ELMA- District VII South Highline National Little League suffered an 11-0 defeat at the hands of District X juggernaut Auburn in its opening game of the 2010 Washington state 11-12 year-old Majors baseball tournament hosted by District III East Grays Harbor Little League and held at the $65,000 two-year renovated Smith-Murrey Park in the 10th Street Park Complex.
"We're real proud of this field," said East Grays Harbor County Little League President Ian Osgood. "It took many people putting in many hours to make it happen."
South Highline National moved on to the single-elimination bracket of the tournament against District III powerhouse Centralia on Monday, July 26.
Situated just above somewhat rural downtown Elma and Elma High School, the well-hosted and promoted event was comfortable except for the rough reception given to National by its opponents of the day.
"We did okay for the first few innings," said National Manager Dave Galando. "Then, the third inning came and everything snowballed. Auburn is a fine team and hits the ball well. Our guys gave it their best today. It just wasn't enough. We'll have to dial it up a notch to stay in the tournament."
In the second inning, Auburn's Casey Manning put a charge into first inning pitch for a solo home run over the left field fence. Two more Auburn hits followed, but the Nationals held off further scoring in the inning.
Auburn opened up its heavy hitting armaments in the third inning, knocking home five runs on four big hits.
A three-run homer highlighted a District X five run fourth inning which made the score 11-0. When South Highline National was unable to score in the bottom of the fourth inning, the game ended on the 10-run mercy rule.
Hard hitting Auburn's efforts were also aided by dominant pitching. Starting pitcher Casey Manning and relief pitcher Ikaika Nahaku allowed only four District VII batters on base for the entire game.
Manning pitched five and one-third innings with eight strikeouts while Nahaku set down the final two SHN batters.
Jared Scott rifled a single to right field to open the bottom of the second inning. One strikeout later, Tyler Eaton reached first on a fielder's choice ground out when the Auburn catcher grabbed Eaton's bunt and threw to second base for a force out.
District VII's other runners were found in the fourth inning. Bryce Pulver was hit by a pitch with one out before Scott forced him out at second base on a ground out to the shortstop.
