David W. Smith/Daily News Bowling Green East’s 11- and 12-year-old team celebrates Wednesday after winning the Little League state championship game against St. Matthews at Valley Sports in Louisville. Click here for more photos from the game.

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LOUISVILLE — It was a championship worthy of two celebrations.

Bowling Green East completed its run through the 11- and 12-year-old Little League State Tournament with a 4-0 win over Louisville’s St. Matthews on Wednesday night, sending BG East to the Great Lakes Regional on July 31 in Indianapolis.

Seconds after the final out, the East players threw gloves in the air and piled on one another behind the mound - celebrating in fashion similar to last year’s 11-year-old state crown.

But the celebration halted when St. Matthews filed a protest, claiming BG East reserve Robbie Guthrie didn’t bat. Little League rules require every player to bat at least once in the game or to play three innings in the field.

Managers and officials huddled in the press box for nearly 40 minutes - looking at parents’ cameras and camcorders - before it was determined that Guthrie did in fact bat in the fifth inning.

BG East manager Rick Kelley said the protest was upheld, but the game stands as is.

That means Kelley must go to Indianapolis today to meet with regional Little League officials to determine if there will be any disciplinary action.

“We have that physical evidence and we’ll take it to Indianapolis (today),” Kelley said. “We know that we are state champs. The only penalty would be that they would suspend me for two games, but again we have the physical evidence that he batted and played the field.

“The scorekeeper acknowledges that (Guthrie) was entered, he just has it in a different inning than what (Guthrie) actually played, but we’ll provide the evidence and we’ll be in good shape.”

St. Matthews manager David Walker said he is satisfied with the decision.

“We didn’t show a player participating in the game,” Walker said. “That would be grounds for protest and that would also be a possible reversal. It is a very serious deal in Little League championships, because you have to play all the kids.

“But I’m convinced, having looked at the video evidence upstairs, that he did in fact play. We tried to withdraw the protest, but regretfully, at the end of the day, it was too late for me to withdraw it.”

The protest delayed the celebration, with players from both teams standing on the field waiting for a decision.

BG East’s Hunter Sewell said he wasn’t worried that the win would be taken away.

“Everybody knew that Robbie batted,” Sewell said. “We went and asked the other team and they even said it (too). Everybody was just ready to go home.”

The delay didn’t dampen the celebration for a BG East team that heads to the Great Lakes Regional boasting a 13-0 mark in the postseason.

“It’s been fun this year,” Nacarius Shannon said. “Hanging out with all your friends that you go to school with. We’ve had a very good year. We kept our concentration and didn’t lose our focus when we were down in some games. I just hope we have good luck in Indianapolis.”

Shannon, Christopher McDaniel and Zach Sibalich combined to limit St. Matthews to five hits.

“We had all three of our main pitchers available and that’s what our goal was - to piece it together and change pitchers on them,” Kelley said. “I think it worked - they didn’t score any runs when they’ve been scoring as many as they have in the past.”

Click here for photos from the game.

Bowling Green got on the board in the second with a pair of unearned runs.

Two more St. Matthews errors in the third inning led to another run that made the score 3-0.

Kelley said he could sense some tension from the other team, while his team - which won the 11-year-old state title last year - came out focused and relaxed.

“St. Matthews went through its district outscoring opponents 86-6 and I think any kind of pressure probably created some nervousness on their part,” Kelley said. “It was important for us to get out in front. They left a lot of people on base and that was important.”

St. Matthews’ biggest threat came in the bottom of the second, when they loaded the bases with one out, but Shannon got a strike out and a fly out to end the threat and keep St. Matthews off the board.

The score was still 3-0 heading into the sixth when BG East added an insurance run on an RBI single by Sewell. BG East’s reserves had three of BG’s seven hits in the game - two by Sewell.

“What we try to do is put our best defensive players out on the field and then we try to put our best offensive subs coming in,” Kelley said. “That’s worked very well for us. Again, it proved true tonight.”

St. Matthews threatened in the bottom of the sixth, putting two runners on with two outs, before Sibalich got a fly out to end the game.

BG East heads to the Great Lakes Regional, where it will open pool play at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 1 against the Illinois state champion.

Kelley said he believes his team will be ready for the competition, which will also include state champs from Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana.

“I think if you survive our district and you survive state, then that makes you tournament ready,” Kelley said. “We are certainly ready to go to Indianapolis.”

The winner of the Great Lakes Regional will advance to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Williamsport,” Sewell said. “Hopefully we can get there. I think we have a pretty good shot at doing something good.”

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