'MAJOR' COMEBACK! Norway 12's Stun Gladstone

GLADSTONE---When you drop into the loser's bracket of any tournament, you know that it's a tough route back to the championship game.

And the Gladstone Major Boys (age 11-12) were in that position on Sunday when they hosted Norway in an elimination game.

So, when Gladstone vaulted to an 8-0 lead in the third inning, the decision was made to pull starting pitcher Brennon Detiege after his 35th pitch, saving him for possible appearances in later tournament games.

Play to Win...not just today, but for the whole tournament.

With Gladstone in complete control of the game, the move seemed to make sense. But things fell apart in a big way for Gladstone as the boys stopped scoring runs, made a slew of errors, and watched as the Norway All-Stars roared back for a 13-9 victory.

The result eliminated Gladstone in a year when Gladstone Little League will be hosting the state tournament. Norway plays in a loser's bracket game on Tuesday.

Gladstone scored four runs in the first inning, two of them on a booming gap-shot by John Soderman. Tyler Darmogray and Noah Peterson added RBI singles in the inning.

Then in the third inning, Gladstone's lead doubled, as Detiege helped his own cause with an RBI single, and Aedan Creten came through with a two-run base hit. And Gladstone still had the bases loaded, and could've come close to a mercy rule win with another shot to the fence, but Darmogray popped up to end the threat.

It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, with Gladstone leading, 8-0.

In the bottom of the third inning, Detiege struck out his sixth batter to start the inning. That's when he was pulled from the mound. The three boys who would follow (Darmogray, Soderman, and Connor Florenski) would struggle to get outs.

Two walks and an error helped Norway get two runs in the bottom of the third, with Jesse Sampson getting a sacrifce fly and Issac Lorenzoni smacking an RBI single.

Gladstone got one run back in the fourth inning, but stranded two runners in scoring position.

Again, with a 9-2 lead, it didn't seem like that would be a problem.

But Norway took advantage of two walks and three errors to score three runs in the fourth inning, making it a 9-5 game. Then came the fifth inning, which turned out to be a disaster for Gladstone, with Norway sending 14 batters to the plate.

When it was over, eight runs had scored for Norway. Ross Shampo had a two-run single to center field, Sampson doubled in a run, and Lorenzoni had the icing on the cake with a triple to bring home another run, as the rain started pouring down.

Down by four, Gladstone tried to rally as the field started to get greasy. With two out, Detiege and Jonathon Weinert drew walks, and Braeden Sundquist came through with a base hit.

Detiege was thrown out trying to score, on a very close play at the plate.

Gladstone argued the call, but it stood, and Norway celebrated a wet victory.

The rain flooded the field and forced the next two games to be rescheduled for Monday. Iron Mountain North will play Tri-County at 5:00 ET, and Kingsford will face Munising at about 7ET. Norway will play its next game on Tuesday at 6:00 ET.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, videos taken by Nate Bellville.