Little League: Mill Creek advances to championship
Team rallies to beat Bainbridge Island 4-3
Herald staff
MILL CREEK -- One more to go to reach the next level.
The Mill Creek All-Stars, who rolled easily over their first two opponents, rallied with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and then held on to beat Bainbridge Island 4-3. The win puts them in Sunday's championship game of the Washington State Little League Majors Tournament.
The winner the title game advances to Northwest Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, Calif. The regional winner advances to Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series.
Trailing 3-2 and frustrated by his pitching effort, Mill Creek starter Derrick Mahlum belted the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth inning over the right-center field fence to tie the score. One batter later, Joakim Soderqvist reached base on a fielder's choice and advanced to second and then third on wild pitches. He scored on Alek Baumgartner's high-bounding single over the third baseman to give Mill Creek a 4-3 lead.
Soderqvist, who had relieved Mahlum in the in the top of the fifth, used a mix of fastballs and breaking pitches to baffle the Bainbridge hitters over the final two innings and earn the victory for Mill Creek.
The game was a quite a departure from Mill Creek's first contests, which it won 16-1 and 9-2.
Mill Creek struck first in the game, scoring two runs in the first inning on a lead-off double by Dan Kingma and RBI hits by Soderqvist and Alex Jondal.
Bainbridge's Tino Peleti got one run back with a solo home run to center field in the second inning. Pierre LeDorze tied the score at 2-2 with an RBI single in the third. With two outs and the bases packed, Bainbridge had a chance to take the lead, but Mill Creek starter Derrick Mahlum got Harrison King to pop out to third baseman Soderqvist to retire the side.
Bainbridge's Peleti, who relieved starter Brett Green in the seconnd inning, controlled the middle innings, allowing just two Mill Creek base runners through the fourth.
Bainbridge took the lead in its half of the fourth when Campbell Queen hit a lead-off double to left and took third on a wild pitch. Reserve Jack Post then singled home Queen to give Bainbridge a 3-2 lead with just one out. But Mahlum ended the threat by inducing a 4-6-3 double play, nicely turned by Dan Kingma and Jason Todd.
The teams could meet again. With the win, Mill Creek secured a spot in Sunday's 1 p.m. championship. Bainbridge Island plays again Saturday in a loser out game against an opponent still to be determined.
In Wednesday's other two games, Kory Longaker hit a two-run homer in the first inning that carried Richmond to a 2-1 victory over Walla Walla Valley and Larch Mountain scored 11 runs on seven hits in the top of the first inning while crushing Redmond North 13-2.
Richmond plays Greater Richland at 7 p.m. tonight in a loser-out game. The loss eliminated Walla Walla Valley.
Larch Mountain, a team made up of players from the Tenino-Rochester area, plays Salmon Creek, which is located just north of Vancouver, Wash., today at 4:30 p.m. in a loser-out game. Redmond North was eliminated.
Starting pitchers Cam Sterne of Richmond's and Spencer Locati of Walla Walla Valley kept opposing batters off balance throughout their game Wednesday.
Walla Walla provided some drama in the fourth inning when they tapped Sterne for a run and put runners at second and third with no outs. Close to his pitch limit, Sterne was replaced by tall righty Josh Hawkinson, who retired the next three batters to end the threat.
