SAGINAW, Mich.---The Gladstone Major Little League All-Stars (age 10-12) lost their second pool play game Saturday morning at the Michigan State Tournament in Saginaw.
It was another high-scoring game, with Gladstone falling to Muskegon Roosevelt Park, 15-11, at North Saginaw Township Little League.
This follows Friday's 12-7 loss to Mattawan on Friday, meaning that Gladstone has scored 18 runs in two games. That's usually enough to be 2-0 at this point of the tournament, but Gladstone has given up 27 runs in those two games.
Gladstone fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but that changed quickly. With the bases loaded, Elliott Bosk smacked one up the middle, and as the ball kept rolling, Gladstone runners keep running. Mason Soper, Elliot Pankonian, and Avery Silta (eventually) all scored. Gladstone after led, 5-2, after one inning.
Roosevelt Park cut it to 5-4 in the top of the second inning, but Gladstone went towork again in the bottom half. Landon Stearns cracked one to the fence, bringing home Benson Ellison and Jaxdon Quigley. That gave Gladstone an 8-4 lead.
But Roosevelt Park kept on scoring, including a seven-run inning followed by a four-run inning. A bunch of walks and wild pitches, plus a handful of errors, along with some solid Roosevelt Park hitting, turned the game around.
Gladstone almost the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Trent Beauchamp flew out with two men on base, and Jaxdon Quigley on deck.
Zack Lillmark and Mack Vandenheuval both drove in four runs for Roosevelt Park, while Tanoa Delasko went 4-for-4 in the clean-up spot. The top five batters in the RP batting order had eleven hits in 16 at-bats.
Quigley took the loss on the mound, giving up ten of the runs in 2 1/3 innings while throwing 77 pitches. Stearns and Avery Silta finished up for Gladstone.
Delasko earned the pitching win with 4 2/3 innings of long relief.
The crazy game saw a total of 306 pitches thrown in six innings. There were 17 walks, 15 errors, 20 base hits, 18 strikeouts. But, alas, no home runs for either team.
Gladstone wraps up pool play with a game Sunday morning at 10:00 against Taylor North. Roosevelt Park takes on Mattawan, also at 10 a.m.
