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Gladstone Celebration

Rivals top Escanaba in district title game showdown

Mike Mattson | Daily Press Gladstone players celebrate after winning the District 10 Little League Minor Girls championship game Monday night with an 8-4 win against Escanaba at Lemerand Park.

ESCANABA — After playing five days in a row, the Gladstone Minor Girls’ Little League All-Stars (age 9-10) are taking a break from softball today.

They’re enjoying a day off from practice after earning an 8-4 triumph over Escanaba in the District 10 championship game Monday night at Lemerand Park.

“We want to let the girls enjoy their day,” said Gladstone head coach Rick Pepin. “Having to beat Escanaba twice in two days was a huge mountain to climb. The girls got an amazing pep talk from Scott Herioux which helped put them in a better frame of mind to take on this huge challenge. He told the girls not to think about having to beat Escanaba twice, but told them to take it one pitch at a time and that became our motto.”

The victory sends Gladstone to the state tournament in Van Buren Township (Belleville) July 29.

“All the hard work we did was to build for this moment,” said Pepin. “This is going to be a new experience for us, but we’ll do everything we can to represent the Upper Peninsula in the state tournament.”

Mike Mattson | Daily Press Gladstone’s Maggie Buckley (3) charges into third base as Escanaba’s Katie Lamb attempts the tag without the softball in Monday night’s game.

Gladstone’s latest triumph comes on the heels of Sunday’s 2-1 victory in seven innings over Esky. The teams also met in the opening round Thursday when Esky took a 7-2 decision.

Montgomery Pepin pitched in all five tournament games, going 3-1 and getting a no decision after six innings of work Sunday.

“Escanaba made Montgomery work extremely hard,” said coach Pepin. “They were very disciplined at the plate. We knew they were going to put the bat on the ball and after they way our gloves played last night (Sunday), the girls had all kinds of confidence.”

Montgomery again worked six innings for Monday’s win, striking out five, walking three and allowing six hits.

“I was really nervous, but my teammates helped me out with their defense,” she said. “I’m proud of every one of them. They did a real good job. It was really exciting to get the final out. It’s really cool to get this win. It’s a shame only one team can go (downstate). Esky has a real good team, too.”

Mike Mattson | Daily Press McKenzie Engebretsen pitched a three-hitter with eight strikeouts.

Montgomery was also the winning pitcher in victories over Norway and Kingsford this weekend.

“Montgomery did an excellent job,” said Esky head coach Steve Braun. “We definitely didn’t play our best game, but we hit the ball better than we did yesterday. We found some open areas and capitalized on a few of our hits. I think we got her timed up a little, but it was too little, too late.”

Montgomery’s single to leftfield opened the scoring and Maggie Buckley’s sacrifice bunt gave Gladstone a two-run cushion in the first.

Esky, taking advantage of three errors and two walks, tied the contest in the third.

Gladstone then capitalized in on three walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch while scoring five times for a 7-2 advantage in its half of the inning.

Esky got two runs back in the fifth, trimming its deficit to 7-4 on back-to-back singles to center by Sophie Derkos and McKenzie Engebretsen.

Gladstone concluded the scoring in its half of the fifth by cashing in on four walks.

Nobody on either team had more than one hit. Both teams committed four errors.

“The girls never gave up,” said Esky head coach Steve Braun. “Only, our defense wasn’t as crisp today. We put Grayson (LaMarche) behind the plate, which is a position she’s not used to, and we lost our shortstop (Katie Lamb to a pulled muscle in her quadricep (in the third inning). Although, that’s not to take anything away from Gladstone. They have a great team and great pitchers. They’re clicking on all cylinders. Hopefully, that will continue through the tournament.”

Engebretsen tossed a three-hitter and fanned eight, but walked seven and hit a batter.

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