After committing back-to-back errors in the first inning, Norway played errorless ball through the remainder of the contest.

The victory enabled Norway to advance to the state quarterfinals and host Tecumseh American today at 1 p.m. on CLA Field at Marion Park.

“We told our pitcher to throw strikes and let the defense make plays,” said Norway manager Scott Sternhagen. “After the first inning our defense was outstanding and Tucker (Buchanan) pitched a heck of a game.”

Norway trailed until the third inning when it scored four times for a 4-1 lead.

Norway’s Tristan Lessor (72) hustles down the first base line in Saturday's game versus South Portage. (Matt McCarthy photo)

The area boys tied the score on Colton Lord’s single to left field.

Landon Debakker’s double to left drove in two more runs. Debakker then scored on a throwing error.

“Colton’s single was a key hit and Landon came up with a big double,” said Sternhagen. “The kids gained confidence. They were a little timid early on. We watched too many pitches early in the game. Our offense is coming.”

Tyler Sternhagen drove in Norway’s fifth run with a double to center, then scored the final run on a passed ball.

Jackson Alter scored for the Fruitport-based Beach All-Stars, who took advantage of Norway’s miscues in the first. The Muskegon area crew, however, left baserunners on the corners.

“We hit the ball well and they made plays,” said Beach manager Ryan Alter. “Norway played outstanding. They played excellent defense and their pitcher threw well. This was a great physical effort by our kids and a great experience for them. This wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we had a blast up here.”

Buchanan worked 5 2/3 innings for the win. He struck out three, walked two and allowed just two hits. Tyler Sternhagen, who faced the final two hitters, got the save. Sternhagen went 2-for-2 and drew a walk for the District 10 champions.

“They put the bat on the ball in the fourth and we made a couple errors. That inning kind of got away on us,” said Beach manager Alter.

Jackson Alter, who pitched 3 2/3 innings, absorbed the loss. He fanned five, walked four, hit a batter and gave up six runs on five hits. Bryden Hazekamp whiffed four and walked two in 1 1/3 frames of relief.

Marquette was limited to two hits in a 12-0 season-ending loss to Schoolcraft, going 0-3 in weekend pool play.

… In other quarterfinal action today, Western Little League of District 9 will take on Midland-Northeast of District 1 at 2:30 p.m. on Brackett Field. At 4 p.m. on CLA Field, Greater Bay of District 14 will take on Reford Livonia of District 5.

The final game of the day will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Brackett Field, with South Portage taking on Marine City of District 7. The two tournament semifinal games will be on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., both on Brackett Field.

The Michigan 9-10 year- old state championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. on Brackett Field. All games are subject to change for weather delays.

… On Saturday, Norway’s 9-10’s were defeated by South Portage, 5-3. Although the contest started an hour late due to rain overnight into Saturday morning, the Marion Park grounds crew had both Brackett and CLA fields looking like it hadn’t rained a drop in days.

After a scoreless opening inning, Norway got on the scoreboard. Tristan Lessor opened the inning reaching on an error. With a runner on first base and one out, Hunter Langin blasted a double over the left fielder’s head, as Lessor was stopped at third.

At that point, some South Portage fans were yelling to the shortstop and second baseman to get the baseball to second base in an appeal attempt, thinking Lessor hadn’t tagged up before advancing to third. But with the ball cleanly landing in the grass in deep left field, there was no appeal to be made.

Norway third base coach Doug Schupp sent Lessor home while the ball was in the glove of the South Portage second baseman, standing on second base next to Langin, and Norway took a 1-0 lead. Brock Vanginkel ripped a single that scored Langin, giving Norway a 2-0 advantage.

In the bottom half of inning No. 2, Jackson Park of SP drove in a run to cut Norway’s lead in half. South Portage added to their lead in the bottom of the third scoring a trio of runs off a double by Oli DeForest, and a single from Porter Ward.

South Portage added another run to take a 5-2 lead in the bottom half of inning No. 4. Norway starting pitcher Landon Debakker cracked an RBI double, plating lead off hitter Tucker Buchanan in the top of the fifth, to make the score 5-3.

“We have some really good hitters on this team. It took our kids a little to adjust because they (Norway) made an early pitching change,” said South Portage head coach Stephanie Brown.

Norway would take its first loss in pool play, after defeating Birmingham 11-1 Friday.

“We hurt ourselves with our errors,” said Norway coach Sternhagen. “They’re a good team (South Portage), hats off to them, they made the plays they needed to make.”

Daily News sports writer Matt “Sweets” McCarthy contributed to this story.