Late-inning comeback is a real shock for Southwest in opening game of Little League state tournament

Nobody told them it would be easy.

But Bay City Southwest has no qualms about doing it the hard way.

District 14 champion Southwest got its first taste of misfortune on Friday when Tecumseh overcame a five-run deficit to win convincingly 12-8 in the opening round of the group stage of the state Little League Major Baseball tournament.

UPDATED Little League tournament pairings and results

The loss likely means Southwest cannot lose again on its way to the program’s first national title in the under-12 age group since 2015.

“We talked about what happens when you get hit in the face,” said Southwest coach Mike Dore. “The guys were in good spirits after the game. They know it’s a long tournament. Of course, the goal is not to get beat right away, but you can’t get rid of every ball in the first game.”

Southwest will play Traverse City at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and Norway at 1 p.m. Sunday to complete the three-game group play portion of the 16-team tournament hosted by Grosse Pointe Farms/City. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout bracket.

Southwest led 6-1 after three innings and 8-4 after four, but Tecumseh didn’t give up. The District 16 champions scored four runs in the fifth inning to tie the game at 8-8. They then scored four more runs in the sixth inning to complete the comeback.

“Everything seemed to be going well,” Dore said. “But you could feel the tide turning a little bit in the middle of the game. The group on the other field definitely responded. You have to give them credit for keeping their heads up.”

“Their bats came alive and they had some timely hits with two outs. That’s no criticism of our guys. That’s a good ball team and they played stronger than us at the end. We kind of came in limping and they put the bats on the ball.”

Southwest was led by Reis Kanuszewski with two hits and four RBIs, while Ian Schilb scored two runs and Russ Gurnee, Jaxon Swaton and Lucas Kench each had a hit. Drew Wrzesinski and Sammy Stevens each had an RBI.

Southwest star Gavin Dore started and allowed two hits and three runs while recording four strikeouts in 3.1 innings before being exited after 50 pitches, which leaves him suspended until Monday. Drew Wrzesinski, Reis Kanuszewski, Ian Schilb and Parker Lutz combined with Dore to record nine strikeouts.

Tecumseh got two hits each from Evan Shirk and Max Hoffman and two RBIs each from Shirk and Blake McNamara. Keelyn Ballard came in to deliver the final 1.1 hitless innings and record three strikeouts for the win.