MARQUETTE – They pushed Penokee Range to the limit, but in the end, an inability to execute defensively cost the Ishpeming 9- and 10-year-old baseball all-stars Thursday evening.

The western Marquette County club gave up two run-scoring passed balls in the bottom of the fifth inning, then saw the visitors from the Ironwood area turn a game-ending double play in the sixth inning to lose, 7-5, in the district tournament loser’s bracket final game.

Penokee Range will now meet winner’s bracket titlist Portage Lake of Houghton and Hancock at 6 tonight at the North Marquette Fields in the championship round. If Penokee wins that game, another matchup between the two will be played in Marquette at noon Saturday.

On Thursday, Ishpeming rallied for two runs in the top of the fifth to tie the score 5-5, only to see Penokee Range come back.

“The kids had more pop in their step today and came ready to play,” Ishpeming head coach Marc Bottari said, “but those passed balls killed us.

“I’m proud of the kids, though. I liked their heart. They believed they could (win) until the very end.”

Ishpeming threatened in the top of the sixth and final inning when Hunter Smith led off with a walk. But after a strikeout, Ishpeming hit into a ground-out double play to end the game.

“That was huge,” Penokee head coach Pat Dabb said. “We practice that in (pregame) warmups, but it usually doesn’t work out like that (in games).

“It was neck and neck the whole way, but we just got some passed balls that brought runners home. It was a team effort.”

Said Bottari: “That double play is something you don’t see very often at this level.”

Penokee Range took an early lead on an RBI single by Sean Korpella, then made it 2-0 in the second on a wild Ishpeming pickoff play.

Ishpeming rallied to take a 3-2 lead in the third with the help of a double by Hunter Smith and a ground-out to the pitcher by Hayden Hares that – when all was said and done – scored two runs. Garrett Sundberg also drew an RBI walk.

Penokee Range retook the lead with two runs in the third and went up 5-3 in the fourth with the help of an error.

But Ishpeming came back to make it 5-5 in the fifth on Sundberg’s two-run triple to deep center, setting the stage for the final two Penokee Range runs on the passed balls.

Bottari lauded Ishpeming starting pitcher Ryan Maki.

“He was the sixth pitcher on our depth chart, but he went four innings with 66 pitches. He did an excellent job.”

Penokee Range’s Dabb said Maki caused his team some problems.

“They started a slow pitcher and we’re used to faster pitchers,” he said. “Our bats weren’t there (early).

“But our pitchers hung tight and held (Ishpeming) to five runs.”

Penokee Range lost to Portage Lake early in the tournament, 5-3.

“We know what they have and they know what we have. They’ve been able to rest their pitchers a little, though,” Dabb said about PL not playing a game since Wednesday, and before that, Sunday.

Craig Remsburg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251. His email address is cremsburg@ miningjournal.net.