Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, August 21, 2008

Dream ends for Mill Creek

Home runs are the downfall in team's 9-4 U.S. Division semifinals loss to Hawaii

By Tony Dondero
For The Herald

 WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Mill Creek's magical ride to the Little League World Series came to an end at the hands of Waipahu, Hawaii, Wednesday night at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

Hawaii did it with the long ball, belting four home runs in a 9-4 victory in a U.S. semifinal, loser-out game. The team from the Aloha state moves on to Saturday's U.S. championship game.

"Unfortunately, they hit a couple more out of the ballpark tonight," Mill Creek manager Scott Mahlum said.

"They're fundamentally solid as it gets," he added about Hawaii, which played error-free baseball and had four players drive in runs. "They're deep."

Still, Mahlum said the experience of making it to the Series would be hard to top. He believed his team was capable of making it this far after coaching them as 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds.

"They're that good and that talented," he said. "I thought we were going to win tonight."

Although, Mahlum's face couldn't hide his disappointment, he called making it to the Series a "once in a lifetime opportunity.

"It's the greatest experience," he said.

The Mill Creek families cheered the players as they walked off the field one last time.

"You got to be proud of those kids," Mill Creek Little League president Ed Lundberg said. "They've done a great job. They represented the whole community. They've represented our whole state. We couldn't be more proud of them."

Mill Creek, which took 2½ hours of batting practice Wednesday, had seven hits and plenty of base runners, but left 11 of them on base.

Mill Creek's offense struck right away with two runs in the top of the first inning off Hawaii starter Caleb Duhay. Alex Jondal lined a single to left on a 0-2 pitch to drive in Dan Kingma from third and Jason Todd from second. Kingma had drawn a leadoff walk and Todd singled to center with one out.

But Hawaii didn't get rattled and answered in a hurry in the bottom of the first. Christian Donahue reached base on an error by Alek Baumgartner, who couldn't hang onto a sinking line drive. Tanner Tokunaga then belted a home run to keep left to tie it. After Pikai Winchester reached first when first baseman Alec Kisena couldn't handle a high throw from pitcher Derrick Mahlum, pinch-hitter Iolana Akau lined a home run to center.

Mill Creek cut the deficit to 4-3 in the second inning on K.J. Neaville's home run to deep center, his first of the Series.

In the bottom of the third, Hawaii started to pull away. Winchester belted a home run to left on the first pitch from Mahlum. Later in the inning, Kainoa Fong's two-run double made it 7-4.

Mill Creek's Casey Dawes scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to cut the lead to 7-4, but the inning ended with runners stranded at second and third.

Hawaii added two insurance runs in the fourth when Winchester hit a two-run blast off Joakim Soderqvist, who relieved Mahlum in the third. The shot inside the foul pole in left was his second homer of the game and third of the Series. Hawaii came into the game with only three home runs in their previous three games, before exploding for four.

"We were having fun," said third baseman Pikai Winchester of the Hawaii players who piled out of the dugout to celebrate at home plate for each home run.

Duhay picked up the win going 32/3 innings. He gave up six hits, four runs, four walks and struck out eight.

Mahlum took the loss to drop to 1-1. He gave up seven runs, four earned on five hits walked one and struck out five in 21/3 innings of work.

Of note

Mill Creek to play exhibition against Canada: Mill Creek plays the team from White Rock, British Columbia, in a crossover exhibition game this morning at Volunteer Field. The Canadian team was eliminated in earlier pool play. It's tradition that teams that have been eliminated hang around to play an extra game to give more players a chance to play in Williamsport.

Soderqvist pitches in a pinch: Joakim Soderqvist, who was a game-time decision because of what he called a torn tendon and sore muscle in his elbow, pitched 22/3 innings and threw 47 pitches in relief. He gave up two runs on three hits, struck out six and walked one.

Soderqvist saw an on-site doctor provided by Little League for a checkup on his arm, and the doctor advised him to give it as much rest as he needed, his father Pontus said.

"He came out today and it was OK," Pontus said. "He could pitch. It was a good end for him.

"We didn't know Joakim could pitch until he warmed up," manager Scott Mahlum said. "I asked him to be honest if it hurt at all."

While the team was taking batting practice two hours before the game, Soderqvist said he would go if needed.

Ex-Husky knocks out another ex-Husky: Hawaii manager Timo Donahue, a standout Husky baseball player in the late 1980s, went to UW at the same time as Scott Mahlum. Their teams got to know each other in San Bernardino where the West and Northwest regionals were played.

"I'd rather have been playing them on Saturday," Donahue said. "It's sad that one of us has to lose. Those guys are good guys."
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA