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END OF THE LINE: Esky Falls In WS Quarterfinals
 ROXANA, Del.---The World Series run for the Escanaba Big League Girls (age 16-18) came to an end on Friday with a 14-1 loss to the West Monroe, La., All-Stars in the quarterfinal round. The defending World Series Big League champions scored four runs in each of the first two innings, and then put the game away with six runs in the fifth inning. "We kind of knew that this was gonna happen coming in," Escanaba Manager Andy Fields said. "A lot of these teams have a ton of college players, and we're pretty young."  Escanaba had to play without the services of ace pitcher and power hitter Katie Ross, who took a line drive off of her throwing hand the night before against China. That put Cassi Wisler between the crosshairs in the pitcher's circle, and she tried to keep the Louisiana hitters off-balance with a mixture of slow and very slow pitches. It didn't work, however. "We tried our hardest, and we did what we could for a little bit," Wisler said. "It took us a while to come together as a team. That's what helps you win, too, is coming together. And I guess we just couldn't do that at the end there." And what about that extremely-slow pitch that Wisler threw from time to time? "I didn't even think it was legal," she said. "I had to learn it in like two minutes. I kind of felt like an idiot pitching that way. It was weird. I never did that before!"  Escanaba's only run came in the bottom of the third inning. Taylor Gauthier led off with a walk, and Claire McInerney hit one to the fence, putting runners at first and second. Emily Bruntjens was out on a fielder's choice play, and then Jerrika McAlpine smacked one off the left fielder's glove for an RBI double. Becca Piron came up with a chance to cut the deficit further, but her sinking fly ball to center was caught, and McAlpine was doubled off of second. Ross eventually came in to pitch in the final inning after begging Fields to put her in the circle. She was in obvious pain on every pitch, but still managed to get two strike outs for the final outs of the fifth inning. Unfortunately, there were also several errors behind her that allowed more runs to score on either side of the strikeouts. Ross's determination was praised by the Lousiana coaches, and by the Chinese girls, who were playing their quarterfinal game later Friday night.  Fields and the girls were emotional, as you would expect, after the game. "It's tough when you get into the quarterfinals and it's a one-and-done deal," he said. "You don't have your aces in places, so to speak. It was tough to get through that. But our girls never gave up." "They were chanting in the dugout until the last out. I'm proud of these girls. I wouldn't want to coach another team here. Most of them will be back for high school next year." The Escanaba girls will not be home until Monday, as all of the teams fly home on the same day (the championship game is Sunday afternoon). A celebration for the Escanaba girls is being planned for Tuesday. When it is finalized, we will pass along that information. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to hear pre-and-post-game interviews.  |
