Click the thumbnails to see photos and click the AUDIO button to hear comments from Harlee Coolman, and from both teams' managers.
ESCANABA---The Escanaba Eskymos and Negaunee Miners split a doubleheader Thursday night at Lemmerand Park, with the Miners winning the first game, 3-2, and the Eskymos bouncing back to take the nightcap, 10-5.
The result improved Escanaba's record to 7-3 on the season. Negaunee is also 7-3.
“They're probably the best team in the UP, so if you go and play with them, at least you know where you stand,” Negaunee Manager Randy Carlson said. “I'm very, very happy with that. Any time you play good teams like this, and you can come out with a split, that's a good day.”
“Our strength is being selective at the plate and we didn't do that in game one,” Escanaba Manager Andy Fields said. “We got to (Alye) sRobar a little bit, and she's a good pitcher, and if you don't work her, you give the pitcher the advantage. They're a good team. We didn't play up to our standard in the first game, and in the second game, we bounced back and we played more of our style.”
Robar scattered five hits, issued no walks, struck out seven, in a complete game win for the Miners in that opener.
“She's a workhorse,” Carlson said. “If she's throwing strikes and she's around the plate, she doesn't give up a lot of runs. As long as she throws strikes, she's a very good pitcher and I feel confident with her any time on the mound.”
Negaunee scored all three runs on one play in the fourth inning when Megan Marker smacked a double with the bases loaded. She was 3-for-3 at the plate,
In the second game, Negaunee had a 4-2 lead entering the fifth inning before Abby Derkos bunted home a run and Harlee Coolman followed with a two-run base hit to give the Eskymos a 5-4 lead. She scored on a Addy Noblet ground ball.
Escanaba put the game away in the sixth inning with four more runs. Coolman had a another hit to bring in another run, and Derkos and Mara Anderson also had RBI hits.
Coolman ended up with four runs batted in altogether in that second game.
“I was battling back from a rough time to figure out my swing,” Coolman said, “So, getting these, it really feels good to get the four RBI get us ahead for my team. We were selective, we really were. We let her pitch to us, and we got the pitches that we wanted. It really made her tired, You could see it at the end. It felt great.”
Olivia Richards took the loss in the second game for the Miners. Landry Bray picked up the win for the Eskymos.
The Eskymos will be off for Prom Weekend, and will return to action Tuesday with a doubleheader in Kingsford, followed by a home doubleheader Wednesday against Menominee. The Miners are scheduled to host Gwinn in a twinbill on Friday.
