Portsmouth Little League's 9/10-year-old all-stars made a habit of coming from behind in district and state tournament play.

It was only fitting that they did it one more time in their final game of the summer.

The Rhode Island club rallied from a 5-4 deficit with four runs in the sixth and held off Bedford, N.H., to win 8-5 in its pool play finale at the 9/10 Eastern Region Invitational in Cranston.

“I think this is our fifth comeback win,” said Rhode Island manager Bob Yates. “It's been fun. We've had the lead and dropped the lead a few times too, but it's fun to come back and win like we've done.”

The game was largely meaningless in the pool play standings. Vermont had already clinched first place in the New England pool, while Connecticut would win a tiebreaker formula for the second spot unless Rhode Island somehow played 21 innings without allowing a run.

With that in mind, both teams just focused on finishing strong, and at various points, both looked like they would be the ones to finish with a win. Rhode Island led 4-0 after two before New Hampshire took a 5-4 lead going into the top of the fifth.

But that's when Rhode Island found one more comeback.

New Hampshire reliever Tommy Saltzman, who had already gone 1.2 scoreless innings, got a strikeout to start the sixth. But Robbie Yates followed with a hard ground ball that caromed off the first baseman for a single. Yates raced to second in the aftermath.

Two pitches later, Brewster Mott lined a single into center field. Yates rounded third but stopped. As the throw came in, New Hampshire threw behind him to try to get an out, but the ball got away and Yates scampered home with the tying run.

Timmy McGuire then lined a single into center to score Mott with the go-ahead run.

In just a five-pitch span, Rhode Island had rallied again.

“I'm glad we did it today,” Bob Yates said. “That's the way we've had it rolling the whole summer.”

Rhode Island padded its lead on an RBI double by Conner Freitas and scored its eighth run when Will Pierce took an extra base on a fielder's choice.

Armed with the lead, Rhode Island finished the job. Freitas, who had come on in the fourth, struck out the first batter of the bottom of the sixth before getting a ground ball to third. Simon Roy made a nice play on it and threw out Kyle Lavigne for the second out. Mike Pratte was hit by a pitch to keep New Hampshire alive, but Freitas recorded a strikeout to end the game.

Six of the seven outs Freitas recorded came on strikeouts.

“Conner has come way up,” Yates said. “He's probably the most improved we've had through this run. He's at the top of his game.”

Rhode Island had taken the early lead thanks to a triple by Robbie Yates and an RBI single by Freitas in the first inning. In the second, they made it 4-0 on RBI singles by Yates and Mott. Justin Parsons scored on a wild pitch.

New Hampshire started its own comeback with a run in the third on back-to-back doubles by Lavigne and Pratte. In the fourth, New Hampshire broke through for four runs, with T.J. Crowley's two-run double the big blow.

At that point, it looked like New Hampshire was on its way – and it also had some defense on its side. Ryan Juliano made a tremendous diving catch of a hard line drive at third base, robbing Simon Roy of extra bases in the fourth. In the fifth, right-fielder Adam Roy made a running catch of a fly ball that was ticketed for the gap.

“We made a few and we missed a few,” said New Hampshire manager Jamie Saltzman. “We caught some of the tough ones and missed some of the easy ones. But they did a great job.”

The loss ended a fun – and busy – summer for the Bedford stars. In addition to their Little League tournaments, many of the players were together on an AAU team as well. In Cranston, Bedford went 2-2 and lit up the scoreboard for 39 runs in its two victories.

Lavigne and Crowley had two hits each to lead the charge on Thursday.

“It's Little League baseball, and sometimes it's about who makes less mistakes,” Saltzman said. “But our boys had fun. This was a great experience.”

Rhode Island's attack was led by Yates and McGuire, who had three hits each. Freitas drove in two runs and Mott – playing in his final game before moving to California – had two hits. Mott also pitched the first 3.2 innings.

Though they won't get a shot at the New England title, the Portsmouth stars were happy to finish with a victory.

“It was a fantastic run, that's for sure,” Bob Yates said. “I'm exhausted, but it's been great. I'm going to come back and watch this tournament. It's that good. I never knew this existed. To see it now, I'm coming back.”