Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette South Range VFW’s Noah Randell awaits a pitch during a game against Rajala’s Kitchens in Portage Lake Little League Minors action Wednesday in South Range.

SOUTH RANGE — It came down to the bottom of the sixth as South Range VFW was down 6-3 against Rajala’s Kitchens in Portage Lake Little League Minors action on Wednesday before an impressive stretch of batters helped South Range fight back and earn a tie at Veterans Field in South Range.

First up for South Range was Jaime Larson, who dug out an infield hit. Next, was Noah Randell who brought him home on a base hit of his own.

Liam O’Kane then walked and there were two on for hard-hitting Owen Turpeinen. He struck out on a fast ball that caught him off balance.

With one out, it was up to Ethan Kilpela to perform the heroics, but he took his time and walked as well. During his plate appearance, Randell makes a mad dash for home on a wild pitch by Rajala’s pitcher.

Safe at the plate, Randell pulled the VFW boys to within a run, with time to avoid the loss.

The tying run scored just a batter later as Kilpela make it home on another wild pitch. With two outs, it was up to Jackson Williams to knock home a victory. However, the outfielder went down looking. ending the threat.

“I was very proud of our boys for what they did,” said South Range manager Kurt Larson. “We battled back and had some key hits and walks in the bottom of the sixth to tie it.”

Rajala started things off in the top of the first as Brycyn Nettell came home on a Max Nordstrom base hit to left. South Range answered in the bottom of the first with two of their own with hard-hit balls from lead-off hitters Brexton Kinnunen, Porter Markham and, later down the lineup, Randall.

The second and third innings were pitching duels as South Range’s starter Jamie Larson struck out the side both innings. Equally impressive was Rajala’s Connor Helminen, who whiffed three VFW batters of his own. Both pitchers limited walks and threw strikes. Also showing good control were relief pitchers Nettell for Rajala and Markham for South Range.

In the top of the fourth Rajala’s took the lead with a three-run rally off of key hits by Max Nordstrom, Blake Heltunen and Jared Freeman.

South Range added one of their own in their half of the fourth, making the score 4-3 in favor of Rajala.

“It was nice to see so many of our players contribute throughout the lineup,” said Rajala’s manager Bruce Heltunen. “As well, the pitching was good on both sides. Not too many walks tonight.”

In the fifth inning, Rajala’s rattled the bats again with back-to-back hits by Nordstrom and Heltunen to take a 6-3 lead. South Range went down swinging in their half of the fifth, but redeemed themselves with three runs to tie the game in the sixth.

With the tie, Rajala moved to 5-1-2 on the season and South Range advanced to 2-4-1 on the year.