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Escanaba Wins First 'Yooper' Tourney Since 2007
 ESCANABA---It has been a long time coming for the Escanaba Little League. The longtime hosts of the annual "Yooper" 9-10 Little League boys baseball tournament have rarely made it to the championship game in recent years, let alone win it.  It was Escanaba's first championship since 2007, and just its second since 1999, in a tournament that has been held for the past 23 years to get the young boys ready for the upcoming district tournaments. The event was founded by the late Karl Dickson, the former District Ten Administrator who's name is on the Escanaba field near the Civic Center. His daughter, Peggy, was on hand for the event, handing the championship trophy to the Escanaba boys. Escanaba scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead. Nathan Howes had an RBI single during that rally. Kingsford scored in the top of the fourth inning as Nathan Bousley ripped a triple and scored a run on a groundout. Escanaba broke the game open with eight runs in the fourth inning. Four of the runs came in on wild pitches, and the Escanaba boys stole bases almost at will throughout that inning. Trent Larson had two base hits and Jayger LaMarch had two hits and a walk. Casey Bray got to within two outs of pitching a complete game befor having to leave because he reached Little League's 75-pitch count limit. CLICK the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see a bunch of photos and videos from Monday night's game. SUNDAY'S YOOPER TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS ESCANABA 5, IRON MOUNTAIN NORTH 4---The game got off to a wild start, with seven runs in the first inning but just two more the rest of the way. Iron Mountain's three runs in the first came on hits by David Juul and Hunter Fortner, and a double by Michael Talerico. Escanaba's four runs came on singles by Jayger LaMarch and Nathan Howes, and on doubles by Casey Bray and Hunter Lancour. Escanaba took a 5-3 lead in the third inning as Marshall Zelenak got a hit. Iron Mountain got its final run in the fourth inning on a double by Juul. Escanaba got two hits each from Brgy, Howes, and LaMarch. KINGSFORD 5, GLADSTONE 1---Gladstone took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, as Brad Sanderson walked and later scored a run, but the Purple was limited to just three hits throughout the game and lost, 5-1. Kingsford got five straight hits in the second inning to take a 2-1 lead: Riley Juneaux, Michael Menagozzo, Connor Erickson, Dylan Bousley, and Cole Myllyla all got singles in that inning. Kingsford scored two runs on three walks and a couple of ground outs in the third inning, and then in the sixh inning, Menagozzo and Bousley had hits as Kingsford scored its fifth run. They both had three hits in the game. Gladstone's Hunter Solis had two hits and Nick Martin had one. SATURDAY'S YOOPER TOURNAMENT GAME KINGSFORD 8, MUNISING 7---The Kingsford boys scored eight runs in the third inning to take an 8-0 lead, and then had to hold off a furious Munising rally to post an 8-7 win on Saturday at the "Yooper 9-10" tournament. Kingsford took advantage of five walks, and got a triple from Riley Juneaux and singles from Nathan Bousley and Henry McRoberts. But Munising scored six times in the fifth inning to get close. Ashton Wymer, Kane Nebel, Mitchell Scheiding, and Jesse Duran had hits in that inning. For Munising, Duran had three hits and Scheiding had three walks and a hit. For Kingsford, Juneaux was the only player to get more than one base hit. FRIDAY'S YOOPER TOURNAMENT GAMES ESCANABA 11, NORWAY 5---For Escanaba, Jayger LaMarch had a hit, two walks, and scored three times. Nathan Howes contributed two hits, one walk, and also scored three runs. Ayden Mylander had two hits, one walk, and scored twice. For Norway, Zac Pellegrini had a double and scored a run. Luke Gorzinski scored two runs. And Brady Anderson had a single and double, and he also walked for ther Norway All-Stars. IRON MOUNTAIN NORTH 13, TRI-COUNTY 2---For Iron Mountain, David Juul, Hunter Fortner, and Michael Talerico all scored three runs apiece in the mercy-shortened victory. Nate Pouliot scored twice. And Reed Heethman had a double and a triple. For Tri-County, Mike Rondeau had a hit, a walk, and scored a run. Paavo Manisto had a single and run scored. And Dakota Maki had a double.  |
