MIDLAND---The Escanaba Major Little League All-Stars are in lower Michigan for the start of the Michigan Little League State Tournament.
Sixteen teams from across the state will compete over the next five days for a trip to the Central Regional in Indianapolis.
The tournament is being hosted by Essexville-Hampton Little League for the first time since 1994. Since then, the fields have been renovated and Essexville, which had several powerhouse teams in the early 2000's, are one of the pre-tournament favorites.
Escanaba advanced to the state finals after a tense district tournament in Kingsford. The girls played 21 innings of softball against Gladstone, splitting a pair of six inning games before winning the district championship in nine innings on Sunday.
The Eskymos are led by pitchers Gabi Salo and Hannah Edington, who have been helped this summer by Escanaba High Schoolers Sam Connor and Becca Piron.
The Escanaba girls made the long trip on Wednesday to Essexville, a small town in the state's thumb area near Bay City. Because tall ships are coming into the area this weekend, hotel rooms are sold out. So, the girls are staying 20 miles away in Midland.
The girls practiced on Wednesday at Central Michigan University, where the high school Eskymos lost a heartbreaking state quarterfinal game less than a month ago.
The girls also competed in a skills competiton in Essexville, and attended a picnic.
The 16 teams are broken down into four, four-team pools.
Escanaba will play three games in "pool play", before the top two teams in each pool advance to the knock-out round.
Escanaba's first game is set for Thursday afternoon against Lac St. Clair, the District Six Champions from the northeastern Detroit suburbs.
Game time is 3:30. WCHT-AM (600) will broadcast the game live, starting at 3:15. The game will also be streamed live on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
Escanaba will face Rogers City at 10:00 Friday morning, and will take on Negaunee at 6:15 Saturday night. The state quarterfinals are set for Sunday afternoon, the semifinals are on Monday, and the state championship game is at noon on Tuesday.
Check back here for all of the highlights throughout the tournament.
Sixteen teams from across the state will compete over the next five days for a trip to the Central Regional in Indianapolis.
The tournament is being hosted by Essexville-Hampton Little League for the first time since 1994. Since then, the fields have been renovated and Essexville, which had several powerhouse teams in the early 2000's, are one of the pre-tournament favorites.
Escanaba advanced to the state finals after a tense district tournament in Kingsford. The girls played 21 innings of softball against Gladstone, splitting a pair of six inning games before winning the district championship in nine innings on Sunday.
The Eskymos are led by pitchers Gabi Salo and Hannah Edington, who have been helped this summer by Escanaba High Schoolers Sam Connor and Becca Piron.
The Escanaba girls made the long trip on Wednesday to Essexville, a small town in the state's thumb area near Bay City. Because tall ships are coming into the area this weekend, hotel rooms are sold out. So, the girls are staying 20 miles away in Midland.
The girls practiced on Wednesday at Central Michigan University, where the high school Eskymos lost a heartbreaking state quarterfinal game less than a month ago.
The girls also competed in a skills competiton in Essexville, and attended a picnic.
The 16 teams are broken down into four, four-team pools.
Escanaba will play three games in "pool play", before the top two teams in each pool advance to the knock-out round.
Escanaba's first game is set for Thursday afternoon against Lac St. Clair, the District Six Champions from the northeastern Detroit suburbs.
Game time is 3:30. WCHT-AM (600) will broadcast the game live, starting at 3:15. The game will also be streamed live on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
Escanaba will face Rogers City at 10:00 Friday morning, and will take on Negaunee at 6:15 Saturday night. The state quarterfinals are set for Sunday afternoon, the semifinals are on Monday, and the state championship game is at noon on Tuesday.
Check back here for all of the highlights throughout the tournament.
