Ely's American Legion baseball team simply would not be denied.
After a pair of walkoff wins in the district playoffs, Ely fell behind again in Sunday's district title matchup with Chisholm.
But Post 248 stormed back, taking the lead for good on Jory Johnson's two-out, two-run triple in the fifth, and riding the pitching of Nick Pecha the rest of the way to gain a 6-3 victory at Veterans Memorial Field.
The win gave Ely the Eighth District Division II crown and the program's ninth state tournament berth in 14 seasons. Ely (21-5) now heads west to Dilworth for a Friday quarterfinal matchup with LaCrescent.
It wasn't quite as dramatic as earlier playoff wins over Brookston and Deer River, but Post 248's title game had more than a few anxious moments for a boisterous home crowd.
Chisholm touched up Pecha, who won his 11th straight decision and notched 12 strikeouts, for eight hits. Tony Clement's solo homer in the top of the fifth gave the third-seeded Chisholm team a 3-2 lead with only nine outs to play.
But Ely seized momentum right back. Josh Ojala started the rally with a one-out single and Nick Mathews drew a two-out walk. It set the stage for Johnson, who lifted a Ryan Ferrell offering deep to right field. The ball hit the fence, and Johnson wound up at third. Both Ojala and Mathews scored and Ely was up 4-3.
Wes Snyder, who homered earlier in the game and on Friday delivered the three-run walkoff shot that downed Deer River, followed with a run-scoring hit for a two-run lead.
Ely added an insurance run in the sixth and Pecha struck out the side in the seventh, igniting a raucous celebration at home plate.
Snyder, Koschak and Johnson all finished with two hits for the winners. Adam Vake had a two-run double for Chisholm, which finished 14-10.
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