Todd Rose | Daily Press Carley Bowden holds the MHSAA Division 2 Region 9 Championship Trophy into the air as her Escanaba teammates surround her in celebration of the regional title triumph over the Gaylord Blue Devils Saturday in Gaylord.

GAYLORD — With two outs and the score in favor of the Gaylord Blue Devils in the top of the seventh inning, things looked bleak for the Escanaba Eskymos in the MHSAA Division 2 Region Nine Championship Game Saturday in Gaylord.

Then Carsyn Segorski stepped into the batter’s box.

On the very first pitch from Gaylord’s Aubrey Jones, Segorski swung and connected to send the ball sailing deep and over the left-field fence to score the tying run with Carla Braun and the go-ahead as she crossed the plate herself into a sea of cheering Eskymos.

The homer gave Escanaba the lead and win with a score of 3-2.

“I stepped in there, and I knew I needed to do it for my team. I wasn’t losing that game,” commented Segorski following the game. “(The win) is really great. They’re a super, super, good team. I think that’s going to be one of our toughest games throughout the whole run. I think we have a great chance now. It’s just really great to beat a team that good.”

Making the final stand for the Eskymos in the bottom of the seventh was freshman Grayson LaMarche and the Eskymos defense.

LaMarche pitched all seven innings and finished with 12 strikeouts and four walks. She allowed just three hits for two earned runs.

However, as LaMarche herself stated, it didn’t all come down to her as her defense backed her up, with Anna Boutilier earning the first and Carney Salo the final out in the seventh inning on fly balls to third and center field, respectively.

Because of that confidence in her teammates, LaMarche was able to play without feeling much of the pressure. Even entering the final half inning after Segorski’s two-run shot, LaMarche was all business.

“I knew that my defense was behind me, and I didn’t want to have any pressure on me because that’s when things go bad. So, I just tried to calm down and relax,” LaMarche said. “I was just going out there to pitch for her and my team because she helped us out, so I had to help them out back.”

The win over Gaylord completes a campaign for revenge against the team that defeated them in the regionals last year. The hard work and dedication all paid off, said coach Andy Fields.

“It feels great,” Fields remarked. “Our coaching staff has been working a year on this. It’s been burning in our minds for a year. We won so many regional championships in a row, and we took over last year, and it was tough. It was a lot of things to overcome with the new coaching staff and having the COVID year, and these girls were so close last year, and I knew they had it in them. They want it. They want it bad.”

Fields also commented on LaMarche’s performance and the game-winner from Segorski.

“(Grayson) had it. She just had it,” he said. “If you were in this crowd, you could see it. She kept them off-balance all game long. They got on us in the sixth, finally. The top of the order, we knew it was going to be the third time around and that was the test to get through.”

As Segorski readied herself for her final at-bat, Fields and others — including Segorski’s father Jamie — knew what to expect.

“They kind of telegraphed that they were giving us change-ups,” Fields said. “The last at-bat with Carsyn, they gave her like three or four change-ups, and I kind of heard her dad in the background say, ‘Hey, it’s a change-up,’ and first pitch, sure enough, it was a change-up. I knew as soon as the ball was coming out of her hand. I’m like, ‘That’s gone,’ and it was. She took a shot out there.”

After scoring the game’s first run in the opening inning, the Eskymos held control of the game until the sixth.

With runners on base in teammates Jayden Jones and Alexis Shepherd, Gaylord’s Alexis Kozlowski hit a ball to right field for a triple, driving in Jones and Shepherd.

However, as Jones slid into home, Escanaba catcher Carley Bowden, another freshman, leapt into the air to catch an incoming throw from the outfield. As Bowden’s feet came back down, Jones collided with her during the slide sending Bowden to the dirt and the ball rolling toward the Eskymos’ dugout. In the scramble that followed, Shepherd crossed the plate as well.

The collision took Bowden out of action for the remainder of the game with an apparent leg injury, which then put the spotlight on freshman Emma Wisler as she came in to replace her injured teammate.

“Emma Wisler works her butt off at practice, and she deserves this moment,” commented Fields. “She was ready, and she’ll fill in nicely if Carley can’t go. So, we’ll see what happens.

“Our program is top to bottom, one through 24, all of the players, are really good. If I could have brought my whole JV team along with us, I would have.”

The underlying theme of the title game was youth. In addition to the Escanaba freshmen, Gaylord’s team featured zero seniors on their starting lineup. Freshman pitcher Aubrey Jones pitched the whole game for the team and ended with six strikeouts and two walks. She allowed five hits for three runs, one earned.

Blue Devils coach Kelli Parker — who noted a bright future for her team and the whole region with the youth boasted by both — was complimentary of Escanaba following the game.

“Escanaba’s a good team. I knew they were going to be coming at us a little bit since last year when we beat us last year,” said Parker. “They punched us in the mouth in the first inning, and I think it took the wind out of our sails. They are a solid team. Their pitcher (LaMarche), we struggled with her rise-ball. I hope she continues to keep doing that as she continues in the tourney.”

Escanaba now moves onto the MHSAA Division 2 State Quarterfinals to face Hudsonville Unity Christian Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 eastern at Northwood University in Midland.