MILL CREEK — Salmon Creek got to see Jason Todd, and now Mill Creek can see a championship on the horizon.
Mill Creek advanced to the semifinals of the Washington State Little Majors Tournament on Tuesday, thanks to a stellar performance from their ace on the mound. Todd struck out 15 batters and picked up a complete-game win, as Mill Creek downed Salmon Creek 9-2. Mill Creek plays Bainbridge Island at 7 tonight at Freedom Field, needing a win there and one more on Sunday to clinch the tournament championship for 12-year-old All-Star teams from around the state. The tourney winner advances to regionals in San Bernardino, Calif.
Even with his dominant performance on the mound, the win didn’t come easy for Todd. That’s because, for the first five innings, Salmon Creek’s Ian Hamilton was in a groove of his own, holding Mill Creek to just three runs.
In the sixth, however, Mill Creek blew the game wide open with six runs to seize a 9-2 lead. Duncan Bartok started it with a single, followed by a Dave Kingma double and a walk to load the bases. Todd gave himself some insurance by smacking a two-run single, before Joakim Soderqvist drove home two more runs on a bloop single to right.
With a 9-2 lead, Todd gunned down two more strikeout victims in the bottom half of the sixth to finish it off.
Mill Creek never trailed in the game. It grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Alex Jondal belted a solo home run, then went ahead 2-0 in the third when Todd hit a one-out triple and scored on a wild pitch.
Salmon Creek answered with two runs in the bottom of the third on an infield single and a two-run home run.
Salmon Creek now plays at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against either Redmond North or Larch Mountain in the loser’s bracket.
In other action, Bainbridge Island posted a pair of seven-run innings to rout Greater Richland, 16-1. Right-hander Ben Kussie went the distance, giving up only one run on two hits and striking out four in the abbreviated contest.
Bainbridge Island’s big blow was a grand slam in the second by Pierre LeDorze that made the score 6-0. The team went on to collect 13 hits and remain perfect in the state tournament. Jake Hawken also homered for Bainbridge Island in the fourth.
Greater Richland now plays an elimination game against either Walla Walla Valley or Richmond at 7 p.m. Thursday.
In the loser’s bracket, Redmond North stayed alive with a 6-4 defeat of Steel Lake. A double and an ensuing home run helped Steel Lake jump ahead 2-0, but Redmond North countered with five runs on five consecutive hits in the bottom of the fifth inning to take control. Zach Wheat belted a three-run home run in the inning.
The loss eliminates Steel Lake. Redmond North plays Larch Mountain at 2 p.m. today.
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