Dimond, the runner-up in the last two state baseball tournaments, blew out West Valley 10-2 in a semifinal game Friday at Hermon Brothers Field, setting up a championship game against South today at 4 p.m. in Palmer.

South earned its spot in the final by surviving a final-inning charge from Lathrop to gut out a 6-5 win in the other semifinal.

"We have a way of making things interesting," South manager Chris Williams said.

Despite rallying for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend its lead to four, South barely held off a charging Lathrop squad.

Lathrop got its first two batters on base in the top of the seventh and final inning, so South's Josh Crapps, one day removed from pitching a complete-game, was brought in to close.

Crapps gave up a two-run triple to the first batter he faced, retired the next batter and then gave up a double that put the tying run on second with one out. The next two Lathrop batters grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

"It was a pitcher's duel the first half," said Williams. "And it kind of became a walk-slash-hit fest in the second half."

Most of the early scoring was handled by South's Kyle Frazier. A day after hitting a grand slam, he belted a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give the Wolverines a 3-0 lead.

Dimond's win was highlighted by hot hitting from the first three batters of the order. Tyler Thompson, Dylan Lauwers and Cory Clevenger each notched two hits, with Thompson and Clevenger each scoring two runs. Lauwers drove in two runs and so did Matt Wilson, who contributed a two-run double.

In the consolation bracket, Kodiak beat Juneau 5-4, and Sitka downed Soldotna 7-3, setting up a fourth-place game today between Kodiak and Sitka. Lathrop and West Valley will play each other for third place.