Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Sayen’s pitcher Jack Sayen readies to deliver a pitch while Ian Hembroff looks on during the second game of a playoff dooubleheader Wednesday at South Range Field.

SOUTH RANGE — It was a full night of action at the baseball diamond in South Range as the semifinals of the Little League minors were underway.

In the first game, Pat’s Foods beat South Range VFW, 14-9, in a back-and-forth battle. South Range struck first with three runs in the first inning. However, Pat’s answered with five. This included a two-run home run by Benny Keranen.

Jamie Larson pitched a one-two-three second inning for Pat’s and his team backed him up with five more runs.

In the third, South Range bounced back with five runs of their own. Key hits included singles by Brexton Kinnunen and Caleb Kentala. Liam Tourtillott lined a double up the middle. Five walks by Pat’s pitching helped bring in three more runs.

Strong fielding and a bounce back on the mound helped Pat’s give up just one more run to South Range in the fourth. Pat’s tacked on six more runs in the later innings to end the game.

“We’ve had a lot of fun this year,” said Kurt Larson, manager of Pats Foods. “I am very proud of the kids and what they have accomplished.

In the second game, the boys and girls from DP Construction faced the squad from Sayen’s Auto Sales. Sayen’s cruised to a 9-1 victory.

Under the strong pitching of Jack Sayen, Sayen’s was able to hold DP to just one run in six innings. That was in the first when Chad Isaacson walked and was knocked in on a Matthew Guilbault double.

The pitchers from DP couldn’t find the plate and gave up one too many walks and errors in the field. Sayen scored in all of their innings except the second and the fourth.

Manager Dan Sayen was particularly impressed with his second baseman, Ian Hembroff. So much so, that Hembroff received the game ball from his coach admist the cheers of his teammates.

“Ian put on a clinic out there today,” said Dan Sayen. “He had a couple of throw outs at first and stopped a line drive or two. He’s player of the game.”

Sayen said that he is proud of all his players as he’s seen a lot of improvement over the last few months. That improvement will be put to the test as Sayen’s will face Pat’s on Saturday at noon for the championship at South Range Field.