File photo by Jeremy Behnke Courtland shortstop Teagan Kamm fields a ground ball in a recent Region 2C amateur baseball game at Riverside Park in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD — The Hanska Lakers are back to the state tournament.

Hanska outlasted Courtland in the Region 2C playoffs and qualified for the Class C Amateur Baseball State Tournament with a 12-7 win on Friday night at Riverside Park.

It was the fourth time the teams met this year, with each team picking up two wins. The Lakers, who lost in the first round of the state tournament a year ago, will now play Stark at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Johnson Park for Region 2C seedings. The loser of that game will get the No. 3 seed and the winner of that game will play New Ulm at 4 p.m. If New Ulm loses the 4 p.m. game, an if necessary game will be played on Sunday to determine the No. 1 seed in the region.

The Lakers took advantage of a couple Courtland errors in the bottom of the seventh and that led to three unearned runs, breaking open a 9-6 contest at that point. The Cubs, who rallied from an 8-1 deficit against Springfield last Sunday, weren’t able to push enough runs across late on Friday. The Cubs last made the state tournament in 1945 and the young team made a huge leap this past season.

Brady Mosenden earned the win for Hanska. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing 10 hits and four runs. Aaron Portner pitched the final 3 2/3 innings for the Lakers.

Cole Backer took the loss for Courtland. He gave up eight runs in 4 2/3 innings, allowing 10 hits in the process.

Courtland put the pressure on Hanska right away in the first inning, scoring twice off of Hanska starter Brady Mosenden. The Cubs started the inning when Jackson Bode led off with a double and Cade Bushard singled to move Bode to third.

After Bushard stole second, Teddy Giefer hit a soft line drive to short and Bode was doubled off at third for the second out, but Chase Meyer’s RBI single scored Bushard from second and Meyer later scored on an RBI double from Hunter Johnson.

Chris Knowles cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Kevin Larson. The Lakers then tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on Larson’s single that scored Lucas Fredin.

After that, the Lakers hit Backer hard. With Larson on second and Derek Wilfahrt on third, Eric Portner’s double to left gave Hanska a 4-2 lead and the Lakers added to that lead in the bottom of the fifth when Sam Knowles singled to score Mosenden. Then, with Sam Knowles on second and two outs, Lucas Fredin had a seeing-eye single just over the shortstop’s head to give the Lakers a 6-2 advantage.

Derek Wilfahrt followed with a single and moved to second on the throw, putting runners on second and third and ending Backer’s night.

Larson then came through with a two-run single that scored Fredin and Wilfahrt off Giefer, who came in to relieve Backer.

Courtland got a couple of runs back in the sixth inning. Hunter Johnson led off with a single and eventually scored on a throwing error to cut the lead to 8-3. Teagan Kamm’s RBI single scored Maddox Mortenson to make it 8-4, ending Mosenden’s night. The Cubs got another run off of reliever Aaron Portner on a grounder to second to cut the gap to 8-5.

The Lakers got a run back in the sixth after Gary Wilfahrt hit a bases-loaded sac fly to score Chris Knowles. After Lucas Fredin’s infield single loaded the bases, Giefer retired Derek Wilfahrt to end the threat.

Giefer’s double led to him scoring a run in the top of the seventh to make it 9-6.

However, the Lakers scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to all but put the game away. Courtland added a single run in the eighth for the final run of the night.

For Hanska, Kevin Larson picked up three hits and scored three runs. He also drove in three runs and reached on five of six plate appearances. Eric Portner had a pair of hits, including a double. He also had two RBIs. Sam Knowles had three hits and an RBI and he also scored a run and Fredin had three hits, an RBI and he scored two runs. Mosenden and Derek Wilfahrt each scored two runs.

Courtland was led by Giefer’s two doubles and a run scored. Hunter Johnson went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI and Chase Meyer had two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Carter Lang had two hits and a run and Teagan Kamm had two hits and an RBI.