Pepin No-Hitter Sends Gladstone Girls Into Final 4

BELLEVILLE, Mich,---The Gladstone Minor Girls (age 9-10) Little League softball team advanced to the state semifinals on Tuesday with a 5-0 win over Tecumseh in a quarterfinal game in Belleville.

Montgomery Pepin threw a no-hitter, striking out 14 batters.

This performance followed a two-hitter the day before, when Pepin fanned 16 batters.

Gladstone advances to the state semifinals on Wednesday against Marine City, which shut out West Branch, 4-0, in another quarterfinal on Tuesday.

Wednesday's other semifinal will pit Grandville and Evart.

Pepin was in control all day long, and she finished strong in the suburban Detroit heat, striking out the final eight girls she faced.

Tecumseh, from the host District 16, hit only four balls in fair territory all morning. Two of them were fielded by Pepin herself, and the other two were bunt attempts that third baseman Addie Trombley made nice plays on.

Gladstone scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning as Pepin led off with a single, and Maggie Buckley bounced one through the infield that rolled to the fence for an RBI double. Rylee Gerou walked, and then with two out, Addie Blowers bunted.

On the play, the throw bounced off the first baseman's glove, and a run scored.

Gladstone added a run in the third inning when Trombley beat an infield hit, stole second and third, and scored on an error.

The final run came in the fourth inning when Payton Saari and Kendall Taylor led off with walks.

With one out, Samantha Drielick ripped a shot that was caught by the second baseman.

Taylor hustled to get back to the bag at second, and as she did, the throw to get her got away, and Saari tagged up and came in to score the team's fourth run.

From there, Pepin shut the door, and the Gladstone girls moved on yet again.

Buckley led the way by going 3-for-3 at the plate. Trombley and Pepin both had a hit and a walk to be on base twice. Tecumseh's Allison Fireblocker struck out ten batters.

The Gladstone-Marine City game starts at 11:00 Wednesday and will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Amy Sundquist.