Essexville-Hampton played strong in the State Tournament. (MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

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EHLL Undefeated In Pool Play, Bows Out in Qtr Finals of LLM State Tourney

August 2, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: John Keuvelaar

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The Essexville-Hampton Little League softball is well known state wide as being a top program. Celebrating their 10 year anniversary of winning the State title and sending its team to the Little League World Series in Portland, Oregon, this year's squad was looking to capture another State title in hopes of history repeating itself.

The three game pool play began on Thursday, July 10 against a strong Sand Creek squad out of down state. Helped by a couple EHLL miscues, the Creek moved out to a 2-0 first inning lead. But Katie Yacks handled the early pressure with poise and shut down Sand Creek the rest of the way giving her teammates a chance to respond. And respond they did.

Karli Gasta and Brianna Woods led off the bottom of the third inning with singles. Then Gillian Srebinski ripped a triple knotting the score at 2 apiece.

Sand Creek grabbed back the lead in the top of the fifth but EHLL would come roaring back with three runs in their half of the inning. Srebinski stroked her second triple of the night followed by a run scoring single by Madison Evans. Moments later Morgan Evans drove Madison home and Ellie Ramirez finished the scoring with a single of her own. Katie Yacks struck out the side for a 5-3 opening game win. Next up was Rogers City in a game that was tight all six innings. Pitcher Katie Yacks and a strong Essexville-Hampton defense was the story of this game. Through the first five innings, Yacks faced no more than four batters in an inning. Part of her success was due to two double plays that kept the Orange of Rogers City from getting on track.

EHLL got on board in the second inning due to the generosity of RC's pitching. The Rogers City pitcher walked the bases loaded then walked in a run to put EHLL up 1-0 after two innings. In the fourth inning, Madison Evans got things going with a double. Evans moved to third on Kelly Lore's single and the two came home on Morgan Evan's double making it 3-0.

Rogers City tried to make it interesting in the sixth inning as they pushed across a run on a single and a double. A fly out to Morgan Evans in center quashed the up rise giving EHLL a 3-1 win and a 2-0 edge in pool play. South Portage was their next pool play opponent as the ladies from the Kalamazoo area were fighting for their playoff lives. But it was EHLL who had the offensive explosion as they tallied 13 runs in five innings to walk away with the victory.

Karli Gasta got things going after being hit by a pitch to lead off their half of the first inning. Katie Yacks and Gillian Srebinski each followed with a double as all three scored in the first inning. Portage responded with two runs in the second inning but a combination of walks and errors by SP allowed EHLL to score four times taking a 7-2 lead after two innings. SP scored two more in the third narrowing the margin to three runs.

EHLL took command of the game in the fourth inning as they scored four times highlighted by a Katie Yacks double and a Gillian Srebinski home run thus giving her five RBIs on the day. EH would score two more times in the fifth inning to seal away the game. Karli Gasta led off the inning with a triple and was driven home by Brianna Woods. Srebinski collected her third hit of the day with Madison Evans finishing off the scoring with a double for a 13-4 win.

While it was a big win for Essexville-Hampton, the moment that people will remember is what happened after the game. In a true example of Little League sportsmanship, South Portage formed a congratulatory tunnel for EHLL to escort them off the field. Sunday EHLL entered the single elimination phase of the State Tournament against Grandville. This time it was the Bulldogs of Grandville who grabbed the upper had as they score one in the first and three runs in the second inning. EHLL fought back in the fourth thanks to a timely single by Leah Leszczynski to help narrow the margin to 4-3. Grandville added a single run in their half of the fourth to make it 5-3. Grandville then held on to capture the win thus sending the EHLL girls home from the tournament. EHLL is proud of the great effort from their team: Gillian Srebinski, Morgan Evans, Maddie Leppek, Katie Yacks, Kelly Lore, Madison Evans, Karli Gasta, Brianna Woods, Leah Leszczynski and Ellie Ramirez.

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John Keuvelaar
John Keuvelaar is a college student at Midwest Photography Workshops and Delta College. More from John Keuvelaar

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