Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette Portage Lake pitcher Dane Guidotti prepares to throw a pitch during the first inning of a District 11 Little League Minors tournament game against Penokee Range Tuesday at the Range Town Veterans Memorial Park in South Range.

SOUTH RANGE — With three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Portage Lake All-Stars earned a 9-8, come-from-behind victory over Penokee Range in District 11 Little League Minors tournament play Tuesday night at the Range Town Veterans Memorial Park. With the win, Portage Lake will face Marquette Wednesday for a spot in the championship against Negaunee on Thursday.

Trailing 8-6 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Portage Lake All-Stars had a golden opportunity to pull back within a run after Nolan LaTendresse singled, then advanced to second and third on two different passed balls. All that needed to happen next was Dane Guidotti getting on base.

On deck sat Evie Kuntze, who already had two triples in the game.

However, Guidotti struck out, which meant Kuntze had to lead off the sixth. She proceeded to single to center field to lead off. Devin Lasanen followed with a single. Chase Aho then laid down a bunt and reached safely, which loaded the bases. Two batters later, Levi Heltunen hit into a fielder’s choice, but everyone ended up safe, including Kuntze, who pulled her team within a run.

With the bases loaded again, Drea Durocher singled, which scored Lasanen to tie the game. The bases remained loaded with Lane Johnson stepping up to the plate. A single by Johnson to left field scored Aho to win the game.

“As a team, even as coaches, we talked about it before the game, how we’ve kind of mixed and matched, and just kind of not worried about where we put the lineup, because we feel that we have depth, and that all the kids can hit and play,” Portage Lake coach Daron Durocher said. “We’re not hiding somebody at the nine hole. So, we feel like we have depth.

“The important thing is (we) hit the ball, and we made them make plays. This time they didn’t.”

For Portage Lake, Kuntze was a spark all game long.

“Evie hit the ball great today,” said Durocher. “Wow, she almost put that one out in the first inning, and then hit another one to center. That was awesome. Then, hit it hard again. She had a great day today.”

Penokee Range used the bottom of the sixth inning to come back from a 6-4 deficit on Monday to defeat Keweenaw. The loss on Tuesday was not what they were hoping for after going into the final at bats leading by two.

“Our pitcher did what he was supposed to do,” said Penokee Range coach Paul Linn. “He threw it over the plate. They put the bat on the ball. Kudos to them, great baseball team, great hitters. They hit some gaps.

“We had some errors for sure there. That didn’t help us, but we did a great job overall.”

Linn was proud of the way his team found a way to battle through the game all evening long.

“I’m happy, proud of our boys,” he said. “Those boys played with a lot of heart, a lot of heart. Couldn’t ask for anything more. One-hundred percent effort by all those kids. Couldn’t be prouder.

“(I) told them to hang their heads high. They did a really great job. They progressed throughout this all star season, as short as it is, but they got better every game, too, so, very proud of them. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

Through the first three innings, Penokee Range did a lot of good things, including getting over 70 pitches from starting pitcher Wyatt Choronzy. Despite his four strikeouts, he had to come out of the game in the fourth. Carter Kennedy came in and he struck out two before the end of the fifth.

On the other side of the field, Portage Lake ran into an issue in the first inning with Lasanen on the mound. He threw 20 pitches to the first six hitters he faced. Daron Durocher made the decision to bring in Guidotti in relief, who took Portage Lake into the fourth inning before he had to come out of the game after reaching his pitching threshold.

While Guidotti could not come up with a key hit in the fifth inning, Durocher was pleased with how he settled things on the mound after Portage Lake fell behind, 3-0.

“Dane pitched well,” Daron Durocher said. “When I pulled him, I was thinking, ‘Oh man, is this the right thing?'”

Penokee Range took that lead thanks to a walk issued to Choronzy to open the game. He advanced to third before Talon Linn singled to knock him home. Linn later scored on a passed ball. Eli Zeckovich reached first on a defensive error and later scored on another passed ball.

In the bottom half of the first, Portage Lake stormed back. Nolan LaTendresse got on base with a lead off walk. Two batters later, Kuntze nearly hit the left field fence on the fly. She made it third, scoring LaTendresse on the play.

Aho walked two batters later. Bradley Juopperi was hit by a pitch, and Portage Lake suddenly had the bases loaded. Levi Heltunen singled to center field, scoring both Kuntze and Aho to even the game at 3-3.

Portage Lake took their first lead of the game in the third. Eli Mayo walked to lead off. He stole second before LaTendresse singled to center field, which allowed Mayo to get to third, putting runners on the corners.

Guidotti walked before Mayo scored on a passed ball.

LaTendresse was tagged trying to steal home, but his teammates weren’t finished. Kuntze drilled a ball all the way to the center field fence and got around to third, which scored Guidotti. Then Lasanen hit a ground ball that made it into center field, scoring Kuntze on the play and putting Portage Lake up 6-3.

In the top of the fourth, Penokee Range answered with four runs of their own to take a 7-6 lead. Kennedy was hit by a pitch to start the rally. LaTendresse came in to relieve Guidotti, and Logan Thomason drew a walk. After two straight strikeouts, Jaxon Hooper singled to left field, knocking both runners home. Mason Schneller then tripled to the right field fence, scoring Hooper. Schneller later scored on a passed ball.

In the fifth inning, Carsen Ikola earned a one-out walk, Choronzy then walked. Talon Linn sacrificed to move the runners into scoring position.

Daron Durocher put Mayo in to pitch at that point. He threw nine pitches to two batters, but gave up a run when Ikola scored on a passed ball, putting Penokee Range up 8-6.

In the sixth, Mayo came back out on the mound and struck out two straight hitters before forcing the third into a ground out to end the inning and give his team a chance to complete the comeback in the bottom half of the inning.

UP NEXT

With the win, Portage Lake will face Marquette Wednesday at 6 p.m. for the chance to advance to the championship game against Negaunee. Negaunee defeated Marquette in the earlier game on Tuesday.