One more to go to reach the next level.
The Mill Creek All-Stars, who rolled easily over their first two opponents, rallied with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and then held on to beat Bainbridge Island 4-3. The win puts them in Sunday’s championship game of the Washington State Little League Majors Tournament.
The winner the title game advances to Northwest Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, Calif. The regional winner advances to Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series.
Trailing 3-2 and frustrated by his pitching effort, Mill Creek starter Derrick Mahlum belted the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth inning over the right-center field fence to tie the score. One batter later, Joakim Soderqvist reached base on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second and then third on wild pitches. He scored on Alek Baumgartner’s high-bounding single over the third baseman to give Mill Creek a 4-3 lead.
Soderqvist, who had relieved Mahlum in the in the top of the fifth, used a mix of fastballs and breaking pitches to baffle the Bainbridge hitters over the final two innings and earn the victory for Mill Creek.
The game was a quite a departure from Mill Creek’s first contests, which it won 16-1 and 9-2.
Mill Creek struck first in the game, scoring two runs in the first inning on a lead-off double by Dan Kingma and RBI hits by Soderqvist and Alex Jondal.
Bainbridge’s Tino Peleti got one run back with a solo home run to center field in the second inning. Pierre LeDorze tied the score at 2-2 with an RBI single in the third. With two outs and the bases packed, Bainbridge had a chance to take the lead, but Mill Creek starter Derrick Mahlum got Harrison King to pop out to third baseman Soderqvist to retire the side.
Bainbridge’s Peleti, who relieved starter Brett Green in the second inning, controlled the middle innings, allowing just two Mill Creek base runners through the fourth.
Bainbridge took the lead in its half of the fourth when Campbell Queen hit a lead-off double to left and took third on a wild pitch. Reserve Jack Post then singled home Queen to give Bainbridge a 3-2 lead with just one out. But Mahlum ended the threat by inducing a 4-6-3 double play, nicely turned by Dan Kingma and Jason Todd.
The teams could meet again. With the win, Mill Creek secured a spot in Sunday’s 1 p.m. championship. Bainbridge Island plays again Saturday in a loser out game against an opponent still to be determined.
In Wednesday’s other two games, Kory Longaker hit a two-run homer in the first inning that carried Richmond to a 2-1 victory over Walla Walla Valley and Larch Mountain scored 11 runs on seven hits in the top of the first inning while crushing Redmond North 13-2.
Richmond plays Greater Richland at 7 p.m. tonight in a loser-out game. The loss eliminated Walla Walla Valley.
Larch Mountain, a team made up of players from the Tenino-Rochester area, plays Salmon Creek, which is located just north of Vancouver, Wash., today at 4:30 p.m. in a loser-out game. Redmond North was eliminated.
Starting pitchers Cam Sterne of Richmond’s and Spencer Locati of Walla Walla Valley kept opposing batters off balance throughout their game Wednesday.
Walla Walla provided some drama in the fourth inning when they tapped Sterne for a run and put runners at second and third with no outs. Close to his pitch limit, Sterne was replaced by tall righty Josh Hawkinson, who retired the next three batters to end the threat.
Locati struck out eight in a losing effort.
Redmond North batters never got on track against the Larch Mountain pitchers, scratching out just two runs. Larch Mountain scored their final two runs on back-to-back homers by Zack Chamberlain and Chuck McKeever in the fourth inning.
MILL CREEK DOWNS SALMON 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 July 22, 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.
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.
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.
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.
Earlier in the tournament, Mill Creek scored seven runs in the second inning and demolished Richmond 16-1 in five innings July 20 at the Washington State Little League Tournament in Mill Creek.
Also Sunday, Bainbridge Island defeated Steel Lake 7-5 and Greater Richland defeated Spokane South 13-3 in four innings.
In Sunday’s fourth game, Salmon Creek scored 12 runs in the first two innings to defeat Walla Walla Valley 18-7.
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