A team of seniors from the Northwest Little League (NWLL) won the Washington State District 8 Championship on July 31 and earned a trip to the Western Regional Senior Tournament in Salem, Oregon.

The Regional Tournament began last week. In their first game on August 1, the Ballard based team lost to Nevada 8-6. On August 2, they rebounded with a win over Montana 6-4. Then came a 9-4 loss to Southern California on August 3.

NWLL Seniors need to beat Oregon and a host team from Salem in order to qualify for the semi-finals on August 7.

The NWLL Seniors learned they were scheduled to play in the regionals at the last minute, as parents and players packed up their bags and loaded their cars for the last minute trip south.

"We found out Thursday night that we had to be in Salem on Sunday (July 30). The parents are calling into work," said parent Mike Babcock, the former swimming coach at Ballard High School.

At the regional tournament, the NWLL Seniors faced eight other western state teams, including a team from Hawaii. The winner of the West Regional qualifies for the prestigious Little League's Senior Division World Series in Bangor, Maine.

NWLL Seniors are 15 and 16 year olds. They won the Little League District 8 Tournament in Woodinville earlier this month to advance to the state tournament in Vancouver, Washington.

At state, the NWLL Seniors outscored opposing teams by a total of 59 runs to 21 and won six out of seven games.

NWLL won two extra inning games against Auburn/Federal Way on their way to the championship round. Charlie Frost pitched 16 innings in the two games. Kevin Babcock hit a game winning RBI single in the bottom of the 8th to eliminate Auburn/Federal Way.

The Northwest team won two games against Jefferson/Port Townsend to claim the Washington State title.

Steven Dullum pitched a shut-out in six innings for a 10-0 win in game one against Jefferson/Port Townsend. Taylor Rush's 5th inning home run scored two runs and Mitch Wall was 3 for 3 with a RBI.

In the second Jefferson/Port Townsend game, Clayton Hevly went five innings on the mound to lead the NWLL Seniors to an 11-4 victory.

Babcock added a triple which scored three runs and Nick Tsagalakis had four base hits. Tsagalakis is the starting shortstop for the Ballard Beavers varsity team and is the school's top diver on the boy's swimming team.

The NWLL Seniors are loaded with veteran players who have competed together since they were nine years old. Last year the team finished fourth at state. Representing the Little League's District 8, this was their third district title. Last year the team won the Senior Division and the year before won the Junior

Division.

Players on the team are members of the varsity teams at Ballard, Nathan Hale, Ingraham, Bishop Blanchet and Shorewood high schools.

The News-Tribune will publish an updated story on the NWLL Seniors Western Regional Senior Tournament in the August 16 edition.