ESCANABA – The Escanaba Senior girls All-Stars came home Sunday evening to a heroes’ welcome.

Second in the world, the Escanaba Iron Nine – really Ten, the number of players the team had – rode into Lemerand Field in their hometown with their heads held high. They are the most successful Little League team in Escanaba history and hundreds were on hand to roll out the red carpet.

“I think it’s the greatest thing for Escanaba,” Escanaba Little League president Bob Lehouillier said. “Those girls played with so much heart and showed a lot of class and sportsmanship. Now everybody knows that this little town of Escanaba, every year we’re in something. We’re getting close.

“We’ve never had a runner-up,” added Lehouillier. “The next step will be the world championship, and we have the girls that can do it, and the coaches behind them.”

The Esky girls returned home from the Senior League World Series in Roxana, Delaware, on Sunday evening, and came into town with a police escort, traveling down Ludington Street at about 5:45 p.m. before arriving at Lemerand Park to a large gathering, where they received flowers and balloons from the alumni of the 2012 Junior League World Series team.

Escanaba finished as runner-up, getting to play in a championship game that was televised on ESPN. All in all, it was a surreal experience for many of the girls.

“It was incredible,” Jennifer Laviolette said. “The World Series is the farthest you can go, obviously, and to come in second in the world and make it to the championship game is very incredible. It feels awesome.”

Laviolette said she’s already viewed the telecast of the championship game and found the experience of watching herself on television to be slightly awkward.

“It’s weird,” she said. “It looks professional, but yeah, it’s weird.”

Katie Ross, one of the two Escanaba pitchers along with Cassie Wisler, said that although there were numerous distractions at the World Series, she didn’t have an issue with staying focused when it was game time.

“That was really easy,” she said. “It felt like regular games. I didn’t think too much about the extra stuff, like ESPN.

“It was surreal. I didn’t even realize what was happening until it happened. I never thought I’d be playing that far in the tournament.”

Manager Andy Fields and his coaching staff, which included Vance Hiney and Jamie Segorski, had the daunting task of keeping a team of 14- to 17-year-old girls lasered in, on the game’s biggest stage, with national TV cameras and bright lights everywhere.

“The lights were pretty bright in the first game,” Fields said. “Each game was a lot closer than it really needed to be. We were the second-best team there, and I know that for a fact.

“We didn’t get lucky winning any of those games, but we did make it a little close. I think there were some nerves, but we got through it.

“We’ve had a flair for the dramatic,” Fields added. “These girls are tough, they’re gutsy, and that’s the best word I can use to describe them.”

When a team gets to the point where it’s on the road for weeks at a time, it becomes more than just a coaching effort. It takes community involvement, and Fields was grateful for all the help he received.

“We felt the community out in Delaware,” he said. “And I want to give a special shout-out to Amy Bruntjens, our team mom in Delaware. She did our laundry and took care of any of the little things we needed, the things that help us coaches concentrate on the players and the game.

“She wasn’t in the limelight or on the coaches’ roster, but I want to say thank you to her.”

The names Katie Ross, Emily Bruntjens, Cassie Wisler, Jerrika McAlpine, Taylor Gauthier, Taylor Segorski, Malary Hiney, JJ Laviolette, Claire McInerney and Maddie Kolich will not soon be forgotten. They helped put little Escanaba, Michigan, on the map, on the national stage. However, their story is not done yet, and may only be beginning.

“This isn’t the end for them,” Fields said. “Only one girl on this team will be a senior this coming year. The rest of them have two, three years of high school left.

“Our future here at Escanaba is really bright, and I can’t wait to see what happens. This is going to be an exciting next few years here.”