Click the thumbails for photos and to hear post-game comments from Gladstone Manager Brad Trombley
WEST BRANCH---The Gladstone 14u Junior Little League All-Star softball team had its season come to an abrupt end early Tuesday morning after losing two games at the state tournament in West Branch.
Gladstone lost to a powerhouse combined team from Georgetown and Hudsonville, 14-0, and then, after the clock had struck midnight, Gladstone fell to Cheboygan, 6-4. The result eliminated Gladstone from the seven-team state tournament,
“The first game, that team was just a very dominant team,” Gladstone Manager Brad Trombley said. “The second team, that's a team I think we could have beat. We were ready to play. But as the game went on, another fast pitcher, we couldn't get our bats on the ball. When we did, we scored. When they did, they scored.”
The first game, starting at 7:45 at night, was unpleasant from the beginning for Gladstone as the defending Junior World Series champions crushed Gladstone pitcher Mya Brunswick for eight runs on five hits. Two Gladstone errors didn't help, but Callie Naber's long two-run homer to left field was the highlight of that inning.
Eight different players had hits, led by Kylee Fox with three of them.
Gladstone did not get a base hit, and had just three baserunners (two walks and a hit batter). Two of those came in the final inning, giving Gladstone a chance to break the shutout, but Malia Quigley took a called third strike to end the game.
That loss dropped Gladstone into the loser's bracket, and the tournament officials took the unusual move of having the bracket continue that night, rather than the next day. So, Gladstone and Cheboygan were back on the field for a game that started at 10:21 p.m.
Gladstone, and pitcher Lauren Pare, got a boost in the first inning when center fielder Emma Trombley made a diving catch to take an extra base hit away from Abby Shultz. Later that inning, on a Nataleigh Blaisdell base hit, Trombley came up throwing and got Lydia Kosanke out at third base.
Cheboygan took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an error, wild pitch, and base hit by Bea Schultz. But Gladstone equalized in the bottom of that inning when Pare was safe on an outfield error and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
It stayed 1-1 until the fourth inning, when Cheboygan scored three times. And it was another leadoff error, this time at second base, that got things started. A walk and a single loaded the bases, then another error, this time at shortstop, plated a run. The other two runs scored on a groundout by Audlia Johnson and a sacrifice fly by McKenzie Stockman.
Trailing 4-1, Gladstone came back in the bottom of the fourth. A hit batter and an error put two on base, and Mya Brunswick smoked a line drive to center field for a two-run double. It was Gladstone's first hit of the game, and first hit of the tournament,
Claire Jacobsen drew a walk, and Malia Quigly got an infield hit. Unfortunately for Gladstone, one of the umpires ruled that Brunswick had left third base early, so she was called out. Gladstone managed to tie the game on a fielder's choice grounder by Tati Martinez, but the call at third base took Gladstone out of a chance to take the lead.
That inning ended when Hope Reath took a called third strike with two runners on.
In the fifth inning, another error, as a hard-hit ball by Blaisdell went right past Jacobsen's glove and rolled all the way to the fence. Cheoygan made them play with RBI singles by Bea Schultz and Stockman, and Gladstone was behind again, 6-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, one last chance for Gladstone, but Cheboygan's defense was stellar. Brunswick smoked a line drive to center field that Stockman chased down into the gap for a catch. Then after Jacobsewn got a base hit, she was thrown out trying to steal second base by Diem Schley.
Quigley drew a walk, but Martinez struck out to end the game. It was the 14th time Gladstone struck out in that game, with Kosanke pitching a complete game for Cheboygan. Pare threw all seven innings for Gladstone, striking out ten batters. All six runs against Pare were unearned runs.
“It was back and forth,” Trombley said. “We just didn't win this one. It's tough.”
Trombley said despite the losses, the experience was a good one for his team.
“I just have to thank the community,” he said. “The money we raised, and how fast we raised it, I mean, we've got an awesome community. They helped us get down here and made it easier on the families to get down here and experience this. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's awesome. I hope the girls had fun.”
