An Esky Gladstone faceoff kicked off the Esky Invite Friday.

“We had timely hits,” Esky coach Andy Fields said. “We took advantage of their errors. That’s kind of what you have to do to be successful.

“Overall, we had a lot of quality at-bats tonight. We had a lot of 3-2 counts. We had a lot go down 0-2 and battle back to 3-2. Just overall, it was a great good effort as far as our group effort tonight.”

The Eskymos loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first inning, and it was a ground single from Anna Boutilier that drove in Carney Salo and Lizzy Sliva for their first two runs.

Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Emily Moore pitches against Marquette May 7 in Escanaba.

With Erica Moore up at the plate, courtesy runner Carley McInerney crossed home on a passed ball, and Moore’s double on a line drive let Boutilier add another to make it 4-0.

“The first inning was a result of our nerves, which resulted in a couple errors,” Braves coach Rick Pepin said. “That gave Escanaba all the momentum early on, but we’ll grow from this.

“We’re young. This is our first really good action of the year. We’ll learn from this, and this is a teachable moment.”

The Braves went three up three down in the bottom, and they fell behind further when Esky added one in the top of the second.

After a walk in the bottom of the second, Gladstone’s Montgomery Pepin homered over the center field fence to put two on the board and reduce its deficit to 5-2.

Despite the Braves not adding any more runs, they clamped down on the Eskymos and pushed the game to a final sixth inning (due to invite rules, the game was called after the sixth due to time).

“I’m just glad after that first inning that we settled down a little bit and got our feet underneath us,” coach Pepin said. “We’re a younger team, and that’s where we need to grow — on the mental side. Our girls will work hard, and our girls will get better from it.”

Esky added two in the third, two in the fifth — including a homer from Moore — and one in the sixth to seal the game.

“Erica Moore has been a hot bet all year,” Fields said. “She put one over the scoreboard here tonight.”

The Braves followed Escanaba’s example in the opening inning of their Saturday morning game against Norway, taking a 3-0 lead in the top thanks to shots from Addie Trombley, Schone and Rylee Gerow.

“We’re really pleased with the way our girls responded this morning after yesterday,” coach Rick Pepin said. “We had a quick start scoring three runs. Lauren started us off, first pitch against the fence. From there, it was contagious. We had 25 hits as a team. We had significant contributions from everybody up and down the batting order.”

Norway, with one out, added one in the bottom of the first as Averie Popp’s line drive to center scored Kali Stanchina.

“Our catcher Averie Popp was three for four and had six RBIs,” Norway coach Robert Bal said. “We hit some good things. Our centerfield played well. She hit some cuts. We had some nice tag-outs at third base. We dropped a few things. Our pitcher pitched well and didn’t have many walks.”

A fly and ground out just after halted any momentum the Knights built up.

The Braves were more productive in the top of the second, with Samara Sanville’s fly single to start. Sanville then reached second on a Knights’ fielding error.

Shortly after, Sundquist doubled on a fly ball into left field, and Sanville took advantage to cross home plate.

After Knight’s pitcher Stanchina tallied another strikeout, their left was targeted again, this time by Schone, driving in Sundquist for a 5-1 lead.

Gerow drew a walk, and Montgomery Pepin scored them both with a fly ball that nearly hit the fence.

Mackenzie Gilroy started the bottom of the second off right for the Knights, doubling on a deep shot that hit the center field fence.

Shortly after, Stanchina’s ground single loaded the bases after an earlier walk. Hannah Burklund then drew another walk to score Gilroy.

Popp finished the inning with a deep double to center, scoring three to bring the Knights within two, 7-5.

The Braves went on a roll in the top of the third, adding five to make it 13-5.

“Norway is a very well-coached, scrappy team,” coach Pepin said. “We played cleaner today defensively. It just showed we’re a better team than yesterday and that we’re getting better. Physically, we have all the skills to play with anybody, but where we need to grow as a team is from the shoulders up. That’s a process.”

Neither team had much success in the following innings, the Braves adding one in the fourth and the Knights two in the sixth on a two-RBI line drive double from Popp.

Gladstone added six more in the seventh, and Norway went three up, three down to end the game.

“You can’t give up,” Bal said. “You’ve got to keep the long at-bats. You’ve got to avoid the five and six out innings. In the beginning, we didn’t do so many good things, but in the end, I’m overall happy with the effort. They kept fighting, and they didn’t give up.

“It’s a good tournament and a good time to play. I told the girls that these are the kinds of tournaments you need to play in — where everybody is quality.”

The Eskymos ended their weekend with a 15-0 win over Marquette after a 6-1 win over Millington earlier in the day.

“Very happy with the way the girls played this weekend,” Fields said. “They prepared to win, and they got it done.

“We’ve been a little snake-bitten with Millington the last few years. They’ve gotten the better of us on our home field, but we finally got it over the top today. I go back to this, but our pitchers are outstanding. The Millington team is a well-coached team. We held them to three hits today and one run. A lot of credit goes to my pitching staff. Nobody works harder.

“Erica Moore was our offensive player of the weekend. She had some big hits today against Millington. She had several doubles this weekend. She can put a bunt down for us, and she’s been playing really well.”

Esky added six apiece in the tfirst and second, two in the third and McInerney’s line drive single scored Segorski in the fourth for a mercy-rule walk-off.

The Eskymos earned the win on solid bats and Emily Moore, who was perfect on the mound through four.

‘”Usually when we get down like this, the girls kind of lose their energy and their hope, but this time they had a better, more positive attitude,” Marquette coach Kyle Johnson said. “For us personally, that’s a win. Our pitching was good, and offensively, we hit the ball. We were able to make contact.”

After a pop out to start the bottom of the first, the Eskymos dialed in. Two singles later saw Boutilier earn Esky’s first run on a wild pitch, and Sliva’s ground single allowed Carney Salo to make it home.

Escanaba didn’t slow down from there.

“I think we have a good enough team to possibly get there (state championship), but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Fields said. “We’ve got 10 games coming up this week total, and we’ve got 11 coming up next week. The next two weeks will be very telling as to where we’re at. We still have some things to work on, but we’re working toward our goal to get to East Lansing.

“I (wanted) to thank everybody that makes this happen: my parent volunteers working on the field, the fan club with the concession stand, my (athletic director) for putting this on and we finally have a nice day in the U.P.”

Gladstone visits Menominee today while Escanaba rests until visiting Kingsford Thursday.

Stats

Friday — Esky v. Gladstone

Esky’s McKayla Mott earned the win on the mound over four, allowing two hits, two runs and one walk while striking out seven. Grayson LaMarche went two innings in relief, striking out five and walking two.

Boutilier, Erica Moore and McInerney picked up two RBIs apiece, and Segorski added three hits and one RBI. Izzy Braun also earned an RBI. Sliva, Boutilier and Erica Moore also earned two hits each.

Pepin took the loss over four innings after giving up seven hits, seven runs and three walks. She struck out one. Tia Schone gave up four hits and three runs (2 earned) after two innings in relief.

Pepin finished with two RBIs and one hit, and Schone finished with one hit.

Saturday — Gladstone v. Norway (Note: stats may be incomplete. They will be updated online when available.)

Montgomery Pepin gave up six hits, five walks and seven runs over seven innings. She struck out nine. Sundquist finished with five hits, and Schone collected three.

Stanchina pitched the entirety, giving up 25 hits, two walks and 20 runs, while striking out five.

Popp finished with three hits and six RBIs. Burklund earned two hits.

Escanaba v. Marquette

LaMarche finished with four RBIs and three hits. Salo, McInerney, Sliva, Delaney McIntyre and Mott notched an RBI apiece.

Hailey Fredrick took the loss for Marquette, giving up 11 hits and 10 runs over one and one-third innings. Lyndsey Lake pitched the remainder in relief, allowing seven hits, five runs and two walks.