JOSH CHASE / SPECIAL TO THE PVT Jared Frye pitches for the Storm in a Minor Division baseball game, during the Pahrump Little League playoffs at Honeysuckle Park Wednesday. The title game against the Defenders is tonight. Advertisement

The battle lines for today's Pahrump Little League Minor Division championship game are set.

After defeating the River Dogs 24-6 Wednesday night, the Storm will face the Defenders at 5 p.m. in the first of possibly two championship match-ups.

If the Defenders win tonight, they'll become the 2007 champions; however, because of the tournament's double-elimination format, if the Storm wins, a final game will be played Saturday.

The Storm earned their spot in the championship round with a solid win over the River Dogs. The team came back from an early 5-0 deficit to score 24 runs in four at-bats.

The Dogs got off to an early lead after Josh DeMille-Gray hit a high liner to centerfield for a double to lead off the first inning. DeMille-Gray later scored, and was followed by Tyler Deabenderfer, who came in on a fielding error after a Branden Hastings base hit.

Later in the inning, Daniel Wilson came in on a wild pitch and, with the bases loaded, Raymond Whitney came in on a walk-in.

The River Dogs would score once more when Kimberly DeMille-Gray came in on a wild pitch in the third inning, but not before the Storm had a chance to explode for seven runs in their half of the first to take the lead. Leading off, Jared Frye nearly grounded out, but was able to make it all the way home on a fielding error at first.

In a play that gave the Storm the lead, Joe Doty hit a ground ball past the River Dogs' third baseman, scoring Daniel Wilson, Ben Wichael and Isaiah Reyes to clear the bases.

Doty's big at-bat was undoubtedly the biggest play of the game -- that is until Reyes recorded an inside-the-park grand slam in the bottom of the third inning.

Big bats like those are why the Storm is in the championship round, said manager Tom Walker following Wednesday night's victory. They're also why the team will focus on other things in the practices between now and the Friday night match-up.

"Our bats seemed to be working real good tonight," Walker said. "So, we're just going to work on getting our defense back on track."

Other Storm RBI came from Derek Moore, who scored Frye in the second, Robert Berry, who scored Moore and Donovan Lescher on a liner to centerfield, Joe Roesner, whose triple to centerfield scored Berry and J.M. Robinson, who scored Roesner on an infield single.

As for the River Dogs, their Monday night victory over the Red Wings at least secured them a third-place tournament finish. And to the team's coaches, that's an amazing feat, considering the Dogs' sixth-place standing heading into the tournament.

"To get third place by losing to a great team like the Storm, you know, it's great," said assistant coach Bob Christensen. "Both of those teams that are in the championship deserve to be there."

The Major Division title game is at 7:15 tonight at Honeysuckle Park, with the Yankees playing the Diamondbacks.

Closing ceremonies Saturday

The Pahrump Little League closing ceremonies will be conducted at 9 a.m. Saturday at Honeysuckle Park.

Also on Saturday, the Pahrump Senior Little League team (15-16s) will play Red Rock in a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m.

On Monday, the Pahrump Post 22 American Legion baseball team will host Las Vegas Calvary Chapel in a Silver Division twin bill, starting at 5 p.m. Players on the Calvary Chapel team helped lead the high school Lions to a Nevada Class A state championship.