It's been quite a week for the Escanaba and Gladstone High School softball teams. Both have played multiple games in a short period of time, and both have had success on the diamond. The Braves won twice in downstate Tawas on Saturday before falling to the host team in the semifinals. And the Eskymos hosted their own tournament on Saturday and won three out of four games. Click the above headline to read the details for both the Eskymos and Braves.
The Gladstone Indians improved to 9-0 on the season by posting two wins over the Channing Railroaders, 12-2 and 9-1 in Dickinson County. Matt Weyers got the pitching win in the opener, and Blake Ballard shared pitching duties with Christian Groleau in the nightcap. Click the above headline to read the details.
The Manistique High School softball team has now won six straight games. The Emeralds won the championship of its "Pink Tournament" on Saturday, beating Munising, 4-2, and Norway, 9-3. The Emeralds made just one error in the doublehader. "You can't go wrong when you get defense like that," Manistique Coach Dave McNeil said. Haley MacGregor got the pitching victory in both games.
The Gladstone Indians posted an easy 10-1 American Legion baseball victory in Ishpeming on Friday. Cody Frazer continued his hot hitting by getting four more hits in the game. Click the above headline to see more details.
The Escanaba High School baseball team needed a better performance on Friday after suffering through two poor efforts in Marinette and Kingsford. Junior pitcher David Falish provided that boost by throwing a complete-game four-hitter, and the defense was good behind him as the Eskymos beat the Alpena Wildcats, 8-2, at Al Ness Field.
The Escanaba High School softball team bounced back from Thursday's losses to Gladstone by sweeping a doubleheader from the Cheboygan Chiefs, 8-2 and 10-0, Friday, at Lemmerand Park. Pictured: Codi Jenshak earned the win in the circle for the Eskymos. Click the above headline to see more pictures and watch video highlights.
The Gladstone High School boys track team used its "home track" advantage to power past five other teams and win the MHSAA Division One regional championship on Thursday. Jared Vuksan broke the school record in the shot put and Justin Pederson won two field events and was part of winning relay team. Marquette won the girls championship and was second in the boys event. Escanaba's girls took second. Esky's boys were fifth. Click the above headline to see more scores and photos. The team scores of other track meets held across the region are also posted there.
Cody Frazer got a concussion in gym class and Dan Williams was sick. Munising was short a couple of kids, too, so what did the Gladstone Braves and Munising Mustangs do for their tennis match on Thusrday? They went "old school". They went to three singles and three doubles matches, and the Braves pulled out a 4-2 win on a windy afternoon in Gladstone. Click the above headline to see the scores.
The Gladstone High School softball team rallied from three runs down to beat the Escanaba Eskymos, 5-3, in the second game of a doubleheader Thursday night in Gladstone. Whitney Wells came through with the big two-run hit in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie. Gladstone also won the opener, 2-0. Click the above headline to read the story, see photos, and listen to audio.
The Escanaba High School baseball team made six errors and blew a four-run lead, losing to the Kingsford Blues Legion team, 8-7, Thursday at Spigarelli Field. Devin Olsen allowed just one earned run over five innings of pitching, but the bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Cam Beversluis and Tyler Skufca each had three hits for the Eskymos. Click the above headline to read more details.
The Gladstone Braves softball team will be very busy the next few days, and the girls got off to a good start on Wednesday by posting a pair of wins over the Rapid River Rockets, 8-2 and 6-2, in Gladstone. This was a make-up from a twinbill that was rained out last week.
Pictured: Gladstone's Christine Sharon throws a pitch during Wednesday's first game. Click the above headline to see more photos and videos from the game.
The Escanaba Eskymos tennis team was dominant in its doubles matches on Wednesday, and that helped the Eskymos to defeat the Gladstone Braves, 5-3.
The Eskymos won all four doubles matches on the high school courts, while at the same time, in Ludington Park, the Braves took three of four singles matches.
Pictured: Eskymo senior Hunter Bradford returns a serve during Wednesday's match. Click the above headline to see more pictures and video highlights.
Luckily for the Escanaba High School baseball team, the road through the state tournament does not include a trip across the Menominee River into Wisconsin. The Eskymos played their sixth and final game against a Wisconsin opponent on Tuesday, and lost to the Marinette Marines, 13-3, at Pederson Ballpark. Click the above headline to read more details, listen to audio, and see pictures and videos.
The Gladstone High School girls golf team cruised to an easy victory on the links Tuesday, winning the Negaunee Invitational by 21 strokes over second-place Marquette. In the boys meet, Westwood edged the Braves by three strokes to win the title. Escanaba finished in fifth place amongst the eight teams in both the boys and girls tournaments. Click the above headline to see all of the scores.
The Escanaba High School tennis team won three of four singles matches and managed to post a 4-4 tie with the Kingsford Flivvers in a Great Northern Conference match Tuesday in Dickinson County. The Eskymos host Gladstone on Wednesday.
Pictured: Escanaba's John Brant topped Kingsford's Joe Gregory at #3 singles. Click the above headline to see all of Tuesday's results.
Cody Frazer drove in three runs and Colin O'Neal allowed just one run in four innings of relief to help the Gladstone Indians slip past the Marquette Redmen, 3-2, Monday in Marquette. Justin Jurek scored all three of Gladstone's runs as the Tribe improved to 6-0. Click the above headline to read the story, see photos and videos, and listen to audio.
The Gladstone Braves had an easy day on the courts Monday, winning all eight flights from the Norway Knights. Two of the wins were 6-0, 6-0, while two others were 6-1, 6-0.
Meanwhile, the Escanaba Eskymos traveled to Marquette and lost, 8-0. Only two of the Eskymo matches made it past straight sets. Pictured: Gladstone's Cody Frazer serves in his doubles match. Click the above headline to see more details from both tennis matches.
Kevin Gendron burned up the Menominee North Shore golf course on Monday, carding a 74 to lead the Escanaba Eskymos to a third place finish at the Menominee Invitational. Marinette won the six-team invite, while Marquette took second. As a team, the Eskymos shot a 331, six shots behind Marinette. The Gladstone Braves finished fifth with 347 strokes. Gladstone's girls won first spot, with Escanaba second. Click the above headline to see all results.
The Escanaba High School baseball team turned to its small senior class to beat the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils Saturday afternoon at Al Ness Field. Alex DeHaan and Austin Young handcuffed the visitors from the mound, and the Eskymos took advantage of numerous Soo errors to sweep the doubleheader, 11-3 and 10-0.
Pictured: Alex DeHaan goes into second base, knee-first. (Sheila Olsen photo). Click the above headline to see more photos, watch videos, hear audio, and read details.
The Gladstone High School softball team lost to two strong Lower Peninsula teams Saturday at the Petoskey Invitational. The Braves lost to South Haven, 5-3, and to Farmington Hills Mercy, 6-2. Gladstone won its final game there, beating Onaway, 4-2. "Even with the two losses it was a great tournament for us," Braves Coach Jerry Smith said. "We faced three great teams with excellent pitching and hitters."
The Rapid River High School softball team won three games at a tournament in downstate Ann Arbor on Saturday before losing in the championship game at Skyline High School. Rapid River started the day with a 3-1 win over Adrian, then beat Beaverton, 5-2. After disposing of the host Skyline team, 10-0, the Rockets lost in the championship game to Utica, 4-1.
The Escanaba High School softball team, had a successful trip below the Bridge on Saturday as the girls took two out of three games at the Petoskey Invitational.
The girls started the day with a tough 5-4 loss to the Reese Rockets. But Escanaba rallied to beat Detroit Country Day, 7-5, and then the girls beat the host Petoskey Northmen, 12-2. Escanaba will face Petoskey in the first round of the district tournament in three weeks.
The Gladstone Indians welcomed Matt Weyers home from college on Saturday, and the 19-year-old fit right in with his younger teammates as the Indians swept the Menominee Red Wave, 3-2 and 15-3, at Menominee's Spies Field.
Weyers pitched four innings of relief and scored the winning run in the first game, then rookie Levi Cunningham picked up his first Legion victory in the nightcap.
Pictured: Justin Jurek at the plate last weekend. He had the game-winning hit on Saturday. Click the above headline to read more details about Saturday's games.
It was an idea several years in the making: a high school track meet under the lights. And they pulled it off Friday night in Gladstone, as the Braves hosted Norway, Rapid River, Bark River-Harris and Stephenson in both boys and girls track.
There were no team scores kept. Click the above headline to see some of the individual winners, and a bunch of pictures and videos from the event.
Manistique High School Senior Mike Nagy is in the spotlight as the Michigan High School Athletic Association chose him as its top story for the week. Nagy is a golfer, and he is the best in the Upper Peninsula this spring. He has signed to play college golf at the University of Tennessee. Click the above headline to read the story, written by the MHSAA's Geoff Kimmerly.
The Gladstone High School tennis team posted a 5-3 win over the Menominee Maroons Thursday in Menominee, as the #1 doubles team of Cody Frazer and Bryce Wolf rallied to win a three-set match. Meanwhile, further north, in Negaunee, the Escanaba Eskymos ran into a buzzsaw, falling to the Negaunee Miners, 7-1.
Pictured: Escanaba's Kyle Pinozek teamed up with his partner Nate Belanger to provide Escanaba's only win. Click the above headline to read about both of Thursday's matches.
The Escanaba Eskymos pounded out 14 base hits, and despite making several defensive errors, beat the Marquette Redmen, 14-3, Thursday evening in Marquette.
Bailey Lamb hit a three run homer and Austin Young had three hits, backing the pitching of Devin Olsen and Andrew Sedlar. Pictured: Eskymo first baseman Bailey Lamb jumps over Marquette's Alex Piatrowski as he tries to catch a bad pick-off throw. Click the above headline to read the game story, listen to audio, and see more pictures.
The Escanaba High School boys golf team won its own invitational on Thursday, edging the Gladstone Braves by one stroke to win the five-team event. But Gladstone cruised to the victory in the girls meet, easily outdistancing second place Marquette and third place Escanaba. Marquette golfers won the medalist honors in both the boys and girls meets. Click the above headline to see details.
The Gladstone Indians got home runs from Jake Pearson and Cody Frazer, then held off a late Escanaba Eskymo rally to post a 5-4 win at Don Olsen Field. Gladstone freshman Justin Jurek came on to pitch in the seventh inning with two men on and no outs, and retired three of Escanaba's beat hitters to preserve the victory for winning pitcher Blake Ballard. Click the above headline to read the game story, see pictures and videos, and listen to radio replays.
A downstate lawmaker is trying to raise awareness of the dangers of kids getting concussions in sporting events, and then going back into the game.
State representative Tom Hooker (R-Byron Center) says his legislation could help to save a kid's life. he says that the days of telling a kid "boy, you got your bell rung, get back in the game" are over. There's a growing awareness of the dangers of sports concussions amongst Michigan sports coaches, and Hooker says that his law would require that all coaches get trained on concussion safety. Click the above headline to read more details.
