Escanaba Jr Girls Get Split At States In Indian River

INDIAN RIVER---Things were going just fine for the Escanaba Junior Little League All-Stars (age 13-14) as they opened play at the state tournament on Wednesday.

Fine, that is, until they ran into Cloe Mallory. Mallory used her arm and her bat to push her Tri Rivers Little League team past Escanaba, 10-0, in Indian River.

Escanaba had won its earlier pool play game over Milan, 23-1, while Indian River had done the same over Constantine, 13-0.

Both games went five innings.

Escanaba had momentum after the big win over Milan, and things looked good early against the hard-throwing Mallory.

Claire McInerney led off the game with a base hit, and then Mallory hit Malary Hiney and walked Hannah Edington to load the bases.

But Mallory struck out Cassie Wissler and Maddy Kolich to end the inning, and even though Escanaba had a few base runners along the way, they never could score a run.

Mallory struck out 13 batters in six innings, scattering four base hits. And her defense was flawless behind her, making no errors in either the infield or the outfield.

But Escanaba's defense sprung a few leaks. In the bottom of the first inning, Vanessa Wandri smoked a triple to the fence. Escanaba should have been out of the inning when Mallory popped up, but Edington could not make the catch near the circle.

In the third inning, Makayla Henckel led off with a single. Then with one out, Savannah Davedouski drew a walk. Edington got the next batter, but Mallory came up and whipped a double to the center field fence scoring both runners, making it 3-0.

Then came a disasterous fourth inning for Escanaba. Syd DePauw led off with a single to left with two strikes on her.

Then with one out, Kimmy Rorick ripped a double to the fence, putting runners on second and third. Edington managed to get the second out, but Tri Rivers did what they did all afternoon: score with two outs.

Cloe Mallory walk-off three-run HR for Indian River

Pamela Braund smacked a base hit to drive home one run, and then things fell apart for Escanaba. The next batter hit a ground ball to second, but it was booted, and two runs scored to make it a 6-0 game.

Then, a ground ball to short that was also missplayed.

Escanaba trailed 7-0, and then the defeat would be complete with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Braund was hit by a pitch, Davedouski put down a nice bunt single, and then Mallory came up and launched a home run way over the right field fence. It was a three-run shot, and the game ended in walk-off fashion.

Mallory ended up with five runs batted in to go along with her four-hitter in the circle.

Escanaba's four hits were by McInerney, Abby Jackson (bunt single), Edington, and Savannah Barron. Escanaba had seven base runners and stranded them all.

Earlier in the day, it was a much different scenario for Escanaba, as the girls overwhelmed the District Three champions from Milan. Escanaba scored three runs in the first inning, and then put twelve runs on the board in the second.

Taylor Gauthier drives home two vs Milan

Then it was one more run in the third inning, three in the fourth, and four in the fifth.

Taylor Gauthier led Escanaba at the plate by going 4-for-5 with five runs batted in and five runs scored.

McInerney had a single, double, and scored three runs. Hiney scored three times, and Eddington had two hits, two RBI, and two runs scored. Everyone contributed.

Maddy Kolich came off the bench to get two hits, two runs batted in, and scored three times.

Chloe Casswell also came off the bench and had a base hit and run scored. Barron had two hits, two RBI, and two runs scored.

Maddie Griffin had an RBI single, and Heather Bergstrom chipped in with an RBI double. And Cassie Wisler had a nice bunt single for the Orange and Black.

Edington loved all of the run support in the circle. She allowed just one base hit in five innings...a lead-off single to Alexis Aldrich in the first inning. A fielder's choice groundout left two base runners on for Milan, but the Escanaba girls turned a nice 1-3-2 double play to end that bottom of the first inning without a run scored.

Escanaba faces Constantine in the final pool play game Friday morning. The winner of that game will advance to Saturday's state semifinals. Game time is 11:00. Catch the broadcast on WCHT-AM (600), and www.rrnsports.com, starting at 10:45.

Thursday's State Tournament Scores
Escanaba 23, Milan 1
IndianRiver Tri-Rivers 13, Constantine 0
Rockford 13, East Jordan 0
St. Clair 8, Taylor 4

Indian River Tri-Rivers 10, Escanaba 0
Rockford 7, Taylor 2
Constantine 8, Milan 6

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos and listen to interviews with Maddy Kolich and Taylor Gauthier.