SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Two down, two to go.
The Mill Creek Little League softball all-star team won its first two games of the Northwest Region Tournament over the weekend. Two more victories and the team made up of girls league-age 12 and under will advance to the Little League World Series.
Now known as Team Washington after winning the Little League state tournament on July 12, Mill Creek will face Idaho 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Little League Western Region Complex in a game shown on ESPN+. The winner of Wednesday’s game will earn a spot in Friday’s regional championship game.
“The girls are having a blast,” Mill Creek manager Courtney Brown said. “It’s really neat seeing the community support back in Washington. That’s been fun to be a part of. That’s probably the best part is knowing that people back home are rooting these girls on.”
Washington opened the tournament on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Oregon. Pitcher Anya Miller led the way, throwing a one-hit shutout. Miller struck out nine and walked just one batter, needing just 74 pitches to take care of Oregon’s Hermiston Little League team.
“Spectacular,” Brown said. “Hitting her spot, trusting her defense. The defense made great plays, too. … Obviously it could have gone either way. We needed Anya, and she was amazing.”
Mill Creek managed just two hits in the game, but that was more than enough for Miller. Phoebe Banks notched Washington’s first hit of the tournament with a third-inning, two-out single up the middle. Makenna Love reached base on a dropped third strike, and Banks came around to score on an error by Oregon’s first baseman.
Miller led off the fourth with a single, and scored just prior to the completion of an inning-ending double play. She made those two runs stand up by retiring Hermiston’s final nine batters to close out the win.
“We knew we had to be really aggressive on the basepaths, which we were,” Brown said.
Creek’s bats got hot on Sunday, as the all-stars dominated Alaska with 16 hits to win 19-0 in four innings. Daphnee Calsyn and Penelope Gahan each went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs for Washington. Camryn Brown pitched a two-hit shutout, striking out seven batters from Abbott O Rabbitt Little League (Anchorage). Brown also went 2-for-3 with two RBI from the plate. Creek plated seven runs in the first inning and put the game away with a 10-run fourth.
The Mill Creek girls planned to enjoy a day off Monday, though they will watch other games and remain together as a team. They will practice on Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday’s game against.
Idaho, which returns several players from last year’s regional championship team, enters Wednesday’s matchup against Mill Creek thanks to a 12-2 win over Colorado on Saturday and a 9-2 victory against Montana Sunday.
“They are definitely a strong team, and I think they came here with some pretty high expectations,” Courtney Brown said. “It’s going to be a good one. They hit. That’s what they do, so we’re going to really have to play some strong defense. They don’t swing and miss a lot.”
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