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State champs — again! Negaunee Juniors ‘repeat’ as LL baseball champs after Majors win a year ago

Negaunee Juniors ‘repeat’ as LL baseball champs after Majors win a year ago

By Steve Brownlee 8 min read

NEGAUNEE -- Been there, done that ... and most importantly, ready to do it again.

That could be the mantra for the Negaunee Little League Juniors baseball team as the core of the squad won a second straight state championship earlier this week.

Nine of the players on this team were members of last year's LL Major Division team that came oh-so-close to making a trip to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the annual Little League World Series that is an ESPN mainstay for nearly two weeks each August.

Though they fell just short in regional action, as Majors players they did get some TV time as bits and pieces of several of their regional games did make it to national TV.

Now that they're in the Juniors, there isn't quite the extensive TV coverage, but some is available for those teams that advance furthest, especially in online versions of cable sports giant ESPN.

Next up for the Negaunee Juniors is a trip downstate to Midland, where the nine-state, 10-team Central Region tournament takes place starting on Wednesday.

"I've said all along that these guys are extra resilient," Negaunee manager Joe Hermes said, adding that he's watched most of this group since they played T-ball. "This group of boys are hard working, they never give up, and they're always giving 110%.

"In their past experiences at all the levels they've played in tournaments, they've seen just about everything. And that's something they can fall back on."

Like the district, sectional and state tourneys, the regional event is more than just single elimination.

Its district tourney was held as double elimination against just one team, Baraga-Lake of the Clouds, with sectionals much the same against Petoskey that led to the eight-team state finals, with pool play making the allowance that a single loss usually could still advance a team further into the event.

The multistate regional winner heads to the 12-team Junior World Series to again be held in Michigan, this time in the Lower Peninsula in the Detroit suburb of Taylor from Aug. 9-16.

Right now, the Central Region schedule on the Little League website at www.littleleague.org shows Negaunee receiving a first-round bye before taking on the winner of Wednesday's Indiana-Iowa game on Thursday morning. The tourney is scheduled to continue through the championship game on the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 2.

So far in this year's run, the Negaunee Juniors have lost just one time -- and that was a narrow 12-11 loss to Petoskey to open sectionals several weeks ago.

Before that, these Irontown Miners -- maybe a nickname they'd consider? -- won 15-5 and 4-1 over Baraga-LOTC on June 28, capturing the district title.

Sectionals were played July 10-11, with the one-run loss followed by a 14-2 win on the first day, forcing a third and deciding game the following day.

That rubber match came right down to the wire, Negaunee's Max Cody slapping a single through the infield with the bases loaded to score the walk-off, winning run in the bottom of the seventh for a 5-4 victory.

In their first win over Petoskey, Negaunee ace Nathan Harvala threw five innings of three-hit ball, not surrendering an earned run while striking out five.

In the deciding contest, Jonny Juntti pitched five innings of three-hit ball without giving up an earned run as he fanned four. Kalen Johnson also got in two innings on the mound.

All of this led to the state tournament that was held last weekend in what had to seem like their backyard, in and around Iron Mountain. In contrast, last year's Majors state tourney took place in downstate Saginaw.

And actually with the way the schedule worked out, the Negaunee Juniors played all five of their state tourney games in Felch.

It started rather inauspiciously, though, with all of Friday's action smoked out due to the wildfire haze that made just breathing outdoors rather hazardous.

Following Friday's rains that helped clear the air, action picked up on Saturday morning, with all eight teams playing twice that day to keep on schedule.

Negaunee eked out a 4-3 victory over Roosevelt Park of Grand Rapids in the morning.

Though they led much of the way, these Miners found themselves behind 3-2 entering the top of the sixth before Harvala hit an RBI single to tie the score and Johnson a groundout to bring home the go-ahead run.

Harvala started, and with the manager not wanting to fire all his ace's "bullets" in the first game due to pitch-count rules, only left him in for two innings. In that time, he didn't allow a run or hit, striking out two and walking two. Johnson, Thomas Dix, Gavin Hermes and Gabe Kangas followed on the mound.

Juntti finished 2 for 3 at the plate.

The Marquette County representatives finished out pool play with a pair of mercy-rule 16-1 victories that each lasted just four innings, further preserving precious pitch counts.

The first was over East Jordan on Saturday afternoon, with Louie Dix throwing all four innings and allowing one run on three hits and five walks as he K'd five.

Eli Daavettila smacked a bases-loaded triple for three RBIs to put an exclamation point on the Negaunee offense, which received 14 walks while garnering just five hits. A 12-run second inning effectively sealed the deal.

Then on Sunday morning, Negaunee invoked the mercy rule with the same score over Chelsea, Juntti starting and going 1 2/3 innings with no runs and no hits as he walked two and struck out one. Evan Cardinal, Daavettila and Ben Paananen followed on the mound.

An eight-run first inning highlighted another walk-fest as the Yoopers received eight bases on balls as Gavin Hermes singled and drew two walks and Johnson also singled, walked and had an RBI.

As the first-place team in Pool A, Negaunee went up against Pool B runner-up Emmett from just west of Port Huron on Monday morning in one of the semifinals.

Negaunee needed more heroics in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a 4-3 triumph. Tied 3-3, Johnson walked to start the last-inning rally, stealing second and moving to third on a wild pitch. In apparent confusion over whether a Negaunee batter was hit by a pitch, Johnson scampered home to end the game.

Harvala pitched the final two innings without allowing a run as Juntti started and was followed by Johnson and Cardinal on the mound.

After Emmett scored twice in the top of the first, Negaunee got one back in its half of the inning, Gavin Hermes and Juntti getting back-to-back singles as Harvala walked to load the bases. Johnson then hit a sacrifice fly to score Hermes.

Trailing 3-1 in the fourth, Harvala hit an RBI triple down the first-base line, then scored on a passed ball to tie it 3-3.

In the state championship contest, Negaunee prevailed 6-2 over the Southern Little League team from Grand Rapids that had scored 70 runs in its previous four state tourney contests.

But with its ace on the mound, Negaunee kept the downstate powerhouse squad at bay. Harvala went four innings and didn't allow a run on two hits with four strikeouts.

His offense jumped out right away, Gavin Hermes smacking the first pitch of the game for a single before Harvala doubled to put two in scoring position. Johnson then singled to score a run while Juntti grounded out for another RBI.

In the second, one more run came across as Daavettila singled, Louie Dix was hit by a pitch and Paananen laid down a bunt that scored Daavettila all the way from second base as an error also left Paananen safe on the play.

Then in the sixth, Harvala singled and moved to second on a groundout before Thomas Dix hit an RBI double, building a 4-0 advantage.

Then lightning struck -- quite literally as the kind that comes out of the sky -- but luckily only close enough to force play to be called off for awhile.

When play resumed, Southern put together a scoring threat that ended on a heads-up pair of relay throws by Negaunee. With one out, leftfielder Cody caught a fly ball, threw the relay to Harvala at third base, who then threw home to catcher Juntti to tag out the runner at the plate for an inning-ending double play.

In the top of the seventh, Negaunee added two insurance runs that turned out to be of comfort in the bottom of the inning. Cody singled and Daavettila tripled for an RBI, while Louie Dix followed with an RBI double.

That 6-0 lead was important as Southern finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh for two runs, using a one-out walk, bloop single, line-drive single and sacrifice fly to get both in.

Story contents based on a telephone interview with Negaunee Junior manager Joe Hermes. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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