WEST BRANCH - July 28, 2005 - Grand Rapids Western had been down before. So when Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores took a 4-0 lead in the first inning of Thursday's state Little League 9-10 championship game, there wasn't any panic in the Western dugout.

For a team that had come back in the bottom of the sixth inning to win both their quarterfinal and semifinal games in dramatic fashion, it was more like anticipation.

This time, Western didn't wait until the final inning to mount their comeback. This time, a six-run second inning put Western ahead, and with Brad Buurstra coming on in relief to pitch five innings of shutout ball, Western went on to take an 11-4 victory. It was Grosse Pointe's only loss of the state tournament.

Western coach George Rosinski said his team relished its role as the tournament's "Comeback Kids."

"Absolutely," he said. "When I was in high school I played in a state championship game. It seemed like every game we'd get behind and come back.

"I told the kids about that, about how it doesn't matter how many outs there are are in an inning or how late it is in the game. The heart and determination these guys showed was phenomenal."

Western would need that determination against a Grosse Pointe squad that had allowed just 13 runs in five state tourney games. With both teams showing some championship-game nerves in the early inning, Grosse Pointe took its lead on a leadoff double from Joe Aluia, three walks and an RBI single from Anthony Allemon. Three runs came in to score on wild pitches in the inning.

Western struck back in the top of the second. Luke Van Essen walked, and Mitchell Gumowski stroked a double to left-center to escalate the threat. Matt Neal's RBI single scored Van Essen, Buurstra singled home Gumowski, and Neal came around to score on a wild pitch. Josh DeYoung later scored on a wild pitch, and Cody Ritsema capped the rally with a two-run single.

Buurstra, the only 9-year-old on the team, took the mound for Western in the bottom of the second. In his five innings of work, he allowed just two hits, walked four and struck out four.

"He didn't even pitch in our district tournament," Rosinski said. "We put him in against Bay City (in a pool play game) and he shut them down. For a nine-year-old to have his kind of composure is just icing on the cake."

Buurstra was helped by the Western defense, which didn't commit an error. Second baseman Travis Rosinski turned a double play -- a rarity at the Minor League level -- tagging out a baserunner and throwing to first for the second out.

Grosse Pointe which had played crisp defense throughout the tournament, committed four errors, including three in the third inning, when Western extended its lead to 9-4 with three unearned runs.

Western's magical run through the tournament started with a sputter as Rosinski's squad was shut out by Tecumseh in its second pool play game after opening with an 8-4 win over South Portage. Western needed eight innings to edge Bay City Southwest 4-3 to stay alive and reach the quarterfinal round. With every game now a win-or-go-home affair, Western needed a seven-run sixth inning (capped by Gumowski's walk-off three-run home run) to defeat Midland Northeast, then rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the sixth inning to top Roosevelt Park 5-4 in the semifinal contest.

"As coaches, we felt like we just needed to break the ice," Rosinski said. "We'd been playing close games and not hitting a lot. We needed our big hitters, Gumowski and (Alek) Putz to get into a groove."

After the seven-run rally, the Western squad felt like anything was possible.

"As things kept building," he said, "they just took on this never-say-die attitude."

Rosinski also had high praise for West Branch, which hosted the tournament.

"We've had a very successful program and have played in a lot of state tournaments," he said. "The hospitality and warmth that people here showed us was second to none. (League president) Howie Hanft was phenomenal.

"There definitely should be a hats-off to West Branch from the folks from Grand Rapids."