AUBURN - As the early evening heat beat down on the Sunset Park baseball field, southpaw Shawn Guinn scorched the plate for 11 strikeouts, allowing only two hits over five innings, to lead the Auburn All Stars to a winners bracket 3-0 shut out win against Steel Lake last Wednesday at the 2007 Washington State District 10 Little League Majors (age 11-12) Baseball tournament.
While Auburn needed to win one of two possible games on Saturday (after press time), Steel Lake was forced to win three games in a row to claim the district title and state berth.
Through four innings, Steel Lake trailed only 1-0 after Auburn had gained the advantage by way of three walks and a hit batter in the first inning. Starting Steel Lake right hander Zack Kolterman escaped damage in the second inning when he fielded a ground ball and threw to second baseman Jake Kolterman who completed the double play with a perfect strike to first baseman Peter Bennett.
Zack Kolterman finished his four innings on the mound with a two-hitter and two strike outs, allowing only the single first inning run.
In the top of the fifth, an infield error followed by Peter Bennett's seeing-eye single gave Steel Lake hope. Guinn responded by bearing down to strike out the bottom three in the SL batting line up for the second time to keep the lead intact.
After walking Auburn's lead off batter in the fifth, hurler Kolterman yielded the mound to relief pitching which gave up a single and Adam Parke's home run.
Steel Lake's last chance in the sixth began on Tyler Finneseth's lead off walk, but died abruptly when Justin Jacobs took over the hill from Guinn to retire the next three batters and save the all important unbeaten skein for Auburn.
For the game Sam Kosbab's second inning, high bouncer for an infield single joined Bennett's base hit as the only offense for SL. Auburn pitching allowed only one runner to reach as far as second base.
"I think he (Guinn) threw pretty hard and the heat took something out of our kids," explained Steel Lake manager Scott Kolterman. "We had a big win against Kent and we got a little overconfident or something."
After a tournament opening 6-3 against Soundview, the Steel Lake All Stars took a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning and held off a late charge to deal the Kent All Stars a 3-2 defeat. This was Kent's first District 10 loss in this age group in two years.
