Mill Creek back in regionals, eyes berth in LLSWS

It’s hard to imagine a team better primed to win a regional tournament than the Mill Creek Little League softball team.

Talent? Mill Creek’s 12-year-olds blew through the state tournament, going 4-0 and winning their games by a combined score of 64-3, including 20-0 in the championship contest.

Experience? This is the same Mill Creek program that reached Little League’s West Regional Tournament last year, going undefeated in pool play before being knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Motivation? Not only does the team include five members who were part of last year’s regional qualifier, it even received a pep talk from Heather Tarr, the coach of the collegiate powerhouse University of Washington Huskies, when the team had the rare treat of practicing at Husky Softball Stadium on Tuesday in Seattle.

So when Mill Creek begins play at this year’s regional tournament, which begins Friday and continues through July 28 in San Bernardino, California, the team won’t just be there to take in the experience. It has lofty expectations.

“I’m really confident in them,” Mill Creek manager Daryl Stevens said of his players. “There’s not a doubt in my mind that they can go out and win the whole thing and bring back a world championship.”

Past results seem to back Stevens’ assertions.

It began last year at regionals, when Mill Creek swept Arizona, Wyoming and Nevada in pool play to earn the top seed to the quarterfinals before losing a 5-3 heartbreaker to a Hawaii team that finished as the tournament runner-up. Shortstop Lauren Whitley, first baseman Annie Coe and outfielders Dierdre Delgado, Avery Hare and Kalia Zellmer all are back from that team.

“It was really cool at regionals last year,” Whitley said. “We played successfully in our first three pool-play games, then we ended up playing the really good Hawaii team. We were down 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth, but we came back to make it 5-3.”

This year Mill Creek is back with a vengeance. Mill Creek outclassed the competition at the state tournament, which was held July 5-11 in Oak Harbor. Mill Creek opened the tournament with a 20-0 victory over North Whidbey before beating Camas 17-2 and Redmond 7-1 to advance through the winner’s bracket.

Mill Creek drew Redmond again in the first of what could have been two championship contests. However, Mill Creek wasted little time ensuring there would be no second game. Playing as the visitors, Mill Creek exploded for 13 runs in the top of the first inning, ending the game as a contest before having to throw a single pitch.

“I felt like we finally reached our potential in the state finals, that’s when we finally started opening up,” Stevens said. “It was every girl hitting and every girl going.”

Stevens said hitting has been the team’s main strength, with Heleina Ah-Loe, Delgado and Whitley leading the way during the state tournament.

The team also has a gem of a pitcher in Simone Williams. Williams, the only 11-year-old on the squad, pitched all eight of Mill Creek’s games at district and state, winning all eight.

“She’s one of the quietest kids we’ve got, but she comes out and she’s just a fierce competitor on the mound,” Stevens said. “She’s everything you want out of a pitcher because she can go out and strike out 13 in a game and you ask her how many strikeouts she had and she’s like, ‘I don’t know, three?’ She’s just in tune to what she’s doing right now and she doesn’t worry about what happened before.”

But Mill Creek’s biggest advantage may be its experience. Having so many players who have competed at regionals before means Mill Creek will have few surprises after arriving in San Bernardino. The returners have let the newcomers know exactly what to expect.

“They said things like you can’t be too cocky and think you’re going to win everything,” Williams said. “And they said it’s really fun there and exciting.”

And Mill Creek has only one goal at regionals:

“We want to win!” Delgado exclaimed. “We have to be the team that wants it more — and be the team that handles the heat better.”

If Mill Creek can do that, then the Little League Softball World Series in Portland, Oregon, beckons.