Chalk this championship up to the number three.
West Seattle manager Mark O'Neal did after his team won its third-straight game to capture the District 7 age 10-11 Little League tournament title.
"We had three games of outstanding pitching, three games of outstanding defense and all three games enough of our hitting came together at the right time." said O'Neal, whose team clinched the crown with a 6-2 victory over host PacWest on Tuesday, June 28.
The team opened the tournament with a 9-0 victory over the same PacWest squad close under the SeaTac airport flight path on Saturday, June 25 before beating Rainier Beach, 12-1, in the winner's bracket semifinal Sunday, June 26.
That set up the rematch with a scrappy and come-from-behind minded PacWest team Tuesday. PacWest needed to win that game to force action for all of the marbles the next night -- but it never happened.
After the opening loss to West Seattle, PacWest of Burien defeated South Highline National, 15-1, before eliminating Rainier Beach, 13-2, in Monday's loser's bracket final.
"They're a great team," said Mark Terao, who doubles as O'Neal's assistant and as the president of the West Seattle Little League charter. "They played hard. We were just fortunate this was our week for West Seattle Little League."
As the District 7 champions, West Seattle earned a trip to the state age 10-11 tournament scheduled to begin Saturday, July 16 at the Eastern Washington town of Cheney.
"We've worked hard at each and every practice," O'Neal said. "And we did the right thing at the right time as a team to execute in a game they played very well."
West Seattle opened the game with a two-out, one-run rally in the top of the first inning. Grayson O'Neal singled and came around on two errors and a hit by pitcher.
West Seattle tacked on three more runs in the top of the third with the help of two walks and two more errors, before PacWest picked up its first run on three hits in the bottom of the second, the biggest of which was a double by Jaylen Rose. David Perkins and Ryan Moormeier both singled.
But West Seattle picked up its final two runs in a big way in the third inning.
Kai Osaka walked and scored when Dylan Diggdon launched a home run into a cottonwood tree that stands beyond the left-field fence, with several large leaves falling to the ground along with the ball.
PacWest scored its last run in the bottom of the third when Tyler Terlouw hit into an error and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly.
Both teams went scoreless the rest of the way, preserving West Seattle's 6-2 lead.
