WALK-OFF WINNER: Gladstone Edges St. Clair 2-1

TECUMSEH---The Gladstone Major Girls (age 11-12) Little League softball team advanced to the state quarterfinals on Monday with a nerve-wracking 2-1 win over St. Clair in downstate Tecumseh. Gladstone will play Cheboygan in the quarters on Tuesday.

Rylee Gerow's two out infield hit in the bottom of the sixth inning moved Montgomery Pepin from first to third, and when the throw to third was in the dirt and charamed away into foul territory, Pepin raced home to score a dramatic winning run.

'''I really needed a hit so that we didn’t have to go into extra time,” Gerow said. “And I was just happy that I could do this winning hit for our team. I felt really nervous, but really happy at the same time. We spend a lot of time in the batting cages and it’s paying off.”

“Relieved,” Gladstone left fielder Reece Herioux said. “They were really good competitors. I mean, they had a good pitcher, they had a strong defense, and they were pretty good hitters, too. I'm happy that we get to advance to bracket play."

Gladstone Manager Rick Pepin was also relieved...and proud of the effort.

“They played a great game,” Pepin said. “Their pitcher was solid. It basically came down to an error. For us, that’s three days and we’ve yet to make an error. That’s a credit to us. I thought there was a handful of moments when our girls could have given up. There were several times when St. Clair stole the momentum from us. But Rylie Gerow came through.”

Gladstone scored in the bottom of the first inning when Lauren Sundquist drew a one-out walk and Maggie Buckley got a bloop single to right field. A double steal moved up both runners, and Sundquist scored on a passed ball to make it 1-0.

The District Seven champions from the Port Huron area got even in the second inning. Rachelle Schweihofer led off with a single and scored on a double to the left field fence by Audrey Schindler.

Pepin struck out the next batter she faced, but walked Anna Patsalis to put two runners on. She got Kylie Rennie to ground out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the inning, Herioux led off with a triple for Gladstone.

But as she rounded third base, she got caught too far off of the bag and was tagged out.

Samantha Dreileck smacked a two-out single, but St. Clair’s pitcher, Schindler, got Tia Schone to ground out.

Tabi Furlin led off the third inning with a base hit for St. Clair and was bunted to second base by Madi Cole. Pepin rallied to strike out the next two batters to keep it a 1-1 game.

Sundquist got a one-out single for Gladstone in the bottom of the third inning, and she stole second and third.

But Buckley and Pepin both took called third strikes and it stayed tied.

Both pitchers got into a groove in the middle innings, with each piling up strikeout after strikeout. In the bottom of the fifth, Gladstone had another chance to grab the lead when Schone got an infield hit with one out.

Addie Trombley’s infield hit moved Schone to third, and when the throw got away, she tried to score, but was tagged out at the plate.

Pepin held serve in the top of the sixth, leading to the dramatic bottom of the sixth.

Gladstone had seven base hits in the contest, with Buckley getting two. St. Clair had three hits, with none after the first three innings. Pepin walked three and struck out twelve batters.

Schindler allowed seven hits and did not walk a batter. She fanned nine batters.

Gladstone will face Cheboygan in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, after Cheboygan advanced with a 13-1 win over Hillman. Game time is 11:30 and will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600) and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and video highlights taken by Amy Sundquist. Also, click above to see and hear post-game interviews.