Escanaba Opens State Tournament With Two Wins

NEW BOSTON, Mich.---So far, so good for the Escanaba Senior Girls (age 15-16) as they try to repeat as Senior Little League Softball state champions.

Escanaba picked up a pair of victories on Friday at the state tournament in the Detroit suburb of New Boston. Escanaba beat Lac St. Claire out of District Six, 14-1, and then held off a late rally to beat the Clinton Redskins out of District 16, 11-7.

Escanaba finishes pool play Saturday morning at 9:00 against the host Taylor team.

In Friday's first game, Escanaba played small ball to get the jump on the District Six champions from Macomb County. Jerica McAlpine and Mackenzie Leisner put down perfect bunt singles, and then Katie Ross hit a grounder to score one run.

An error on that play brought home a second run, and then Kayla Van Portfliet's ground ball scored a run to make it 3-0.

Escanaba executed two more bunts to tack on a run in the second inning, and then in the third, Escanaba put the game away with five more runs.

In that inning, Aubrey Saunders had an RBI double to the left field fence.

Jerica McAlpine interview

Escanaba scored two more runs in the fourth inning, with JJ Laviolette getting a triple and scoring on a wild pitch.

Then in the fifth inning, Escanaba got a leadoff double from Emily LaFave. She scored on a triple by McAlpine. Leisner's ground out scored McAlpine. Lac St. Claire's run in the fifth inning scored when Cheyene Gabauer singled, stole second, and came home on an error. Hayley Kavalar also got a base hit for District Six.

Sam Connor pitched all five innings to earn the win. She allowed just one run (unearned) on two base hits. She struck out ten. Jessica Clause took the loss for Lac St. Claire. McAlpine and LaFave each had three hits for Escanaba.

In the second game, the first six Escanaba girls went out against Clinton pitcher Riley Woerner.

Emily LaFave interview

But in the third inning, Escanaba scored three runs on four base hits to take the lead. Laviolette singled and came home on a double by Saunders. Then LaFave got her fourth straight hit of the day, and Leisner drove home a run with a bunt single.

Escanaba added four runs in the fourth inning to take a 7-0 lead. Taylor Segorski hit an RBI double to make it 4-0, then Laviolette doubled her home. Emily Bruntgens singled home a run, and the final run of the inning came in on a Leisner groundout.

Taylor Segorski RBI double vs Clinton

Clinton scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but in the top of the sixth, Escanaba added three more runs. Leisner had an RBI single and Ross smoked one to the right field fence to bring home two runs. Escanaba led, 10-1.

It looked like the Eskymos would win easily, but the Redskins from District 16 had other ideas. Woerner launched a solo home run to center to make it 10-2, then Catyln Schuler was safe on an error.

Ross struck out the next batter, which would have ended the inning.

But there were only two out, and Clinton started to make solid contact.

Four straight girls got base hits for Clinton.

The last two, by Ashley Donahey and Madelyn Stapnowski, each brought in two runs. All of a sudden, it was 10-6.

Escanaba added a run in the seventh inning on a Laviolette single, and Coach Jamie Segorski brought in Connor to relieve Ross on the mound. In the bottom of the seventh, Hayley Turk led off with a single.

With one out, Woerner hit a grounder to third and the throw to second base for the force was late. Then Schuler was safe on an error.

MacKenzie Leisner squeeze scores a run

That brought in one run, and two more runners were in scoring position. But Connor got a ground out and a strike out to end the game at 11-7. Sigh of relief.

Laviolette led the way with three hits, while Segorski, LaFave and Leisner each had two hits. LaFave, in the #9 spot, had five hits and a walk in the two games.

Click the above headline to see photos and videos, taken by Deb Leisner and Erin Connor, and to hear audio highlights and interviews.