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Gladstone Girls In Title Game; Boys Stunned In IM
 BOYNE CITY---The Gladstone Major Girls (age 11-12) jumped off to a big early lead and then held off a late rally to beat Rogers City, 7-4, Monday, in the state tournament semifinals in Boyne City. The girls will play for a state championship on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Gladstone Major Boys had a six-run lead against Iron Mountain North, but could not hang on, losing in the district championship game, 11-9.  Natalie Hansen slugged a double to the fence, then went to third on an infield hit by Tina Olson. Olson stole second, and then Hansen scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the game. Brittany Schwartz drew a walk and stole second. Taylor Trudeau's grounder to third scored the second run. Morgan Letteriello's infield hit made it a 3-0 score. Letteriello was in the circle, and got off to a good start. She struck out the first four girls she faced, and retired the first eight batters before Gladstone's defense sprung a leak behind her. Errors in right field and at third base plated a run for Rogers City.  
Natalie Hansen gets a double.
Gladstone finally got the bats going in the fifth inning as Schwartz and Trudeau had back-to-back doubles to make it 6-1.  Not so fast! Rogers City did not give up, even when Letteriello had the District 13 champs down to their final out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Amanda Wirgau got a hit. Brooke Ciarkowski drew a walk. Alissa Bauden and Catheryn Hart got hard-hit singles to center field. All of a sudden, it was 7-4, and Rogers City had runners at second and third. But Letteriello got Kyley Lafliche to bounce out to end the game. 
Final Out Gladstone vs Rogers City
Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on www.rrnsports.com, starting at 2:40. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Michelle Rubick, and to hear post-game interviews. GLADSTONE BOYS STUNNED IN IRON MOUNTAIN---It was looking so good for the Gladstone Major Boys (age 11-12) as they played in the winner-take-all district championship game Monday night at Iron Mountain's Barkle Field. Gladstone had scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning, and the boys were enjoying a 9-3 lead. They needed just six outs to earn a trip to the state tournament in Muskegon, with the change of regionals in Indianapolis and maybe Williamsport after that.  So it will be Iron Mountain North to represent District Ten in Muskegon. And the Gladstone boys were shellshocked. Justin Malmstead hit a three-run homer in the top of the third inning to put Gladstone in front, 4-3. Then, in the fifth inning, Gladstone scored five more runs. Three of them scored on a Zach Hanson base hit and an error by the Iron Mountain outfielder. Gladstone led, 9-3, and it was looking good, even though Malmstead had reached his 85-pitch limit and could not throw any further. Drake Forrest came in to pitch, and he struggled to find the strike zone, walking Frank Opolka with the bases loaded.  Gladstone had intentionally walked him numerous times during the three games the teams played against each other. And they walked him again Monday night to load the bases with two out in the bottom of the fifth inning. That move backfired when Marcus Johnson launched a deep fly ball into the night sky under the lights of Barkle Field. A grand slam home run. Iron Mountain all of a sudden had a 10-9 lead. And the home team closed it out in the sixth inning. Wow. |
