JR. LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL STATE CHAMPS!

INDIAN RIVER---The tears were flowing from the eyes of the Escanaba Junior Little League All-Star players (age 13-14) after the state championship game ended Saturday afternoon. Now, tears are usually reserved for the disappointed girls who lose in the state title game. But these were tears of extreme joy for the Escanaba girls.

Escanaba beat St. Clair, 12-2, in the state semifinals, and then topped Rockford, 4-0, in the championship.

And the emotion afterwards was overwhelming.

"I am so happy, I can't believe this," said catcher Malary Hiney, her voice breaking. "I've been here so many times, and this is the first time we actually won."

"It means a lot to me," pitcher Hannah Edington said. "Because I've been here four times (in a state final) and never made it past."

"I was so excited," second baseman Claire McInerney said, also choking up with tears of joy. "I am just shocked."

Escanaba advances to the Central Regional Tournament in Akron, Ohio.

Final Out For State Championship!

"I'm really happy because last year, we took third," outfielder Maddie Kolich said. "I'm just really happy, and I love my team."

"I'm really happy and excited that we did this," outfielder Maddy Griffin said. "We always come together, and we have a lot of fun together. We didn't give up. We took it."

Escanaba Manager Vance Hiney admits that he did not think this would happen.

"This is a young group of girls," he said. "There are a lot of tough teams here. I was just hoping to get out of pool play and loo0k respectable. But they just kept it rolling."

Escanaba was beaten by Indian River Tri-Rivers in a pool play game on Thursday, 10-0, as Cloe Mallory overpowered Escanaba with 13 strikeouts. And she had a walk-0ff home run in that game.

But in Saturday's first semifinal, Indian River gave up three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and lost to Rockford in a big upset, 3-1.

Escanaba was set to play the St. Clair Starz in the second semifinal, and the earlier result, which happened while they practiced, gave the girls some confidence.

"It made us feel like 'we can do this now'," Malary Hiney said. "Because Indian River, it was a scary thing. But Rockford, they were good, but we knew we could do it."

Savannah Barron Double vs St Clair

The beginning was not good for Escanaba as the girls made three errors in the first inning and St. Clair jumped to a 2-0 lead. Escanaba got a run back in the bottom of the first inning when Claire McInerney walked and scored on a hit by Taylor Gauthier.

In the second inning, Escanaba tied the game when Cassie Wisler smacked a line drive off of the hand of St. Clair pitcher Maddie Mead. She had to leave the circle and Jessica Bohn took over. Wisler eventually scored on a ground out by Abby Jackson.

And then in the third inning, Escanaba took a 3-2 lead on a Hannah Edington double and a sacrafice fly by Chloe Caswell.

The big inning was the fourth, as Heather Bergstrom got a one-out double and McInerney put down a nice bunt single.

Malary Hiney grounded out to score the first run, making it 4-2, then Gauthier got her second hit of the game to drive in another run.

That made it 5-2, St. Clair chose to bring Mead back into the pitcher's circle. Edington greeted her with a base hit, and Savannah Barron followed with her second hit of the game to make it a 6-2 Escanaba lead.

The inning continued when Caswell was hit by a pitch. Maddy Griffin followed with a two-run single, giving Escanaba an 8-2 advantage.

Maddy Griffin 2 RBI hit vs St Clair

Escanaba ended the game on the mercy rule in the fifth inning as Gauthier ripped a two-run single and Edington followed with an RBI hit.

The game ended when Barron's fly ball went off the mit of the St. Clair outfielder, and Escanaba was into the finals.

After a quick bite to eat, Escanaba faced Rockford, another Orange and Black team out of the Grand Rapids area. And this time, Escanaba got off to a good start. Edington gave up a leadoff single in the first inning, but got the next three outs.

In the bottom of the first inning, McInerney led off with a single.

With one out, she scored on a double by Gauthier, who continued to sting the ball in almost every at-bat. Then with two out, Barron came through with an RBI hit, and it was 2-0.

It stayed that way until the fourth inning when Barron led off with a base hit. With two out, Lexi Chaillier came off the bench and got a clutch base hit to make it 3-0.

Escanaba scored its final run in the fifth inning.

McInerney led off with a hit...her third of the title game. Hiney followed with a single, and then Gauthier singled home McInerney to make it 4-0.

Gauthier had three hits in the championship game, along with three in the semifinal, for a total of six base hits on the day.

Final Out vs Rockford. State Champs!

That was all the offense that Edington needed, as she tossed a complete game four-hitter. She struck out five and walked just one.

Rockford pitcher Jenna Davis threw all six innings, giving up four runs on ten hits. She struck out five and walked none.

Kylie Winkels, Davis, Haley Nash, and Alexis Weir had hits for Rockford.

Bergstrom was named the tournament MVP for her play at third base.

"There was this one really hard one that hit my glove and I dropped it," Bergstrom said. "I didn't think I would get her out at first, but I did. I don't want to give up, because any team can beat any team on any day."

Escanaba will open Central Regional Tournament play in Akron, Ohio, at 8:00 Saturday morning against the Wisconsin State Champions.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos taken by Mary Gauthier, and to hear interviews with every Escanaba girl. Some audio highlights from the games as well!