Escanaba Softball Looking To Defend Regional Title

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School softball team practiced this afternoon in preparation for Saturday's Division Two regional semifinal game against Remus Chippewa Hills. The Eskymos won their district championship last weekend with a 15-0 win over Sault Ste. Marie, followed by a 4-1 win over Kingsford.

 

That was a game where the Eskymos stranded 13 base runners, including the bases loaded three times. And so the girls were working a lot today on their "short game" of bunting.

"We're just working on all of the little stuff," Eskymo senior Emily Bruntjens said. "Just making sure that everything we do is to the best of our ability. Our short game, and just hitting, and just making sure that we're all talking and communicating."

"We've been working on the short game, getting our bunts down," Eskymo senior Jerrika McAlpine added. "That's really going to help us when we get to the big tournament. We've been doing a lot of fielding, and hitting. We've got to do that well in order to win."

The Eskymos have a 34-4 record entering the regional tournament in Cadillac, with senior Katie Ross and freshman Gabi Salo splitting the pitching duties. 

 

The Warriors from the Mount Pleasant area have a 14-19 record this season, winning their first district title since 2014 with wins over Big Rapids (8-3) and Whitehall (3-2).

The first semifinal game on Saturday pits Muskegon Oakridge...who the Eskymos beat in the regional final last year...and Kalkaska....who moved up from Division Three this year.

"Chip Hills always puts together a good squad," Escanaba Manager Jamie Segorski said. "And Muskegon Oakridge, they have almost their entire team returning from last year. We had a 10-6 game with them last year. They're just a real solid program, good coach, fundamentally tough. It's not gonna be an easy weekend."

The Eskymo-Chippewa Hills game is at noon Saturday. The regional winner advances to the quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon at Central Michigan University.