hit in 7th Inning

Gladstone will face Rogers City in the state semifinals Monday afternoon. Rogers City eliminated Edwardsburg, 13-3, in Sunday's second quarterfinal. Monday's game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

You can see videos and photos from this game, and listen to radio replays, by clicking the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box at the top of this page.

GLADSTONE BOYS SURVIVE---The Gladstone Major Boys (age 11-12) were the underdogs in the district finals against Iron Mountain North. The Purple were on the road, and had lost to Iron Mountain's big bats, 8-3, in Friday night's game.

And Gladstone was facing the ace of the Iron Mountain pitching staff, Foster Wonders. While the Gladstone boys did have trouble hitting Wonders, they were able to put the bat on the ball and took advantage of a big defensive error to get a 10-0 victory.

10-0? Yep, but for a while there, it was a tense scoreless game as Zach Hanson matched Wonders pitch for pitch. Then, in the top of the fourth inning, a big break for Gladstone.

With two outs and the bases loaded, a routine ground ball to short was missplayed.

After that run scored, Caden Alworden and Justin Malmstead were both late on Wonders' fastball, but got base hits to right field, giving Gladstone a 3-0 lead.

Then in the fifth inning, the Gladstone bats got going. Cole Hansen got his second straight hit, and with an Iron Mountain error attached. Wonders was lifted from the mound, and Caleb Johnson took over. Things did not improve for Iron Mountain.

Drake Forrest got a base hit. Pinch hitter Gavin Berg smacked an RBI double. Ian Terrian got an RBI hit. Riley Baldovski hit one to the fence that ended up being a single. Later in the inning, Ian Schwalbach ripped a two-run double to make it a 9-0 game.

Then Cole Hansen smacked his third base hit of the game. It was 10-0. Wow!

Hanson turned in a superb pitching performance just 24 hours after Schwalbach had done the same in an elimination game against Norway.

Hanson threw a no-hitter over five innings, striking out seven batters and walking three.

Two of those three walks were intentional passes to Wonders, which set off boos from the Iron Mountain parents.

Gladstone and Iron Mountain North will play again Monday night, this time, a winner take-all game for the district championship and a spot in the state tournament in Muskegon. Monday night's game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and over the Internet at www.rrnsports.com.

DISTRICT TEN LITTLE LEAGUE SUNDAY SCOREBOARD

9-10 Boys District at Escanaba
Munising 10, Tri-County 6

9-10 Girls District at Escanaba
Gladstone 8, Norway 2
Escanaba 15, Kingsford 3

11-12 Boys District at Iron Mountain
Gladstone 10, Iron Mountain North 0

11-12 Girls State at Boyne City
Gladstone 3, Taylor 2 (7 Innings)

13-14 Boys District at Norway
Kingsford 5, Norway 2
Kingsford wins District Championship

13-14 Girls District at Gladstone
Gladstone 12, Kingsford 6
Escanaba 17, Gladstone 3
Escanaba Wins District Championship