The 2025 Gladstone softball team poses for a photo with its district championship trophy on May 30, 2025 at Gladstone High School. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

GLADSTONE — Lauren Pare and Lauren Sundquist each had two home runs on the day to power No. 2 Gladstone softball to a district title

The Braves defeated Cheboygan 6-0 in the semifinal round and Menominee 15-0 in the championship game.

The Braves now advance to regional action beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday in Boyne City against Grayling, who edged Boyne City 3-2 in its district championship game on Saturday. The winner of that matchup faces the winner of Kingsley and Negaunee.

The first game against Cheboygan remained tied until the bottom of the third inning, when Sundquist hit a three-run home run to put the Braves up 3-0.

“It was a 0-0 game, and I feel like we were a little tense at the time,” Sundquist said. ” We had runners on second and third and I knew all I needed to do was get a sacrifice fly and it ended up getting out.”

After Tia Schone flew out to right field, Pare hit a solo home run to extend the Braves lead to 4-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Sundquist singled on a ground ball to center to bring in a run, extending the Braves lead to 5-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, Sundquist hit her second home run of the game to put the Braves up 6-0.

“Lauren is a big time player,” Braves coach Scott Herioux said. “This is a playoff game, and you’d expect her to perform well on this stage.”

Schone picked up the win for the Braves allowing zero runs on three hits with 15 strikeouts and zero walks.

“I put a lot of faith in my defense behind me,” Schone said. “I’m not always a strikeout pitcher and I rely on (freshman shortstop) Ava (Goodman) and (sophomore third baseman) Maddy (Sundquist), and even (senior second baseman) Alli (Larson) to make a lot of good plays and a lot of difficult plays.”

In the championship game, the Braves scored four runs in the first inning highlighted by a two-run home by Pare.

“I was really happy to get the win,” Pare said. “We played very well as a team, and Tia has done a great job for us coming off her injury from last season.”

The Braves added five runs on two hits in the second inning to put the Braves up 9-0.

Tia Schone allowed zero runs on two hits with eight strikeouts and zero walks in five innings of work.

“We were able to get some hits and runs early in the game to give us the momentum we needed,” Herioux said. “On the pitching side Tia changes speed well and that makes her tough to get hits on.”

Menominee defeated Manistique 12-3 in its semifinal matchup.

Menominee scored 10 runs over the last three innings. Kayden Olsen led the way for the Maroons as she went 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

The Maroons scored five runs on three hits in the seventh inning highlighted by an RBI-double by Erika Peterson.

Ella Baker earned the win for the Maroons allowing three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.