The Gladstone Junior Little League All-Star softball team (age 13-14) picked up its first state tournament win Tuesday night in the 100-degree heat in central Lower Michigan, beating Three Rivers, 17-1, at Georgetown Little League. Click the above headline for details.
The Escanaba Major Little League All-Star softball team (age 10-12) won its third straight lopsided state tournament game on Monday, beating Grosse Pointe, 11-0, in St. Clair. The Escanaba ladies have outscored their opponents, 35-2, since the tournament-opening loss to the host St. Clair team. Click the above headline for details, interviews, photos, and videos taken by Leo Nolde.
The Escanaba Major Little League All-Stars (age 10-12) advanced to the Michigam state tournament quarterfinals on Sunday in St. Clair, beating Bay County, 12-2, in a game shortened to four innings by the mercy rule. The game started almost two hours late because of a long game on the field before their contest. Click the above headline for details, interviews, and videos taken by Leo Nolde.
The Escanaba Major Little League All-Stars (age 10-12) pounded out 15 base hits and cruised past the Petoskey All-Stars, 12-0, Saturday afternoon at the Michigan State Tournament in St. Clair. The win evened Escanaba's state finals record at 1-1, and means that a win over Bay County on Sunday would send the girls into the state quarterfinals of the 16-team event. Click the above headline to see photos, and to hear player and coach interviews.
The Negaunee Junior Little League All-Stars (age 13-14) are headed to another state tournament, and this time, they won't have to take a long trip below the Mackinac Bridge to do it. The group of boys, many of whom have played on other Little League teams that have had to compete downstate, beat Petoskey in a winner-take-all third sectional game on Saturday, 5-4, to advance to the state tournament in Felch. Click the above headline for details.
The Iron Mountain Junior Little League All-Stars (age 13-14) won the District Ten championship on Friday, beating Gladstone, 13-4, to advance to the state tournament, which will be held next weekend in Felch. The Iron Mountain (and Iron County) boys scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break the game open. Click the above headline for details.
The Escanaba Major Little League All-Star (age 10-12) softball team had a rough first inning on Friday and could not come back, losing to the host St. Clair All-Stars. 4-1, in the Michigan State Tournament opener. Click the above headline for details, photos, and interviews.
The Gladstone Junior Little League All-Stars (age 13-14) kept their season alive Thursday night with a dramatic 7-6 win over Kingsford in an elimination district tournament game in Iron Mountain. Click the above headline for details.
The Kingsford Junior Little League All-Stars (age 13-14) scored eight runs in the first inning and cruised to a 13-3 win over the Gladstone All-Stars in the district tournament opener Wednesday night in Iron Mountain. Click the above headline for details, photos, and post-game interviews.
The Kingsford Major Little League All-Star baseball team (age 10-12) snatched victory from the jaws of defeat Thursday night to earn a trip to the state tournament. Kingsford was down to its final out in the bottom of the final inning, but managed to score five runs to stun Iron Mountain North, 10-9, to win the district championship. Click the above headline for details, video highlights, and to hear interviews with Kingsford's Luca Cory and Harvey Ellis.
Not even a great Gladstone pitching effort, a long lightning delay, or a live bat in the dugout could stop the Escanaba Major Little League All-Star (age 10-12) softball team from punching its ticket for the state tournament. Escanaba lost to Gladstone, 2-0, in a typical rivalry match-up Tuesday night at Escanaba's Lemmerand Park. That forced a winner-take-all championship game, and Escanaba scored nine runs in the first inning and posted a 15-5 victory. Click the above headline for details.
The Marinette Firecracker American Legion Baseball tournament wrapped up on Sunday at the Pederson Ballpark. Manitowoc won the championship, 4-3, over Watertown. Marinette took the third place game. As for the Upper Peninsula's teams, the Escanaba Cubs lost to the Sault Ste. Marie (Canada) Black Sox, 3-1, in the seventh place game, and in the fifth place game, the Menominee Red Wave lost to Green Bay Southwest, 11-1. Click the above headline for details.
Moving Day lived up to its name as 144 athletes competed in the second round of the Island Resort Championship presented by Delta County Chamber on Saturday at Sweetgrass Golf Club. The cut was made at 4-under par with the top 60 and ties now preparing for the final round. 18-hole leader, Kelly Xu felt more confident heading into the second round, than her fellow first round opponents, and her scorecard proves just that. Click the above headline for details. (Epson Tour photo, story)
The annual Firecracker American Legion Baseball Tournament got under way on Friday in Marinette, and both of the Upper Peninsula's teams took losses. The Escanaba Cubs lost to Marinette, 6-1, as Jake Farley threw six innings of no-hit ball. Earlier, the Menominee Red Wave hung with the Watertown team, trailing just 7-5 in the fourth inning. But the errors started piling up, and the Red Wave had a 15-5 loss. Click the above headline for details.
The Negaunee Senior Legion Baseball team rallied from a 4-0 deficit Wednesday night to beat the Escanaba Cubs, 10-4, at Al Ness Field. Both teams used multiple pitchers as they prepare to compete in tournaments this weekend. Click the above headline for details, videos, and interviews.
The Marquette Post 44 Blues baseball team had a successful weekend at a tournament in Rhinelander, as the team continues to build for the stretch drive by playing on the road. The Blues won three out of four games this weekend, including a dramatic 6-5 upset win on Saturday against traditional Wisconsin powerhouse Wausau D.C. Everest. Click the above headline for details and to see photos taken by Natalie Pantti.
The Gregg Johnson Memorial American Legion Baseball Tournament wrapped up on Sunday in Escanaba as Sheboygan completed a perfect weekend to take the trophy back home to Wisconsin. Sheboygan got Kingsford, 5-3, in the semifinal, and then blew past Marinette, 11-5, in the championship game. Three different Sheboygan players hit home runs during Sunday's two wins. Click the above headline for details.
The annual Gregg Johnson Memorial American Legion Baseball tournament wrapped up pool play late Saturday night after ten more games were played in Escanaba and in Wells Township. The tournament saw 20 pool play games since Friday morning, and the ten teams were reduced to four semifinalists for Sunday. The Kingsford Greens will join three Wisconsin teams in the final four. Click the above headline for details.
A ten-team American Legion Baseball tournament got under way Friday in Delta County. The Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament, which has been held every year for more than three decades, saw five games on the Escanaba Al Ness Field and five games on the Bay College field in Wells. Click the above headline for scores, details, and for Saturday's schedule and radio schedule.
The Escanaba Cubs American Legion Baseball team opened its season Tuesday night by beating the Niagara Legion team, 20-1, at Al Ness Field. Several young players filled in, and did well, as the Cubs scored early and often to get the win. Click the above headline for details, videos, interviews.
The Negaunee Iron Range 12U boys Tier II AA hockey team won a state championship on Sunday, wrapping up a perfect weekend of hockey. The boys beat Orchard Lake, 4-1, in the semifinals, and then took down the Detroit Bulldogs, 7-4, in the championship game. Negaunee outshot Detroit, 28-16, in the championship victory. The games were played at the Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City. Negaunee also won all of its pool play contests.
Tahquamenon Area Youth Hockey Association 12U boys Tier Three hockey team won a state championship last night at the Farmington Arena near Detroit. The Bandits won all three of their games in pool play, and then beat the West Shore Wolves, 9-3, in Sunday's semifinals. The championship game saw the Newberry-Munising combined team beat Detroit Honeybaked, 7-1, outshooting the downstate team, 35-7, along the way. Congratulations to Coach Nutkins and the boys.
The Escanaba Eskymos eighth grade basketball team has won a state championship. The boys went undefeated and won the Michigan Middle School Silver bracket state title over the weekend in dowinstate Brighton. There were 12 teams in the bracket. In pool play, Escanaba beat Charlotte, 44-26, and topped Owosso 48-32, In the semifinals, Esky beat Niles, 47-25, and in the championship game, Escanaba pulled out a 45-42 win over SISU out of Vassar, Michigan. Tournaments were held in 3rd through 8th grades, and Escanaba was the only Upper Peninsula team in any bracket to bring home the championshiip.
The wild summer-long ride for the Negaunee Major Little League All-Star baseball team came to an end on Monday as the UP boys lost to Lexington, Kentucky, 6-1, in an elimination game in suburban Indianapolis. The loss ended the Great Lakes Regional Tournament run for Negaunee, after a five-week odyssey that started with district tournament blowouts in Calumet, and improbable six-game run at the state tournament in Saginaw that included a pair of nailbiters, and then the trip to the Hoosier state for the first time in program history.
The Little League Baseball Great Lakes Regional tournament is underway in suburban Indianapolis, and it got off to a rough start for the Negaunee Major All-Stars. The Michigan state champions lost to Hamilton West Side (Ohio), 8-0, to drop into the loser's bracket of the five-team event. Negaunee Manager Joe Dost says the tournament is far from over, the kids are having fun, and are mostly unaware of just what they've accomplished.
The Kingsford Greens captured the American Legion Baseball Class A state championship on Sunday, beating Stevensville-Lakeshore on their own field, 8-4, in a winner-take-all contest. The Greens had lost to that team in a testy game earlier in the tournament, but picked up a 5-2 win on Saturday to force this Sunday baseball. This group of ten kids from Kingsford and Norway combined to form this team, after both high school squads had successful seasons. And now, they share a state championship trophy together.
The baseball season came to a premature end for the Post 44 Blues on Saturday as they lost to the Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) Black Sox, 7-2, in the Michigan Veterans Baseball state tournament in Gaylord. The Blues opened the tournament with two wins, but were battered by Gaylord Friday night and then got off to a slow start Saturday that spelled the end of a successful summer of baseball for the organization.
The Escanaba Cubs first appearance in the American Legion Class AA state tournament in more than a decade came to an end on Friday with a 5-2 loss to Adrian Post 285 at Northwood University in Midland. The Cubs finished the tournament with a 1-2 record, and closed a successful summer season with a 17-9-2 record.
The Kingsford Greens American Legion Baseball team opened Class A state tournament play on Thursday with a 9-5 victory over the Three Oaks Oakers in the far southwest Lower Michigan town of Stevensville. The Greens scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 5-5 tie in a game played under sweltering 90-degree heat that was amplified by the artificial turf on the field.
The American Legion Baseball Class Double A state tournament got under way on Thursday under scorching heat at Northwood University in Midland. The Escanaba Cubs beat Big Rapids, 14-2, in their first game, but suffered a power outage in the second game, losing 5-0 to Bay City.
