Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Escanaba’s Erica Moore slides underneath the tag of the alumni team’s Maddy Griffin (14) during Saturday’s alumni game at Abrahamson Field.

ESCANABA — Some of the best talent in the history of Escanaba softball was on display Saturday at Abrahamson Field in the program’s first-ever alumni game.

The Eskymo varsity team — playing together one last time — used a big six-run fifth inning to pull away for a 7-2 victory over the alumni team in a game that featured current, past and future players.

“It was the shortest softball season in history,” Esky coach Gary Salo said. “But we had just as much fun today. We packed in as much fun today as we possibly could. Hats off to the alumni. We’ve started something really good here.”

Two Big Ten pitchers went toe-to-toe as Gabi Salo threw for the varsity Eskymos and Lesley (Noel) Delvaux took the mound for the alumni team. Salo will pitch for the University of Wisconsin next season while Delvaux won 42 games at Michigan State University after graduating from Escanaba in 2004.

Salo, who led the Eskymos to back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019, pitched four strong innings, striking out 11 and giving up just one hit to University of Detroit-Mercy standout Taylor Gauthier. The alumni scored one run off of her in the first inning when 2019 graduate Lexi Chaillier and Gauthier each laid down bunts and reached on errors, with the second one allowing Chaillier to score.

“It was definitely different, but they brought their A game,” Salo said about playing against the alumni. “They came out, they were swinging and they made a lot of good plays. It was really fun.”

On the flip side, Delvaux threw six innings and allowed just two hits despite struggling with walks. She pitched the first four innings and gave up just one run on an RBI single by Dakota Cloutier, then she exited the game in the fifth when the Eskymos scored six runs off of 2017 graduate Katie Ross before she returned to the game to pitch the sixth and seventh.

“It was amazing,” Delvaux said of being back on her home field. “It’s been since 2004 that I’ve played on this field. It’s kind of unreal. They’ve been trying to put something like this together. I kind of wish it was maybe 10 to 15 years ago, but at this point it’s good to be back.”

She admitted she wished she didn’t walk as many batters despite allowing just one run in six innings of work.

“I’ve always been competitive, so I was definitely walking more batters than I have in past games,” she said. “It was kind of challenging, but I had fun with it. The Escanaba Eskymos are a great team and their batters are tough.”

The game was tied 1-1 entering the fifth when Ross hit the first two batters and walked another. Paxton Bullen drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Eskymos the lead, then two batters later Carsyn Segorski was hit by a pitch to force in another run. Cloutier and Salo followed with back-to-back RBI hits before Lizzy Sliva walked to drive in another run, and suddenly the Eskymos had a 7-1 cushion.

“It’s nice to say these kids were undefeated this year. The only thing that beat them was COVID,” coach Salo said.

“It was a good quality game. The wheels are turning, they’re talking a mile a minute, and we have a big idea for next year that we’re going to play three games and play a slowpitch game in the middle. We’re going to have a lot of fun.”

Emily Moore pitched for the Eskymos in the fifth, allowing just one run on an RBI single by 2004 graduate and Bay College softball coach Heidi Charon.

“It was awesome,” Charon said about playing. “You don’t always know the last time you’ll be able to play a sport at that level, so getting a chance to come back is a special thing. I was just really grateful to have the chance to get a team together with girls I’ve coached and played with. We had a lot of fun.”

McKayla Mott pitched the sixth before Salo came back in to get two outs in the seventh when she was pulled for the final time in her Eskymo career.

“It’ definitely bittersweet to end my career on our home field, especially because we didn’t have a season,” Salo said. “It’s been such a great experience playing with everyone from the U.P., and now the alumni. It’s been a fun two days.”

Delvaux talked about the opportunity to have two Big Ten pitchers on the field, and she offered a little bit of advice to Salo as she goes on to her college career.

“It was pretty cool,” she said. “Gabi is an amazing pitcher. To get us both here — me at 34 and her at 18 — is pretty neat, too. Hopefully that will continue. Escanaba has always had great softball players, so hopefully we’ll see that a little bit more.

“She probably doesn’t need any advice, but I’d say be tough. It doesn’t matter if you come from a small town, she’s going to do great things and she’ll be great.”

The Eskymos will now go forward into next season without their ace pitcher, but coach Salo says they’ll be ready.

“We’ve got big shoes to fill, but they have a big opportunity in front of them,” he said. “We’re going to be ready. I’d love to see a switch in the season (to play in the fall) because we’re just hitting our stride. We had a lot of kids playing summer ball all over the place, and we really want to play.”