NORTON SHORES - The Reeths-Puffer baseball team, led by a group of eight seniors, put together a gritty day of baseball on Saturday — the type their coach had been hoping to see all season.
But it wasn't quite enough, because the Rockets fell one run short of a district championship.
After a dramatic comeback win over Grand Haven in the district semifinals, R-P fell to Kenowa Hills 6-5 in extra innings in the Division 1 championship game at Mona Shores High School.
“We just showed a lot of grit, a lot of senior leadership," said R-P Coach Butch Attig. "I’ve been waiting for that all year and it showed up today. We grew a lot as a team, from the beginning of the year to where we are now. We gave ourselves a chance. I’m happy with our day, but it’s gut-wrenching.”
Attig said it stings to see the season end, but he’s proud of the way the team battled and set an example. 
R-P's Drew Brooks slides across home plate. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“I truly love my players," he said. "I love my seniors, and they gave us everything today. They gave us every last ounce. They showed those underclassmen what it takes to play Rocket baseball and set the standard for us moving forward.
“What pains me about this is not the fact that we lost, it’s the fact that they don’t see the big picture of what they did today. I think eventually they’ll see that, you know, but I don’t know if they know what grit they showed, what they did, how they did it. They really performed today and I’m so proud of them.”
R-P held leads of 3-2 and 5-3 at various points in Saturday's championship game, but couldn’t hold on for the win.
The game felt emblematic of the season, Attig said. R-P struggled at times to close teams out, which led to a stretch of 13 losses in 15 games, including seven in a row in early May.
But the Rockets never folded. They kept showing up and playing hard, as evidenced by their four victories in five games to end the regular season, as well as the fight they put up on Saturday.
R-P catcher Quinn Alderink chases down a pop foul. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“We had opportunities, we did not capitalize on those opportunities, that’s the bottom line,” Attig said of Saturday's loss. “Kenowa Hills, I give them all the credit, they did a great job, kept on coming after us. We just couldn’t finish. That’s kind of been our problem all year, is to put a team away.”
The day started out on an exciting note for the Rockets, who advanced to the finals with a thrilling walk-off win over Grand Haven, 3-2 in extra innings.
The Rockets trailed 2-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, but scratched across a run on a sacrifice fly to force extras.
Brenden Guikema led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, then gave way to pinch runner Connor McManus. A sacrifice bunt from Brayden Mitchelson moved McManus to second, and he advanced to third on a single by Colton Bessinger.
R-P's Brayden Mitchelson delivers a pitch. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Quinn Alderink knocked in the winning run with an infield single, sending the Rockets to the title game.
The championship game was just as exciting, but did not end nearly as happily for the Rockets.
Kenowa Hills took an early lead with back-to-back RBI doubles by Payton Paiz and Will Fussman in the top of the first.
R-P responded with two runs in the second to tie the game. A groundout by Bessinger scored Lukas Johnson, then Guikema scored on a wild pitch. 
R-P's Lukas Johnson drills a pitch. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets took their first lead in the third when Alderink scored on a single by Jack Yonkman.
The Knights tied the game in the fifth on an RBI single from Chastyn Cole, scoring Andrew Lake.
R-P responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead. Cade Paugh reached on a walk, went to second on an infield hit by Ethan Frang, and scored on a throwing error by Kenowa Hills. Holden Earnest then singled to bring home Yonkman, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.
The lead didn’t last long, though, as the Knights scored twice in the sixth, aided by the R-P defense. With one out, Fussman reached on an error, moved to second on a groundout, then scored on a single by Zac McCarthy, who advanced to second on the throw home.
The next batter hit a popup to short left, but two Rocket fielders ran into each other attempting to make the catch, dropping the ball and allowing the tying run to score. Kenowa Hills then loaded the bases, but R-P escaped the jam with the score tied at 5-5. 
R-P's Jack Yonkman slides head-first into home plate. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Neither team scored in the seventh or eighth. Mason Peebles doubled to lead off the Kenowa Hills ninth, advanced to third on a dropped fly ball, then scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly from Fussman.
R-P went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to end its season.
R-P had five hits in the title game. Frang, Yonkman, Earnest, Bessinger and Alderink each had singles.
Mitchelson pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Rockets, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts. Yonkman pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief and allowed one run on three hits and a walk.
Reeths-Puffer finished the season with an 8-14 record. 