Escanaba Senior Girls Top Sault In State Semifinal

NEW BOSTON, Mich.---They're back.

For most of the girls on the Escanaba Senior Girls (age 15-16) Little League All-Star team, they will play in a state championship game for a third year in a row on Sunday.

Two years ago, the girls won the Junior Softball State Championship on the way to a World Series appearance.

Then last year, the girls lost to South Portage in the state championship game in Clare. Well, the Orange and Black will play for a championship on Sunday after winning two games on Saturday at the state finals in New Boston.

Escanaba held off a late rally to beat Taylor, 4-2, and then overwhelmed Sault Ste. Marie, 15-2, in six innings, in the state semifinals.

Escanaba will face Clinton in the state championship game at 12:00 noon on Sunday for a trip to South Bend, Indiana. The game will be broadcast on the radio in Delta Couty on WCHT-AM (600), and elsewhere over the Internet at www.rrnsports.com.

Saturday started with an early 9:00 a.m. game against the host district, Taylor. Escanaba built a 4-0 lead but had to hang on for dear life in the seventh inning.

Taylor scored two runs on a couple of base hits, an error, and a hit-battsman.

But Katie Ross was able to close it out in the circle and Escanaba posted a 4-2 win over the District Five champions.

At the same time, Sault Ste. Marie lost a tight 5-4 game to Edwardsburg.It was a game that went right to the wire, but the Soo could not get the tying run in the seventh inning. Those results left Escanaba at 3-0 and the winners of its pool, and the Sault was 2-1 and finished second in its pool.

That set up the Yooper Bowl in the state semfinals.

The two U.P. teams had to wait for almost an hour and a half to get their 1:00 game started because Port Huron and Grandville played a marathon pool game that ended up with a 15-12 Port Huron win. The game took more than three hours to play.

Taylor Segorski throws out Soo base stealeer

Once the U.P. teams got on the field, Escanaba got the early jump on Soo pitcher Harmony Bailey. Mackenzie Leisner smacked a double in the first inning and she scored on a wild pitch.

Then in the second inning, Escanaba scored four times, with Sam Connor leading off with a double and JJ Laviolette getting a bunt single.

There were two Sault errors in that inning, and Leisner had an RBI single. It was 5-0.

In the third inning, Kayla VanPortfliet walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Connor got her second hit of the game, and scored on a double steal to make it 7-0.

Sault got on the board in the fourth inning when Hannah May led off with a single and scored on a Maddi Piche ground out.

But Escanaba scored an unearned run in the fifth inning to go ahead, 8-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Sault's Natasha Stewart led off with a single and scored on an error. Kelsey Huffman and Brenna James also had hits in that inning, but May popped up for the third out. James and Stewart each had two hits for Sault.

Mackenzie Leisner home run.

Leisner led off the sixth inning with a long home run to center field, making it a 9-2 game. Then things fell apart for the Sault, as the girls committed four errors in the inning as Escanaba batted around the order

Van Portfliet had an RBI single, and Taylor Segorski ripped an RBI double. Defensively, Segorski also threw out two Sault runners trying to steal second base.

Leisner came up again in the sixth inning and ripped one up the gap in center field.

She needed a triple to hit for the "cycle", but was stopped at second base as the throw came in from the outfield. Two runs scored on the play, making it 15-2.

Leisner ended up going 4-f0r-5 at the plate, with a single, two doubles, and a home run.

Connor threw the first six innings to get the pitching win, allowing two runs on six hits.

She fanned six batters.

Ross tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning to end the contest. Bailey threw the first three innings for the Sault and took the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits. James threw the final three innings, allowing eight runs.

CLINTON 13, EDWARDSBURG 12---An incredible finish to the other state semifinal game will be remembered for a long time across Michigan. The District 15 Champions, Edwardsburg, rolled to a 12-2 lead over District 16 Clinton.

Clinton Walk-off vs Edwardsburg

Edwardsburg's Rebecca Feirick hit three home runs...all of them two-run shots...to put the southwest Michigan team in front. Clinton was about to mercied on the ten-run rule with two out in the sixth inning.

But the Redskins put together a huge two-out rally, scoring seven times, to close the gap to within 12-9 entering the final inning.

With the score 12-10, Hayley Turk then crushed one to the fence with the bases loaded, scoring all three runs, and giving Clinton a miracle 13-12 victory.

Escanaba and Clinton will play in the state championship game Sunday at 12:00. The broadcast starts at 11:45 on WCHT-AM (600), and on www.rrnsports.com.