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Gladstone 9-10 Girls Win First Two Games At States
 WYOMING, Mich.---The Escanaba Junior Girls (age 13-14) won a state championship on this field earlier this week. Now, the Gladstone Minor Girls (age 9-10) want to follow suit. Gladstone beat St. Clair, 4-0, to open state tournament play late Friday night. The girls then pounded Ypsilanti Lincoln, 22-1, on Saturday to go to 2-0 in the 16-team event. No details were reported on that game. Friday night's game started 97 minutes late due to rain, and it ended as the sun was already down at Pinery Park Little League. "It was getting really dark," Gladst0ne Manager Rodney Schwartz said. "The clouds kind of rolled in again and pushed the sun down. We were trying to get the girls in and out quick so we wouldn't have to wait to have our game moved to the other field with lights. We would have had to sit there, and we had momentum on our side." 
Gladstone's Jenna Rubick.
It stayed that way until the fourth inning, when the District Seven champions tried to tie the game. Mia Janssen got a one-out single and stole sceond base. Julianna Cataldo hit a ground ball to second that was fielded nicely and and an accurate throw to first base was made for the out. But Jannsen tried to score and she was tagged out by catcher Trudeau. Also on defense, St. Clair tried two bunts that Gladstone third baseman Morgan Letteriello made texbook plays on to keep runners off of the basepaths. Then in the bottom of the fourth, Gladstone added a run as Brittany Schwartz led off with a single and advanced to second on an outfield error. Then Trudeau smacked a double to score Schwartz, and it was a 2-0 ballgame.  
Brittany Schwartz triple.
That was all the offense that Gladstone needed as Schwartz was on-target with her pitches. She threw a one-hitter, striking out 12 batters in her six innings of work. "Brittany threw a whale of a game again," Coach Schwartz said. "It seems like she's getting out off the mound a little bit. Dragging that foot farther. She had some snap (on her fastball) tonight. Gladstone faces Tecumseh Sunday afternoon in the team's final pool game. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see more photos and videos from the game. |
