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Thursday April 18, 2024
Escanaba Softball Dreams Of 'Three-Peat' Dashed

ESCANABA---Friday was supposed to be Opening Day for the Escanaba High School softball team. The Eskymos are ranked Number One in the State of Michigan for all divisions, and ranked Number 19 in the entire country.

The quest for a third straight Division Two state championship was supposed to begin Friday afternoon against the Kaukauna Lightning in Wisconsin.

But then came word from the Michigan High School Athletic Association this afternoon that the spring sports seasons are no longer suspended. They are cancelled.

Just like that, another wild ride to Michigan State University was dashed.

Escanaba’s Lemmerand Park almost never looks the way it did on Friday this early in April. The snow is gone, the field is groomed, the temperature was 51 degrees.

Perfect for a Yooper softball game.

But there will be no high school softball played here, or anywahere.

"It was totally expected, and not only expected, but totally appreciated in terms of the safety of not only the kids, parents, coaches, just the public in general," Eskymo Head Coach Gary Salo said Friday afternoon. "There's things you remember in life, and I remember being on the bus riding over to the finals (at MSU) and I went to the back of the bus and told the girls: 'three hours from now, you have a chance to be a legend.  They lived up to that. They wanted to keep going. But this was the right decision." 

Michigan High School Athetic Association Director Mark Uyl was just as sad.

“We are heartbroken to not be able to provide these opportunities for Michigan’s student-athletes, and especially seniors. We continue to hear from dozens asking us to hold out hope. But safety always must come first, and Governor Whitmer is making courageous decisions to safeguard the people of our state,” Uyl said Friday.

Salo is also a teacher at the Escanaba High School, says the move is understandable given the toll the coronavirus  has taken on our state. He says they're adjusting to the new realities of delivering education remotely.

"I learned what Google classroom was three days ago," Salo laughed. "I've already got 59 kids with accounts on-line learning. We're going to have to do a little extra work to figure out the logistics of the students who need Internet at home, but I know our district in Escanaba is working on that right now."


But as for softball, it came to a sudden finality on Friday.

Salo says he feels bad for his five seniors, including his daughter, Gabi, who has signed to play Division One softball for the University of Wisconsin Badgers.

"Gabi, Dakota Cloutier, Jalin Olson, Maddy Block, Rylee Kuehl, all of those girls wanted to live out a dream and do something. I told them let's try do something unthinkable this year. I think for the last one, two weeks, the girls have kind of known this was coming. They really stepped up (in off-season preparations), and this is, by far, the best group we've ever had coming into an Opening Day. That's a compliment to the last two groups for setting the table and raising those expectations so high."

Salo says he has the senior banners for those five players will still be done, and once the restrictrions are lifted, they'll put on a celebration of their successes.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see and hear comments from Coach Salo. Also relive the final out of the 2018 and 2019 state championship victories.










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