On Friday afternoon, the little leaguers found themselves down 7-2 in the bottom of the 6th against a stubborn Sun Prairie team.

The boys of summer charged with back to back-to-back doubles by Zach Van Wie, Logan Marsich and Willie VandenLangenberg.

Before it was over, the Dells scored five runs to tie it at 7-7, sending the game into extra innings.

After a scoreless 7th, Sun Prairie scored two runs in the top of the 8th putting more pressure on the Dells' crew.

In the lower half of the inning the Dells came thru with base hits by Justin Hintze, Logan Marsich and Mason Weber.

After tying the score at 9-9, Adem Ajvazi, with his second hit of the day, came through with an infield single sending Weber home for the winning run.

The win sent the Dells through to the next round to face host Reedsburg.

Earlier that week, Reedsburg played the Dells in an exhibition game. The Reedsburg team handed the Dells their only exhibition loss of the season that night by a score of 3-0.

The Dells' nine were looking for payback, and got it.

Behind great pitching by Taylor Jarzynski and Zach Van Wie, the Dells sent the host team home for the season by a score of 5-2.

The pitching duo managed 7 strikeouts and gave up only 3 hits.

That win pushed the Dells into the semi finals against Verona.

Earlier last month, Verona placed second at the Little League District Championships, one game shy of a state birth.

The Dells' squad scored first with a base hit by Zach Van Wie, but Verona came right back scoring two to take the lead.

In the third inning, Alex Cimaroli tied the game with an RBI base hit but Verona came back and scored three more in the bottom half for a 5-2 lead.

The locals climbed back scoring one more run in the fifth but Verona fired back with three more in the bottom half of the 5th inning and eventually beat the Dells 8-3.

Earlier in July, the Dells competed in the Little League District Tournament in Beaver Dam.

The team finished 1-3 with a notable win over West Madison.

With doubles by Peyton Rohling and Willie VandenLangenberg, a triple by Taylor Jarzynski and multi hit performances by Zach Van Wie and Colin Hirst, the Dells out-slugged the Madison West team to a 13-8 victory.

In the tournament opener, the Dells were given a lesson in hitting by Stoughton, a team that scored eight runs in the first half of the first inning on 7 base hits.

The Dells' team never gave up responding with five unanswered runs later.

But Stoughton proved to be to much for the Dells' crew, scoring two more on its way to a 10-5 win.

The Dells' team ran into eventual tournament champion Madison East in its next test and lost that battle 12-2.

In its final game the Dells lost to border rival Portage 10-6.

Overall, the coaching trio of Robby Van Wie, Jaime Cimaroli and Jeff Fitzwilliams were impressed with the young team.

A 13-5 season is one to be very proud of. Two wins that will stand out are the Pardeeville and Sun Prairie victories.

In both games, the youngsters found themselves down in the bottom of the sixth but never gave up and eventually found a way to win.

This group shows promise for years to come.

Next summer all but two of the 11 All Stars will move up to the 11-12 year old Majors division and will compete for a spot on that All Star team roster.

With the addition of next years 12-year-olds, this Dells team should contend in every tournament.

The coaches would like to thank all the parents for support at the games and shuttling the kids to and from games and practices. The kids also need to be congratulated for enduring a long competitive season. These boys started practicing in mid-April, they played 13 regular season games in addition to the 18 All Star team games.

The team and their families will celebrate its successful season with an awards banquet next week at Cimaroli's Supper Club.