RICHLAND — It all came down to having the right person up at the plate at the right time.

Sturgis standout freshman Chance Stewart stood at the plate in the top of the seventh inning in a 3-3 contest with Niles. Hanging in the balance was a spot in the Division 2 Regional title game.

Stewart delivered as his two-run single lifted the Trojans to a 5-3 victory over Niles at Gull Lake High School Saturday afternoon.

“He’s there go-to guy,” Niles coach Mike Vota said of Stewart. “That was just a good player making a good play and that’s what good players do.”

Niles battled the entire game. The Vikings never gave up and despite going down 3-0 in the top half of the sixth inning, Niles’ player never lost faith.

That belief in themselves paid off as Mitchell Dehn tied the game at 3-3 with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the sixth.

With two outs, Taylor Campbell singled to keep the sixth inning alive. Dallas Munger, who doubled in the first inning for the Vikings, drew a walk to put a pair of runners on in front of Dehn, who hit the ball to straightaway center field to breath new life into the Vikings.

But the celebration was short as Stewart’s single gave the lead back to Sturgis and left Niles with only three outs to rally again.

This time is was not to be as the Vikings sent four players to the plate, getting only Riley Robson on base after an error with one out by the Trojans’ center fielder.

Stewart, who went the distance, struck out the next batter and induced a game-ending ground ball to the shortstop.

Sturgis scored a run in the first inning on an RBI single by Connor Renner.

The Vikings (16-14) had a chance to break into the scoring column as well in the bottom of the first, but could not push a run across the plate despite having runners at second and third with no outs.

Stewart got a ground ball, a pop up on the infield and a strikeout to work his way out of the jam.

The Trojans scored two runs in the top of the sixth on a two-base error.

Campbell started for Niles and was solid on the mound through six innings. He struck out six batters in the first four innings of work. Chris Mangus came on to start the seventh and took the loss.

“I just wanted them to have a different look,” Niles coach Mike Vota said of the pitching change. “Taylor is a competitor and that was the main reason we started him today. He gave us everything he had.”

Sturgis finished with 10 hits — all singles.

Niles had just four hits, but got a double from Munger and a home run from Dehn.

Sturgis (23-13) was defeated by host Gull Lake, the No. 2-ranked Division 2 squad in the state, 12-2 in the championship game. Gull Lake advanced to the finals with a 13-2 win over Hamilton in the opening game of the day.

The Blue Devils’ Zach Fish set a new state record for home runs in a single season in the title game with his 24th.

Division 2 Regional

At Gull Lake High School

Championship

Gull Lake 012 342 – 12 12 2

Sturgis 100 100 – 2 3 1

Lucas Hamelink (W), Zach Fish (6) and Fish, Hamelink (6)

Riley Wentzel (L), Seth Brumbaugh (5) and Eliezer Melendez

2B: Fish (GL)

HR: Fish (GL), Patrick Gaudard (GL)

Records: Sturgis 23-13, Gull Lake 37-1

Semifinal

Sturgis 100 002 2 – 5 10 2

Niles 000 003 0 – 3 4 2

Chance Stewart (W) and Eliezer Melendez

Taylor Campbell, Chris Mangus (7, L) and Tyler Parish

2B: Dallas Munger (N)

HR: Mitchell Dehn (N)

Record: Niles 16-14