Todd Rose | Daily Press Escanaba’s Abby Hill (left) fouls a ball off in front of Gladstone catcher Lauren Sundquist Tuesday in Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — After six tight innings of softball, the Escanaba Eskymos pulled away in the seventh to defeat the Gladstone Braves 10-1 Tuesday afternoon in Gladstone.

With the win, the Eskymos clinched the Great Northern Conference.

The Eskymos entered the final inning with a one-point lead, 2-1, over the Braves before putting eight up on the board.

Erica Moore had the big hit of the inning for Escanaba as she slammed one over the right-centerfield fence for a three-run homer that brought herself, Lizzy Sliva and McKayla Mott across the plate.

Following the game, Escanaba coach Andy Fields was quick to compliment the Gladstone program.

“I give a lot of credit to Rick (Pepin) and his staff. He’s gotten his girls — they’re ready for a playoff push,” Fields said. “They played really well today. The score doesn’t indicate how close this game was at all.”

The game remained scoreless through the first four innings as Gladstone pitcher Montgomery Pepin (nine strikeouts with four walks, eight hits allowed for seven earned runs) and Escanaba’s pitchers Emily Moore (five strikeouts and one walk with no hits through the first two innings) and Mott (four strikeouts and one walk with no hits through innings three and four) battled from the mound.

Grayson LaMarche (five strikeouts with one allowed hit for one earned run) closed for the Eskymos in the final two innings, while Tia Schone (four hits given up for three earned runs) pitched the final two-thirds of the seventh for Gladstone.

“It was tight. I just kept telling the girls to keep battling up there, and I started to see it the third time through. We started to get the bat on the ball,” said Fields. “And that’s what you’ve got to do against a really good pitcher. Gummy (Montgomery Pepin) has come a long way, and the sky is the limit for that kid.”

The sole Braves run of the day was scored by Lauren Sundquist — who also tallied the only Gladstone hit of the day — in the sixth inning as she crossed home on a sacrifice ground ball off the bat of Addie Trombley.

Braves coach Rick Pepin “couldn’t be more proud” of the way the team played in the game.

“We continue to get better, and this team has figured it out that it’s the mental side that gets you over the hump. And, they’re better for it,” Pepin commented. “The fact that we pushed that team and forced them to have to play seven innings makes me very proud.

“We are playing our best ball at the right time of the year. We grinded out a run in the sixth inning and put ourselves in position to maybe steal the win, and it just wasn’t meant to be. We picked the wrong time to have a bad inning.”

Coach Pepin, like Fields, complimented the Escanaba team.

“Credit to them, that team can explode offensively at any given moment,” he said. “Arguably, (Escanaba) could be the best pitching staff in the state of Michigan, all divisions. I mean, seriously, they are so good.”

As the regular season winds down, both coach Pepin and Fields feel confident about their teams’ chances heading into the postseason.

Before entering the postseason however, Escanaba travels to Kingsford June 1 for a make-up game.