Harney's Justin Kraemer fires a strike in the pivotal sixth inning. Kraemer struck out the side looking in the top of the sixth. (Photo Jake Nordbye/IDS)

Day 3 at the Midwest Regional Little League Tournament was a day when the ancient truths of baseball rose to the surface. Big players step up in big games. Hayden McGriff drove a solo homerun over the right-center field fence in the 3^rd inning, and then lined a walk-off double to the fence in the bottom of the 6^th inning to score Kyle Maguire for the 7-6 win.

Between two evenly matched teams, the team that handles adversity the best wins. Harney battled from behind all game long, never led, until the last batter of the game. “They were quiet in the dugout.” Manager Kasey McGriff told me after the game. “They’re a quiet group. But they are so confident that eventually they will break out.”

Tuesday morning’s game between Rapid City and Grandview, Iowa came down to the most classic baseball truth of all—with a twist. Good pitching shuts down good hitting, and in Harney’s case, the key to great pitching on Tuesday was not Brett Beyer’s high-octane fastball, but Justin Kraemer’s wicked cutter. “His cutter worked really well today.” Harney catcher Timmy Paris told me. “It works a lot like a curve, but it has more side-to-side movement. Kids like Justin don’t throw really hard, but they keep the batters off balance, and mess up their timing.”

Kraemer is Harney’s leadoff man, and quick-handed second baseman. But on Tuesday, he was a surprising choice to take the mound down 6-3 in a 3^rd in a critical game against Iowa. During Harney regular season play, Kraemer was part of the Athletics starting rotation, but as an All-Star he hadn’t pitched in a month. But Kasey McGriff told me he didn’t have a second of doubt about putting Kraemer on the mound. “I have seven pitchers I know I can count on. I have total confidence in them. We were behind, and I needed Justin to stick a stick in the spokes. I knew that he would. I wasn’t sure how long he could do it, but I knew that he could get us out of the 3^rd.”

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Kraemer did that and a lot more.

This is a Harney team that is not use to adversity, and no one would blame the boys in red, white and blue for having a sobering dose of doubt creep into their minds. But standing alone on the mound, Kraemer could not afford the self-indulgence of doubt. There was simply no room for doubt. “Hold the line.” He must have been telling himself. “Hold the line. Not one more run. We can come back from 6-3 down. But don’t let this game get out of hand.”

Zack Solano has played with Kraemer on the Athletics for three years: “He’s got good off-speed pitches.” Zack told me. “He’s very accurate. But the biggest thing is that he stays confident.”

Over 2 and 1/3 innings, Kraemer allowed only one hit, struck out four and held Iowa scoreless. “McGriff and catcher Timmy Paris called a masterful game. But Kraemer hit his spots on almost every pitch. “I knew what sequences I wanted to use against these hitters.” McGriff explained. “We knew how to set them up. But if Justin hadn’t hit his spots, the sequences don’t matter. This was the best pitching performance I’ve seen him make.”

For McGriff, it was the gutsiest decision of the tournament…to put Justin in, and then put the game on his shoulders and leave him in. Surely Iowa’s big bats would sit back on the cutter. “Ooohh…that was a sneaky fastball on the inside corner.” Surely the Iowa hitters are going to time that fastball and crush it. “Ooohh…that was a nasty cutter low and away.” Kraemer was pinpoint precise in his locations.

In the top of the 6^th, I was positive that McGriff would hand the ball to fire-throwing Cameron Fees. After Kraemer’s off-speed pitches no one would be able to get around on Fees’ fastball. Justin jogged comfortably from the third base dugout to his 2^nd base position…a job well done. But wait! Justin stopped at the mound, picked up the ball, adjusted his cap, and started to warm up.

“I could hear people saying, ‘Why is he leaving Justin in the game?’” McGriff said after the game. “But when he passed 20 pitches, and then passed 30, I decided to go ahead and burn him. He had earned this victory. I wanted him to finish it.”

It was Justin’s game to win or lose. He struck out the side…all three batters looking at his wicked cutter.

When Justin Kraemer walked off the mound, Harney had one more turn at bat. A “guest” on the IDS live chat sent a message, “Walk-off bomb from McGriff…consider it called.” Hayden McGriff was third up in the inning.

Kyle Maguire walked.

Justin Kraemer singled through the box.

Hayden McGriff drove his double to the fence scoring Maguire.

Did anyone seriously doubt Harney’s bats? Not me. But on Tuesday afternoon, Justin Kraemer stuck the stick in Iowa’s spokes, just like Kasey McGriff expected, and bought time for Harney’s bats to deliver.