When Lakeland Little League flexed its muscles with a trio of solo home runs in the top of the second inning of the Wisconsin state championship game at Gelein Field in Eau Claire, Tanner Halverson had the perfect antidote.

Halverson slammed a grand slam home run in the bottom of the inning to reverse Lakeland's 4-2 advantage, and his homestanding Eau Claire National Little League never trailed again en route to an 11-7 victory.

The victory gave Eau Claire National its fifth win in six state tournament games, and made the Nationals just the second Eau Claire league to claim the championship in the 61-year history of the Wisconsin state tournament. Eau Claire National advanced to the Great Lakes Region tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"That was huge," said Eau Claire manager Jeff Pippenger of Halverson's momentum-shifting blow. "We've been doing it all year. We concentrate on the small stuff and the fundamentals, and we want to be up there swinging hard."

Eau Claire added runs in each of the next three innings, and stretched its advantage to 11-4. Lakeland added three runs in the final inning to narrow the final margin of victory.

Eau Claire pitcher Ryan Venne settled down following the three early Lakeland homers, posting three shutout innings and pitching into the sixth inning as the Nationals stretched their advantage to 11-4. Lakeland added three runs in the sixth to narrow the final margin of victory.

Venne also finished 3-for-3 at the plate, including a home run of his own.

"Ryan has been one of our main players all year," said Pippenger. "He did a great job today. What he did today was a performance in Little League that you don't see too often."

Eau Claire National streaked to victories in its first four round robin games at the state tournament, and clinched the top seed in elimination round play with a 4-2 victory over West Bend Little League. Venne and Halverson delivered RBIs in the victory, while Tyler Greenlund was the winning pitcher. The Nationals dropped their final round robin game to Waunakee Little League, 14-9, but promptly avenged the defeat with a 14-7 victory over the same team the next day in a semifinal round encounter. Venne was 4-for-5 in the win over Waunakee, while Halverson was 3-for-4 and Jack Kron added three hits, including a pair of doubles. Venne, Halverson, and Draeson Marcoux all homered in the win.

Eau Claire opened the tournament with wins over Appleton West Little League, Rhinelander's Hodag Little League, and Lakeland. Halverson slammed a two-run homer in the 7-2 victory over Appleton West, then was the winning pitcher in a 14-4 victory over Rhinelander. Venne had three hits and homered twice against Rhinelander, while Marcoux added three hits and a homer of his own.

Against Lakeland, Jeffrey Pippenger delivered a two-run double and Greenlund slammed a home run to fuel the 7-3 victory.

Lakeland, which won three of its five round robin contests, earned its title game berth by edging West Bend Little League, 9-8, in the other semifinal round matchup.

Eau Claire National's title game victory was one of a string of successes for the Northwest Wisconsin city in 2012: Eau Claire's 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old Babe Ruth all-star teams all captured state championships in their respective tournaments. The Little League state champions became the first Eau Claire-based league to reach region tournament competition since Eau Claire American Little League captured the city's first major baseball state championship in 1998.

"We're going to see the best of five other states in that tournament," noted Jeff Pippenger. "I expect every game is going to be a dogfight."

Eau Claire won three of its four pool games at the Great Lakes Region tournament, with their only pool loss coming to eventual champion New Castle (Indiana) Little League on the tournament's second day. The two teams met again in the semifinal round, when New Castle pushed across two runs in the fourth inning after facing an early deficit and claimed a 2-1 victory.