KINGSFORD — Escanaba scored four runs in the bottom of the opening inning and never looked back, as they powered past Kingsford, 10-0 in five innings in an MHSAA Division 2 softball District semifinal at Lodal Park on Kingsford Saturday morning.

McKayla Mott toed the mound for the Eskymos and allowed the Flivvers minimal base runners. Escanaba’s precision in basically every aspect of the game had Kingsford reeling from the get-go.

Mott helped her cause, joining her teammates throughout the lineup in getting on base at least once throughout the game. Mott also drove in a pair of runs.

Escanaba pecked away and put runners on base little by little, and their lead grew until it reached the 10-run mercy plateau to end the game.

“We’ve really started hitting the ball the last two weeks,” said Escanaba head coach Andy Fields. “We had a period in the middle of the season where we stopped hitting the ball, getting shutout in games downstate, but the girls went back to the fundamentals and are starting to blast the ball all over the field.”

Fields noted that the score wasn’t an indication of what kind of team Kingsford has. He went on to note that in the Great Northern Conference season, Kingsford gave the Eskymos two very competitive games in a doubleheader at Escanaba.

“Coach Cori (Rice) has the program going in the right direction. It’ll be fun to play them in the future,” Fields stated.

The Eskymos improved to 20-9 on the season with the win.

Kingsford, whose season ended with an 18-17 record, struggled to get any momentum in any aspect of the game.

“The way we prepared throughout the week, I thought the girls were going to come out on the field in a much different manner in which they started,” said Kingsford head coach Cori Rice. “It was uncharacteristic of the girls to make four errors in the first inning, which wasn’t the time for that against this team. Today wasn’t our day.”

The Flivvers say goodbye to nine seniors with Saturday’s season-ending loss. Ashley DeMay, Kyley Corsi, Maddy Johnson, Teagan Petschar, Kylie Mitchell, Claire Phillips, Lizzy Cross, San Gaucher and Grace Richer.

“I will miss all of them a ton. We had a good season, Rice said.”

Kingsford having a JV team means the program has good numbers and interest in softball in the near future.

“Things feel good going forward. We have good support within the program,” Rice stated. “Abby Terrian worked her way back from surgery and was able to play the last two weeks of the season, which was great as well.”