Escanaba Girls Cruise To Win At Central Regional

AKRON, Ohio---The old saying is that the early bird gets the worm.

Well, that was true for the Escanaba Junior Girls (age 13-14) as they got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to play their first game at the Central Regional in Akron, Ohio.

The girls picked up their first win of the tournament by topping Franklin, Wis., 10-1.

Escanaba Manager Vance Hiney says it took a while to get the bats going, though.

"She (pitcher Breanna Roberts) had us way off-balance," he said. "It was a lot of different speeds in there. That change-up was like slowpitch. We didn't know what to do with that. It doesn't look like a strike, but it does, it comes down."

"It was crazy," Escanaba center fielder Cassi Wisler said about the Roberts change-up. "There was no way we were going to hit that."

Last week, when the girls won the Michigan state tournament quite unexpectedly, they were just happy to know they qualified for regionals. But now, they want more.

"We've practiced a lot, every day pretty much," Wisler said. "This has been an amazing experience. It's like a once in a lifetime. I'm really glad I tried out for this."

Savannah Barron drives home two

Escanaba jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Claire McInerney got a base hit and Malary Hiney drew a walk. Then Hannah Edington walked to load the bases. McInerney and Hiney both scored on Savannah Barron's pop fly that landed in the outfield. Edington, who had to wait to see if the ball would be caught, ended up being forced out at second base.

Franklin had its chance in the bottom of the first inning.

Lindsay Herman singled, Jordan Kostrzeva walked, and Hattie Harmeyer got a base hit.

Herman tried to score when Edington threw a wild pitch, but the ball hit the backstop on this small field and bounced back toward the plate. Hiney got it and tagged Herman for the out.

Escanaba took a 3-0 lead in the third inning as Taylor Gauthier doubled, Edington walked, and Barron hit a pop fly that landed for a double and a run batted in.

It stayed 3-0 until the fifth inning when Escanaba scored three runs on a Wisconsin throwing error and a Wisler RBI single. That made it 6-0.

In the top of the sixth, with two out, Harmeyer launched a long solo home run over the center field fence. It was a shot that cleared the 200-foot fence by a good 30 feet.

'That was OK," Coach Hiney said. "It was one run. We can handle that."

Taylor Gauthier RBI triple.

Escanaba put the game away in the seventh inning with four more runs as the Franklin defense fell apart. Gauthier had an RBI triple and Wisler added a bunt single during that big inning.

Escanaba will face Grandview Little League out of Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday. Game time is 11:00. It will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (105.5).

It will also be streamed live on the Internet at www.rrnsports.com, but not until about 11:45 when the broadcast of the Bethany Lutheran Church service ends.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and listen to post-game interviews.