Pitching held sway in the personage of Mitchell Corsack on Friday as Pac West completed a forced march from the elimination bracket to the 2006 Washington District 7 Little League Majors championship in a 4-3 provisional championship defeat of West Seattle.

On Saturday, July 22, Pac West will open state tournament action at 3 p.m. against the tournament host, District 6 at Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor.

"We had to do some strange things defensively and rework our normal positions to get certain kids up to bat," said a relieved Pac West manager Jim Kemp. "That's why we had that pop fly drop. Players were not in their normal fielding positions. Mitchell Corsack played for me on my regular season team. He's such a gamer. He's the only pitcher that I let call his own pitches."

Pac West came out smoking to open the game. Successive sharp, stinging singles by Ryne Phelan and Corsack, respectively, preceded a strikeout. Jacob Wydick yanked a first pitch offering from D'Nique Harris-Welch that was gone on contact to clear the right field fence for a three-run homer to send Pac West into delirium and a 3-0 lead before its opponent had batted.

"I thought that they would throw me away first, because that's what they usually did," recalled Wydick. "I saw it (the ball) floating high and inside and turned on it and hoped it would go over the fence."

An unlikely play in the third inning helped the Pac West All-Stars score the run that would hold up throughout the rest of the game as the winning run. Cosack rammed a leadoff single to start the sequence. An error on an attempted force out at second base on Jeff Kemp's ground ball resulted in runners on the corners for Pac West.

Fearing the hitting prowess of Wydick after the first inning blast, West Seattle tried to givee Wydick an intentional walk. The first pitch was close enough to the plate for the Pac West big gun to swing at and miss. It was at this point that the strategy turned sour for West Seattle. D'Niques' next pitched rimmed off the top of the catcher's mitt and rolled far enough away for Corsack to reach home plate safely.

Trailing, 4-0, West Seattle would not roll over and give up. In the bottom of the third, Conner McCargo's pop fly in the infield was not played and dropped to the earth for a single as West Seattle's first hit of the game. Advancing to second base on a wild pitch, the runner was in position for Harris-Welch to single in the run that trimmed Pac West's seeming control to 4-1.

West Seattle continued to ferociously fight back, resuming with Conner Desmond's walk to open the home team's batting order. Desmond moved up to second base on a wild pitch. Corsack struck out the next batter. Coming off the bench to bat, Devin Smith drove in a run with a single and the score was now 4-2 with Smith springing to second on the outfielder's throw to home plate.

It was now Denny Werlech's turn to single home a run that drew West Seattle within 4-3. An unassisted ground out at first base sent the possible game winning run to second base with two out. On a 2-2 count, Corsack focused and fired to catch the batter looking at a third strike curve on the outside corner. Mustering his masterful mound skills -- which include a sharp breaking curve ball and a fastball with good movement -- the Pac West right-hander struck out the side in order to preserve his complete game, championship-clinching win.

"I got in trouble when I was letting my pitches go down the middle," he admitted. "I just had to follow through and push off."

Corsack's six-hitter included 14 strikeouts and no walks. Welch-Harris gave up seven hits and struck out nine batters for West Seattle.

In the end, Pac West played seven games to achieve the goal of going to state.

For the fighting West Seattle All-Stars, the hope of reaching state was gone, but the striving to achieve will always remain.

"We played very good baseball," West Seattle manager Bob Hellinger said. "I'm proud of the team. We just didn't hit as well as they did. Pac West will make a good representative."

Another vital cog in the Pac West tournament triumph was the catcher position.

"Catcher Jack Munden has been a key because he blocks those pitches that hit the dirt in front of him," said Kemp.

This was very evident in the Thursday game as well as on Friday.

Clutch pitching by curve-balling lefthander Jacob Wydick positioned Pac West for a 3-2 defeat of West Seattle at the Bar-S fields on Thursday to force the provisional championship game. Wydick allowed only three hits while striking out 10 West Seattle batters in a complete game performance.

Preponderance of front line pitching propelled the Pac West All-Stars.

"Jacob pitched a great game," proclaimed PW manager Jim Kemp. "He threw only 95 pitches which is 20 less than against Rainier. I would match up my top three pitchers, Jeff Kemp, Mitchell Corsack, and Jacob, against anyone else's No. 1."

On Thursday, West Seattle right-hander Evan Clements proved to be a formidable foe for Pac West, continually clipping the corners of home plate to finish with a four-hitter along with eight strikeouts.

For the first two innings the only batters to get on base did so by drawing walks.

Suddenly, under rain threatening dark clouds, the teams spoke with voices of thunder in the third inning. Lukas Crippen led off with a walk for the Pac West All-Stars to start the offense. One strikeout later, Ryne Phelan bunted Crippen to second base. Corsack then lined a single to right field, scoring the runner. On the same play sequence, the center fielder allowed the ball to get past him, allowing Corsack to advance to second base. Kemp's double over the left fielder's head made the score 2-0 before left handed hitting Wydick rifled a single down the third base line to expand Pac West's lead to 3-0.

In the home half of the inning, West Seattle batter Nick Savas singled with two out.Clements brought West Seattle within 3-2 by blasting a hanging curve ball for a home run that left the field of play over the left center field fence in a heartbeat.

As the game result dangled in the balance, Pac West threatened to widen its slim advantage in the fourth inning. Jack Munden legged out a one-out triple that cleared the right fielder's head. West Seattle's Clements responded by striking out the next two batters, leaving the runner longingly looking at home plate.

The fifth inning was a heart-stopper. With the top of its batting order coming up, West Seattle tried to make its case. Ryan Gale reached first on a leadoff base hit and later moved up to second base on a wild pitch. Danny Werlech followed by drawing a base on balls. Savas' fielders choice out on a bunt left runners still at first and second base with one out. Clements' fielder's choice ground out produced runners on first and third as two outs showed. Wydick drew his breath on the mound and quickly worked the count to 0-2 against the next West Seattle batter before catching the batter looking at a third strike curve ball to repulse the West Seattleites' scoring opportunity.

Focusing his eyes on the prize, Wydick struck out the side, 1-2-3, in the sixth to record his complete game victory and keep his team in the title hunt.

Overcoming some intermittent control problems, lefty Wydick explained how he got the job done.

"I was losing momentum," he said. "I tried to get momentum with throwing hard into the mitt. I pushed the curve ball the most."

Pac West journeyed to the championship round by first shutting out South Highline National Little League 3-0. Southwest defeated Pac West 5-2, dropping PE into the single elimination bracket. Pac West then edged out Rainier 9-7 before dropping National 10-0. Pac West followed by knocking out Southwest 10-0 to leave the frightening forest of the elimination round.

West Seattle survived its first two games, each by one run. First, came a 7-6 win against Rainier. In a nail-biter, West Seattle then stopped South Highline American 3-2. Blanking Southwest 4-0 left the West Seattle contingent as the only unbeaten team going into Thursday action.

Pac West players are Desmond Drew, Nick Mead, Kendall Spiess, Lukas Crippen, Jack Munden, Ryan Ward, Erik Anderson, Jacob Wydick, Jeff Kemp, Mitchell Corsak, and Ryne Phelan. Assisting Kemp is coach Mike Phelan. Mitch Stone serves as league president.

Players on the West Seattle roster are Sam Hellinger, Conner McCargo, Devin Smith, Danny Werlech, Nic Layton, D'Nique Harris-Welch, Sam Kennard, Coal Winters, Conner Desmond, Evan Clements, Nick Savas, Jordan Elliot, and Ryan Gale. Bob Hellinger's assistant coaches are Darren Forsell and David Gale. Rick Marksbury is the league president. The District 7 administrator is DuWayne Young, who has been involved with Little League as a volunteer since 1975 as a coach, safety officer, vice president, president and for the last 11 years as administrator.

AUBURN - Togetherness over time formed a strong bond that augmented the physical skills for the title-winning team on Tuesday, July 11, at Brannan Park.

"We're all such good friends," explained Federal Way National League's Decarlo Hall. "Most of us have played together since we were in T-Ball."

Federal Way National pitching prowess rendered the stinging Steel Lake offense nearly inert in bolting to a 9-1 win in the 2006 Washington State District 10 Junior Little League All-Star baseball championship game.

As a reward for staying unbeaten to earn the district title banner, the 13-14 year-olds reserved a berth at the state tournament in Kirkland.

"The kids pretty much played well from start to finish in the tournament," observed National manager Mike Barnhart. "They had error-free ball most of the way. Pitching was the deal. Jesse James Barnhart and Michael Manolides were our starting pitchers, and we rode their shirt tails."

FWNLL started its championship quest with pitcher Barnhart shutting out Renton South 10-0 before the Nationals defeated Soundview/Fife-Milton 8-5. Next up was a bludgeoning battle against Steel Lake. Exchanging punches for seven innings, the Nationals finally scored four runs in the eighth inning to escape the clutches of their tenacious opponents 14-10 and reach the championship round with an unblemished record.

"This was the only time I was scared during the tournament," admitted manager Barnhart.

For Steel Lake, it began with a 5-4 edging out of Kent. Following a 14-4 shelling of Bonney Lake-Sumner, Federal Way National blew away Renton North 18-7. After the spirited struggle against F.W. National dropped it into the elimination bracket, Steel Lake rebounded with a demonstrative 15-5 win against Tahoma and a 10-0 whitewash of Auburn - both wins shortened in innings due to the 10-run mercy rule - to once again face its nemesis, Federal Way National on Tuesday afternoon.

In the sequel to the stunning winners bracket semifinal, Steel Lake briefly gained the upper hand in the top of the second inning with a two-out rally. Jerrod Bachman singled before Brett Fitzgerald hammered home the lead run on a booming double.

Forthwith flashes of fiery offense sprang from the National bats with ringing concussions in the home half of the inning. Jesse "The Gunslinger" James Barnhart started the explosion with a walk. One strikeout later, Jake Henderson doubled into the left field gap to set up runners on second and third. Hall promptly tied the game 1-1 with a slicing single to right field. Connor Gleason's four-pitch walk loaded the bases for Cody Olson's run-scoring single and a 2-1 National margin.

Federal Way continued to accumulate runs. Blake Zimmerman's walk forced in a run to make the score 3-1 before a misplayed, hard bouncing grounder hopped out of the infield to give FWN two additional runs and a 5-1 dominance.

National struck for additional insurance in the fourth inning. Olson's two-run double keyed a four-run outburst for the game's final scoring.

Starting right handed hurler Manolides allowed four hits over five innings while striking out six batters.

"This game was a lot better than the Saturday extra inning game, he exulted. "I enjoyed having the lead almost the whole time. I just threw strikes. My arm felt good and I started throwing my curve ball. Jeff Apigo did a good job coming in for me."

Apigo pitched the final two scoreless innings, escaping a two-out single followed by a double in the sixth inning while finishing with four strike outs.

"It's just because we never give up," explained Apigo about his team's tournament success.

Clearly disappointed with the final results, SL's Fitzgerald said, "We could have played better today. Our hitting and fielding were equally good for us in this tournament."

Steel Lake's achievements were obvious to manager Brian Berkley.

"After that first loss, we came back to 10-run our opponents. There were great pitching performances, and the whole team played great. Except for this game, we came with our sticks. Wyatt Weimer and Brett pitched wonderfully. The kids played hard and well."

District 10 All-Star champion Federal Way National champion players are Blake Zimmerman, Michael Manolides, Ben Draeger, Jesse James Barnhart, Colten Olson, Jake Henderson, Decarlo Hall, Conner Gleason, Cody Olson, Jeffrey Apigo, Quinn Mulligan, Taylor Boyce, and Tyair Love. Manager Barnhart's assistant coaches are Paul Guthrie and Henry Apigo. Bill Foulkes is the league president.

Players Cody Castenega, Corbin White, Stephen Foster, Garrett Butler, Brandon Warren, Brett Fitzgerald, Jerrod Bachman, Jory Tisdale, Kevin Oyer, Ronnie Castagno, Dan Zumwalt, Jeff Edd, and Wyatt Weimer represent Steel Lake. Assistant coaches for manager Berkley are Gordon Oyer and Brent Edd. John Lindenauer is the league president.