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Gladstone, Escanaba Little Leaguers Earn Victories
 Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos. ESCANABA---The District Ten Little League All-Star tournament continued Monday night with Escanaba eliminating Iron Mountain North, 15-1, and Gladstone knocking off Kingsford, 10-2. The results mean that Gladstone will face Norway in the winner's bracket final on Tuesday, and Escanaba will play Kingsford in another elimination game. ESCANABA 15, IRON MOUNTAIN 1---Escanaba bounced back from Sunday's heartbreaking loss to Norway by rolling to the mercy-rule, four-inning win. Timmy Robitaille threw a one-hitter, which was an RBI single by Hayden Grunlund in the final inning. Iron Mountain had plenty of baserunners as Escanaba committed three errors, and Robitaille walked five batters and hit two others. Iron Mountain, however, stranded all eight of those free runners, with one more eliminated by a Griffin Johnson 6-4 double play. Johnson had an infield hit, triple, and was safe on an error twice. He was on base all four times and scored all four times, including once wen he somehow eluded the tag at the plate after Nicj Martinson hit a shallow fly ball in the third inning. Martinson had another monster game, smacking a double, triple, and three-run home run. That homer in the final inning crashed the windshield of a vehicle parked behind the left field fence. Robitaille helped his own cause at the plate with two doubles and a single. Nolan Van Damme, in the #7 hole, was 3-for-3 with two singles and a double. All three were sharply hit, and he drove in two runs. Isaiah Davis also had a pair of RBI singles. Robitaille threw a complete game, getting the last out on his 85th and final pitch. GLADSTONE 10, KINGSFORD 2---Gladstone had a pair of four-run innings to pull away from Kingsford in the winner's bracket game. It was a 2-2 tie after two innings asa Kingsford's Cooper Kreski and Logan McCoy smoked doubles off Gladstone pitcher Landon Pepin. Pepin, however, struck out all six outs in the first two innings, and he had RBI hits in both the first and third innings to help his own cause. The biggest hit came from Colton Kreitzman, who came off the bench in a 3-2 game and smacked a bases-loaded double to center field. Three runs scored on that play, with one of them coming home as the ball skipped away from the center fielder. Pepin threw 3 2/3 innings for the win, being pulled after throwing 65 pitches so he could be eligible to pitch in a potential Friday district championship game. Gladstone's #9 hitter, Jaxsyn Lancour, came through with a two-run single during his team's second four-run inning of the night. Kingsford used Cooper Kreski and Carson Krisman for 35 pitches each, so both will be able to pitch on Wednesday. Drew Tomasoski threw 15 pitches to close the game. UP NEXT: Tuedday's games start with the winner's bracket final between Gladstone and Norway. That game is set for 4:30 ET/3:30 CT, and will be broadcast on FM-93.5 and AM-600 in Delta County, and on AM-1450 in Dickinson County. The second game is an elimination game between Escanaba and Kingsford, and that game at 6:30 ET/5:30 CT will br broadcast on those same radio stations. Both will be streamed on www.rrnsports.com.  |
