ESSEXVILLE, Mich.----The Escanaba Major Girls (age 11-12) improved to 2-0 at the Little League Softball state tournament on Friday, beating Rogers City, 5-2, in the downstate community of Essexville. The girls wrap up pool play on Saturday."
"The good news is that we're 2-0," Escanaba Manager Gary Salo said. "We're sitting good for tomorrow in that we've got three, four pitchers who we can throw. We didn't want to have to 'burn up' Gabi (Salo), but we're not down here to lose games, so we did what we had to do to get to be 2-0. And now we want to be 3-0!"
Escanaba scored three of its runs in the fourth inning when Rogers City's pitcher, Taylor Fleming, struck out three Eskymo batters...only to see all three reach base on wild pitches and passed balls. Hannah Edington's RBI single plated one of those runs.
Escanaba had trouble getting the "big hit" in the game. Kelly Mae Casey doubled to start the second inning, but was called out for leaving the base too early on a steal attempt.
Later that inning, Jalin Olson was safe on an error and Gabi salo got a hit, but Escanaba could not get a run home.
In the third inning, Escanaba got hits from Savannah Barron, Edington, and Macy Carlson...plus a walk to Georgia Lehto. But they had a girl thrown out at the plate and scored just once (on a groundout by Maddy Griffin).
Still, the five runs were enought because of good Escanaba pitching. Salo threw the first two innings, allowing only one walk. Edington then tossed the second and third innings, retiring all six girls she faced.
Rogers City scored in the fourth inning on a double to the center field fence by Brooke Ciarkowski and three Escanaba errors.
In the sixth inning, Rogers City scored again on a hit by Kayla Rabeau and another Escanaba error. In the game, Rogers City committed eight errors and Escanaba had four. Escanaba outhit Rogers City, 7-3. Barron and Edington had two apiece.
Salo threw four of the six innings for Escanaba, giving up no earned runs on three base hits. She struck out seven batters. Cathryn Hart took the pitching loss for Rogers City.
"We haven't played our best game yet," Coach Salo said. "I told the ladies that we're washing the uniforms after today's stuff."
Salo explained: "They have this little thing that they don't want to wash them because we haven't lost yet, but I said, 'no, we're gonna wash them and come back tomorrow with a little more energy."
The Upper Peninsula's other team at this tournament, Negaunee, evened its record at 1-1 with an 11-1 win over Lac St. Clair on Friday.
Negaunee scored four runs in the first inning and cruised to the win, which came on the mercy rule after four innings. Escanaba and Negaunee will face each other in the final pool play game of the state tournament Saturday night.
The first pitch for the Yooper Bowl is scheduled for 7:15. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
"We've got to re-focus and we've got to start playing a little bit better," Coach Salo said.
ESCANABA JUNIOR GIRLS WIN---The Escanaba Junior Girls (age 13-14) opened their district tournament Friday with a 10-0 win over Kingsford. Escanaba scored five runs in the second inning and five more in the fifh to earn the victory.
Kayla VanPortfleit and Katie Ross each pitched two innings, and J.J. Laviolette threw the fifth inning. Taylor Segorski and VanPortfleit each had two base hits. Kingsford's only hit came off the bat of Cassandra Dumke in the fourth inning.
Escanaba faces Norway at 2:00 Saturday afternoon at Lemmerand Park in Escanaba. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos from both games, and listen to Escanaba highlights and interviews.
"The good news is that we're 2-0," Escanaba Manager Gary Salo said. "We're sitting good for tomorrow in that we've got three, four pitchers who we can throw. We didn't want to have to 'burn up' Gabi (Salo), but we're not down here to lose games, so we did what we had to do to get to be 2-0. And now we want to be 3-0!"
Escanaba had trouble getting the "big hit" in the game. Kelly Mae Casey doubled to start the second inning, but was called out for leaving the base too early on a steal attempt.
Later that inning, Jalin Olson was safe on an error and Gabi salo got a hit, but Escanaba could not get a run home.
In the third inning, Escanaba got hits from Savannah Barron, Edington, and Macy Carlson...plus a walk to Georgia Lehto. But they had a girl thrown out at the plate and scored just once (on a groundout by Maddy Griffin).
Kelly Mae Casey gets a double
Rogers City scored in the fourth inning on a double to the center field fence by Brooke Ciarkowski and three Escanaba errors.
Salo threw four of the six innings for Escanaba, giving up no earned runs on three base hits. She struck out seven batters. Cathryn Hart took the pitching loss for Rogers City.
"We haven't played our best game yet," Coach Salo said. "I told the ladies that we're washing the uniforms after today's stuff."
Salo explained: "They have this little thing that they don't want to wash them because we haven't lost yet, but I said, 'no, we're gonna wash them and come back tomorrow with a little more energy."
Savannah Baron post-game interview
Negaunee scored four runs in the first inning and cruised to the win, which came on the mercy rule after four innings. Escanaba and Negaunee will face each other in the final pool play game of the state tournament Saturday night.
The first pitch for the Yooper Bowl is scheduled for 7:15. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
"We've got to re-focus and we've got to start playing a little bit better," Coach Salo said.
ESCANABA JUNIOR GIRLS WIN---The Escanaba Junior Girls (age 13-14) opened their district tournament Friday with a 10-0 win over Kingsford. Escanaba scored five runs in the second inning and five more in the fifh to earn the victory.
Kayla VanPortfleit and Katie Ross each pitched two innings, and J.J. Laviolette threw the fifth inning. Taylor Segorski and VanPortfleit each had two base hits. Kingsford's only hit came off the bat of Cassandra Dumke in the fourth inning.
Escanaba faces Norway at 2:00 Saturday afternoon at Lemmerand Park in Escanaba. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600) and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos from both games, and listen to Escanaba highlights and interviews.
