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WEST BRANCH---It was the end of the line for the Negaunee Minor Little League (age 9-10) All-Stars on Monday as the boys lost to Taylor North, 5-1, in the state quarterfinals in West Branch. Negaunee could not solve the three pitchers that Taylor threw, and had their tournament run come to an end.

They're a good team, we knew that coming in,” Negaunee Manager Dave Paananen said. “It's Taylor North. They've got a reputation. But we're just a bunch of kids from the Northwoods that just wanted to come down and see what we could do.

"Honestly, our goal was to get here. Then, once we got here, we realized, that, hey, we can do something. So, once we got out of pool play, it was icing on the cake to go play Taylor.”

Negaunee scored its only run in the second inning after Taylor North took a 1-0 lead in the first. In that second inning, Cooper Chapman led off with an infield hit, and Eli Daavettila was safe on an error. With runners at first and third, Gavin Hermes hit a ground ball to third, and was thrown out at third. Chapman took off and scored, but wen Hermes tried to make it to third base, he was thrown out.

In the third inning, the boys from suburban Detroit got the upper hand as Griffin Adams dumped one down the right field line that landed fair, bringing home two runs. Negaunee defenders stayed with it, though, as Evan Cardinal put on the tag on Adams at second base, after nice throw by catcher, Jon Juntti.

Taylor North will face Commerce Township in the semifinals on Tuesday, while Negaunee had its state tournament end with a 2-2 record.