Junior girls have tournament run end in Gladwin

A great tournament run came to an end as the Rogers City Little League girls? all-stars lost two-of-three to Gladwin. The championship game in Gladwin on Tuesday came down to the last few innings, but Gladwin came out on top, 14-11. Rogers City scored four runs in the first, but Gladwin came back to take a 5-4 lead after two innings and 9-4 lead heading into the fourth inning. RC came back to take an 11-9 lead, but five runs in the bottom of the sixth were enough for Gladwin to move on. ?The whole team did a great job at the plate, only striking out twice as a team,? said coach Kathy Tulgestke.

Shaky defense hurt RC?s chances, Tulgestke said, but she was proud of the long tournament run of her team. ?Our defense wasn?t the best tonight, and in a championship game like this, you just cannot give a good team more than three outs per inning,? she said. Leilani Kortman had four hits, including a double, and Emily Marx had three hits to lead the offensive attack. Katie Tulgetske, Leann Knopf, Sara Carpenter, and Katie Darga each had two hits. Darga started, and was relieved by Kortman in the second inning. Leann Buczkowski worked the last one and two-thirds. ?There were some questionable calls that could have went either way, but we ended a terrific tourney run at Gladwin being one of the top 16 teams in the state for juniors.? The coach said the team appreciated the support of the community, including donations for expenses through a bottle drive last Saturday.

In earlier action, the Rogers City all-stars spit a doubleheader with Gladwin Monday to set up the championship game Tuesday. In the opening game, Rogers City won a 9-4 game with a strong finish. The locals trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning before scoring three in the fifth and five in the sixth inning. The defensive play of the game came in the top of the sixth inning with one out and the bases loaded. Gladwin?s number two batter hit a one-hopper back to the mound, then Logan Schuiteman rifled the ball to Sara Carpenter at the plate, and Carpenter fired it to Leanne Knopf at first for the double play to end the game. Schuiteman went all seven innings, allowing seven hits and five walks. She struck out eight and allowed three runs. Amanda Lenard and Leann Buczkowski each had two hits while Knopf had a double and Carpenter added a single with two runs scored.

In the second game Monday, Rogers City lost a 16-15 contest to Gladwin. RC led 5-2 after two innings but Gladwin stormed back for seven in the fourth and seven more in the fifth to take a big lead. ?The girls never quit,? said coach Tulgestke. ?They were down 16-7 at one point and kept battling to make it close. In fact the tying

run was stranded at third.? Rogers City scored two in the fifth, two in the sixth and looked to tie the game in the seventh inning. They scored four runs, falling one run short of knotting it up.

Katie Tulgestke had four hits, including a home run, and scored four runs. Leilani Kortman had three hits, including a triple, while Erica Kuznicki had three hits. Leann Knopf had two hits with a home run. Katie Darga worked the first two and two-thirds, allowing eight hits and six walks while striking out four. Leann Buczkowski went the next one and one-third, allowing five earned runs and striking out one batter.

Schuiteman finished up, pitching the last two innings. Rogers City had 16 hits in the game but was hurt by four errors.