WESTFIELD, Ind. – The Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores little league baseball team advanced to the Great Lakes Regional final of the Little League World Series with an 11-3 win over the team from Hamilton, Ohio.
The Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores team lost its first game of the regional tournament to Hamilton, 10-2, on Monday. That dropped Michigan's representative into the loser's bracket right off the bat.
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But the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores team refused to go quietly, beating Indiana 4-3 Tuesday to stay alive and crushing Kentucky 10-0 Thursday to advance to the regional semifinals.
The Hamilton, Ohio, team lost to Illinois 5-4 Wednesday to fall into the loser's bracket, where it played Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores for the right to advance to the regional final.
Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores avenged its earlier loss with an 11-3 victory to advance to the Great Lakes Regional championship game.
Ohio took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Lake Cundiff hit a leadoff solo home run.
Michigan answered immediately in the bottom half, as Jack Jones led off with a home run, Drew Hill knocked in Adam Ayrault and Tommy Harris scored on an error.
Michigan added an insurance run in the third inning when Jordan Arseneau singled home Joseph Wisniewski.
Ohio showed some life in the top of the fifth, scoring two runs on a Jared Halupnik home run.
But Michigan's offense exploded in the bottom of the fifth. It began with back-to-back doubles from Wisniewski and Jones, a single from Ayrault, a double from Arseneau and an error that scored Ayrault.
By the time the top of the order came up, Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores was already up 7-3. Hill followed with an RBI single, Matthew Greene hit a two-run double and Joey Randazzo walked. Jones singled in Greene to give Michigan an 11-3 lead heading into the final inning.
Greene started on the mound and gave Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores five solid innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits and one walk. He struck out 10 batters.
Will Pflaum closed the door in the sixth, getting two strikeouts and a lineout to seal the victory.
Michigan will play Illinois at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Great Lakes Regional final for the right to advance to Williamsport.