ESCANABA---The Escanaba Big League Girls were honored by their community Thursday evening after competing in the Little League World Series in Delaware.

The group of 16, 17, and 18 year-old girls made the quarterfinals, beating teams from California and Canada before losing to the defending World Series champions from Louisiana.

"I think it's awesome that the community continues to support us," Escanaba right fielder Cassie Wisler said. "It's great to see the younger kids come out, too, looking up to us and I really they all get to experience this once again for themselves. It's a great spot to be in."

"It's really a great feeling, seeing all the friends and family, and fans coming out and supporting us," Escanaba catcher Taylor Segorski said. "It means alot. We have just a ridiculous amount of young athletes coming up to follow us up, and I think they're going to grow up and do great things. Maybe even bigger than what we've been able to pull off so far."


Escanaba Mayor Marc Tall spoke briefly to praise the girls' effort.

"The entire community is so proud of these girls," Tall said. "They've done a wonderful job again this year. We're all so proud of them for being great ambassadors."

Seven of the ten girls also competed in the World Series in Delaware last summer. Pitcher Katie Ross and catcher Taylor Segorski competed in the World Series for the third time, having also played in the Junior Softball World Series in Washington back in 2012.

"Every time we come home, it just reinforces how important athletics and kids are to our community," Escanaba Coach Jamie Segorski said of Thursday night's welcome.

Family, friends, and other local Little Leaguers turned out Thursday night to congratulate the girls...and to enjoy some cake and punch in the Lemmerand Park Pavillion.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS above to see photos, plus videos of Wisler and Segorski that we sent to TV-6 for Thursday night's news!