By Kyle Howard

PacWest's Pirates earned a trip to the District 7 Juniors Tournament of Champions by winning big against the Angels Friday night, June 9 at the PacWest field complex in SeaTac. The game lasted only five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule as the Pirates exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fourth.

The Angels began the scoring right out of the gate, taking the lead 2-0. That didn’t last long as the Pirates answered back with three runs of their own to take the lead 3-2. Both teams scored three runs in the second inning and the Pirates maintained a one run lead at 6-5 going into the third.

The Pirates started to put the game into motion by being aggressive on the base path, stealing nine bases for the game.

Once the bottom of the fourth came around and the score still at 6-5 the Pirates' bats lit up. They scored nine runs on seven hits in the inning to push the score to 15-5, leaving them to only need three outs in the top of the fifth to win the game and earn an appearance in the Tournament of Champions. They made easy work for the final three outs and ended the game with no more damage done.

The Pirates scored 15 runs on 12 hits, as the Angels scored five on seven hits. The first half of the lineup did major damage for the Pirates with Jacob Hines scoring three runs, Mathew Horejsi scoring three with two hits, and Joey Hengtgen reaching base four times on three walks and one hit by pitch. Hengtgen scored three runs as well.

Coach Ryan Helms, who filled in for manager Jason Welcome, said after the game that he’s been proud of how his team has played all season long.

“They did good," he said. They played well together, kept battling and jumped on the ball well, had limited errors and a bunch of stolen bases."