SAGINAW, Mich.---The Negaunee Major Little League All-Stars (age 10-12) cruised past Mattawan in the state quarterfinals Monday night, 10-5, under the lights at South Saginaw Little League.
Negaunee took advantage of early Mattawan mistakes to take a 5-0 lead and constantly built to that lead throughout the game, holding off several comeback attempts by the District 15 champions. And Negaunee advances to the state semifinals, set for Tuesday night at 7:00, against Southern Grand Rapids.
Thomas Dix threw the first two innings Monday night, and when he reached his 35 pitches, Johnny Juntti took over and threw the final four innings. That means that Dix is eligible to pitch if Negaunee makes it to Wednesday's state championship game.
Negaunee's big first inning was fueled by an unfortunate infield pop up that the Mattawan first baseman lost in the sun. It fell, and allowed Negaunee to keep its inning going. One run scored on that pop fly, and then a delayed steal allowed another run to score. Wyatt Dost got hit in the helmet with the bases loaded to force in another run, and then Basil Hill came through with a two-run single to make it 5-0.
Hill added another RBI base hit in the fourth inning to complete his best game of the tournament run with two hits and three runs batted in.
“I don't know, but something just got into me today and I hit the ball pretty well,” Hill said.
To their credit, Mattawan did not give up. They scored three runs in the fourth inning to get within 6-3 with a Cade Powell sacrifice fly and an RBI double by Griffin Wheeler.
And even after Negaunee got the lead back to 8-3, Mattawan got two more runs off of Juntti, with Gabe Ahtila and Cooper Jominy getting RBI grounders to make it 8-5. But Negaunee catcher Kallen Johnson came through with a throw to second base to catch a boy trying to steal on a wild pitch, keeping it a three-run lead.
Juntti earned the pitching win in relief.
“It was a good game,” he said. “I let them hit the ball, and we made our plays.”
In the sixth inning, the play of the game for Negaunee as right fielder Max Cody made an all-out sprint for a fly ball. He dove and caught it, falling to the grass on the foul line. It was a catch that rivaled two similar grabs by Negaunee left fielder Maddox Halamka in this state tournament.
“I saw that ball, and I'm like, I've got to go for it, and get the team pumped,” Cody said. “So, I just went for the ball, and, yeah, made a great catch out there and Tanner (Thompson) was there backing me up. So, it felt great.”
Nathan Harvala was impossible for Mattawan to deal with. He smoked three base hits, including a double to the fence in the third inning. He scored two runs.
And so for Negaunee, it's on to the state final four, which will see the boys take on Southern Grand Rapids. Southern shocked tournament favorite Grosse Pointe, 7-2, as Luke Daniels hit a grand slam home run for the District Nine champions.
The Negaunee-Southern game will be broadcast live Tuesday night on FM-100.3 The Point and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com. The first semifinal game will see Taylor North take on Ypsilanti Lincoln at 5:00.
