Everett, Wash.
Published: Monday, August 4, 2008

Mill Creek comes from behind to beat Montana

The Little League team plays Idaho on Tuesday for a berth in the semifinals.

Herald staff

 SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- One day after proving they could play with a big lead, the Mill Creek All-Stars proved they could come from behind.

Derrick Mahlum hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning, Jason Todd struck out 12 batters in relief and Mill Creek scored nine runs in the final two innings Sunday night to erase a three-run deficit and defeat Billings, Montana 10-4 at the Northwest Regional baseball tournament.

Mill Creek improved to 2-0 in the regional, and will play Boise, Idaho (0-2) Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. By winning one of its final two games, Mill Creek can asure a spot in the semifinals, which begin Thursday.

Coming off of a 20-1 demolishing of Anchorage, Alaska the night before, Sunday's win didn't come easy. Montana scored two runs in the first inning and added another in the third to take an early 3-1 lead.

"I think we came in a little overconfident," Mill Creek head coach Scott Mahlum said. "We took Montana for granted and quickly found out they were a good baseball team.

"We didn't swing at good pitches," Mahlum added.

Mill Creek turned it around by scoring three runs in sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead thanks in part to a clutch two-RBI double with two outs by Alex Jondal.

After Montana tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Mill Creek scored six runs in the seventh to put the game away.

Dan Kingma, who finished 2-for-3, singled in the go-ahead run, Mahlum hit his three-run home run and Alec Kisena added a two-run single.
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