Esko Softball Earns Revenge Against Rush City in Section 7AA Championship

Esko snaps a six-year state tournament drought after they last appeared in the tourney back in 2019.

CLOQUET, Minn.- A lot of people probably counted out the Esko softball team after they fell 10-0 to Rush City in the 7AA quarterfinals on May 22nd.

But on Thursday, Esko silenced the doubters by proceeding to shut out the Tigers twice, 2-0 and 3-0 to claim the 7AA title.

“We needed to get ahead early in these two games and we did it. We just kept adding on a little bit at a time. Keira that’s the reason. She was on today. She’s been on for the last four games. She’s thrown I think four straight shutouts,” said head coach Jeff Emanuel.

“I wanted to get this game back. I know losing ten to nothing was not ideal. So just coming into this game wanting to win and wanting to play both games and get all 14 innings was huge. I think everyone just wanted it a lot,” added pitcher Keira Leach.

“After our last game, people counted us out but our team knew what we could do. We beat them earlier so we knew we could do that,” said catcher Rilee Durovec.

Esko snaps a six-year state tournament drought after they last appeared in the tourney back in 2019.

Esko will find out their first round opponent this weekend.