In game one of their Senior all-stars District 7 state Little League tournament, Pac West knowingly beat Hazel Dell, combining error-free defense and solid pitching from Ryan Lingle -- beating the southwest Washington-area team, 8-0, at Moshier Field on July 12.

Knowingly?

Yes, these Pac West players know baseball. A few on this team played together on a Mike Werle-coached district champion Pac West Majors (11-12 age group) team, including his son, Luke, and Lingle.

It makes it easy then on this year's manager as far as coaching these kids is concerned about the rules of baseball.

"Luke knows what's going on. He's been taught well by his dad," said Pac West seniors manager John Ramirez.

But the whole team understands the game well, highlighted by Luke's leadership from his catcher spot. He pitches and can play the field, too, as can a lot of these players.

And batting? Usually coaches or managers are out there in the third base box, putting out a set of signs per batter. Not Ramirez so much.

"I have no signs," he said. "They know baseball. Every once in a while I will have a bunt sign. No need to make signs. They have been playing good all year."

Hazel Dell early on nearly got some momentum in the bottom of the second inning, getting a leadoff single. But then Werle, after a Lingle pitch, threw to first base and with the runner having leaned off too far he was tagged out trying to get back to first.

"That was nice, Luke really got me out of a jam," said Lingle, who not only had that leadoff single to worry about but the second batter after got on base with a single, too. So two were on base before Werle's gem of a pick-off throw from home to first.

Then, in the top of the third, Pac West's Skyler Servis and Joey Young both reached base on their at-bats on fielding errors before Jeremy Rowden came up to the plate for an RBI single to make it 1-0. Then Werle smashed the ball by the outstretched glove of the first baseman and Young and Rowden scored too make it 3-0.

The only bad news in all this was that Lingle, the No. 3 hitter, struck out in his at-bat in the top of three and grounded out in the fourth for Pac West.

"When I pitch, I concentrate on my pitching," he said. "When I'm hitting, I focus on hitting."

That’s good logic, because Lingle's pitching was right on as he threw a four-hitter and stayed below the 95 pitch count limit of Little League rules, so that meant he had a complete game.

"I was seeing my spots," said Lingle. "They were hitting my change-up but my curveball was on. My fastball was on."

Don't forget your catcher, a mom cried out.

"Good catching, too," said Lingle as Werle (the catcher) was walking out of the dugout after the game.

"He was lucky," said Werle, a wry smile crossing his face.

All but one or two of the players on the team will attend Highline High School.

The rest of the scoring in the opener at state for Pac West included Garrett Bojorquez with a two-RBI single, making it 5-0, in the top of the fourth, and, then Caleb Ramirez got another couple RBI off a hit in the top of five to make it 7-0. A walk to Kasey Daw and then a Ramirez single in the top of the seventh, bringing in Kasey Daw gave Pac West it's last run of the game of this Lingle complete game shutout over Hazel Dell.

Really good.

That’s how things are going so far for Pac West after this 11-8 game two win over East Jefferson, as they are very well representing District 7 at the Seniors all stars Little League state tournament at Moshier Field.

“It’s a good team,” said manager John Ramirez.

The winner goes to Upland, Calif. the end of this month for regional competition, and, if they win there, nationals are next.

East Jefferson, speaking of the regional rep from here, won the tourney last year for Washington State, but, in this game, it would be Pac West, with a rousing comeback, to knock EJ into the loser’s bracket.

Caleb Ramirez pitched well against EJ, with an assortment of pitches and a can-do attitude throughout the game even when things looked liked he could not do it.

Pac West scored two runs in the top of the first inning, on Joey Young’s double followed by Garret Bojorquez and Luke Werle singles to make it 2-0. EJ got one back, on one hit, in the bottom of the first for a 2-1 lead.

Then, in the top of the second, one run scored, following Ryan Lingle being hit by a pitch and getting all the way around the bases on a Jeremy Rowden double, a blast line-drive tailing looper into the left field corner that made it 3-1.

But then East Jefferson came storming back, scoring four runs on five hits in the bottom of the third to make it 5-3.

The Pac West players saw that as a challenge to do more than just chip away. In just the next inning, top of four, they put together five runs on three hits, including Ramirez, Rowden, and Lingle, all hit by pitches, the No. 3, 4, 7 hitters. So that’s a chunk of offense getting produced by other than the top hitters.

Starting off this nice comeback for Pac West, it was No. 7 hitter, Ramirez, hit by a pitch. Then No. 8 hitter, James Hovland, singled, and, Ramirez got to third base. Then, a Skyler Servis sacrifice, a tag out of Hovland running to second base, was just the ticket for Ramirez to get home and make it 5-4. Bojorquez singled next and Lingle was hit by pitch and the bases were loaded. Rowden was hit by a pitch and that forced in Servis to tie it, 5-5. Luke Werle was next up and he fought off an 0-2 count start (two strikes, no balls) to then smash the ball into the right-center gap, to the fence, and, all three runners ahead of him scored to put the score at 8-5.

Werle caught for Ramirez, who struggled some in this game, but, overall, he overcame, with confidence, his struggles. Werle pointed that all out.

“Caleb pitched really good,” said Werle. “All his pitches were working -- fastball, curve, change-up.”

What pitch was working most?

“I would say his two-seam,” said Werle. “They would be expecting his fastball and he would come with the two and it would drop right off. Caleb’s good fastball and off-speed stuff helped us win.”

The hitting helped too, as after that 8-5 lead East Jefferson would storm back a little more, getting a run in the top of five and six. But the Pac West hitting would weather any cloud of doubt of who would win this game, scoring too, with two more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to lead 11-7 after that. With EJ getting one more run on a sacrifice fly off relief pitcher Joey Young, ending this one as a three-run difference final favoring Pac West, knocking the returning state champ out of this one.

A pretty formidable force, two games and two wins, Luke?

“I guess you could say so,” said Werle.

Ramirez allowed 10 hits while walking only one and he only left three on base. He also was recovering from an oblique (side) muscle pull he suffered prior to the district tournament. He did not pitch at all in that one because of the soreness. But he was back in the saddle on the hill in this one and said things were really good.

Pac West’s game 3 of the Seniors All Stars Little League State Tournament would not go so according to form, in the end. They lost to Steel Lake, on a seventh inning rally, 6-5, that included the lights going out at 11 p.m. to postpone the last half inning’s last out until the following day in action July 15 at Moshier Field.

July 16 became necessary because Steel Lake came back from being three runs down, 5-2, entering the bottom of the seventh and then it was 5-5 and 10:59.

Mike Wydick, District 7 Administrator, could be heard a little earlier saying, “We tried to get the city to delay turning off the lights, but it was not possible to do.”

So, backing up to the good points of the game, when the light of day looked like a Pac West victory, so to speak, is where we go.

Actually, Steel Lake scored first in this game, too, taking a 2-0 lead after the first inning on three hits and a sacrifice fly.

Pac West finally got things going in the top of the fourth, rustling for some offense via a Garrett Bojorquez single and a shortstop error of a Ryan Lingle hit. Then a bunt single from Jeremy Rowden between the charging first baseman and pitcher loaded the bases. Luke Werle’s RBI single next made it no longer a shutout and made it 2-1. Kasey Daw’s RBI sacrifice fielder’s choice allowed Rowden to score and make it 2-2.

In the top of five, Pac West scored again to take a 5-2 lead on a Servis leadoff hit-by-pitch, a Joey Young walk, a Lingle blooper to right field to load the bases, and a Rowden two-RBI single that made it 4-2 before Daw’s sacrifice scored Lingle to make it 5-2.

In the bottom of the seventh, Steel Lake led off with a double that was followed by an infield error of a hot grounder to shortstop followed by another even harder hit to shortstop that, this time, took a noticeable bad hop. That made it 5-3, nevertheless. A two-RBI came next to make it 5-5. There were two outs by this time. Then the lights went out and Steel Lake came back at 3 p.m. on July 16 to score another and win it.

“I thought we should have had it,” said Ramirez, who won the game before against East Jefferson as the pitcher of record.

“Us and them are the two best teams,” said James Hovland. “If another team went to state, it should be them.”

A good comeback win for Pac West, highlighted by a James Hovland two-RBI, untying single and Caleb Ramirez’ second win pitching, made for the biggest headlines of a 10-4 win over North Central of the Seattle area in the losers bracket of the Senior All Stars Little League State Tournament at Moshier Field July 16.

This was game No. 4 of the tourney for Pac West.

This North Central conquering followed a tough 6-5 loss to Steel Lake in game three, in the winner’s bracket semifinal finished off just a couple or so hours earlier the same day, thanks to a lights-out extension of a tie 5-5 game at that time, Pac West quickly got themselves going again in win-or-go-home time.

“That (Steel Lake loss) was a downer,” said Caleb Ramirez, who pitched the last two innings of this North Central one and got the win.

“I was kind of down,” said Ramirez. “Really tired the night before too.”

So, to come back and play the next day, being tired, then lose, was tough on Ramirez and the same “tired” argument could be said of all these players that did not get to sleep until well after midnight.

That said, North Central perhaps took advantage of that Pac West tiredness early on in this one, at least they did score three runs in their top of the second inning to lead 3-1 after two innings. Then in the top of the third, North Central extended that lead of theirs, with an error at third base.

So, down 4-1, Pac West seemed to get things going in the bottom of the fourth after escaping the top of the third inning with three NC runners left on base. Leading off the Pac West third half was Lingle, singling up the middle. Then Werle got an RBI single to cut the North Central lead, 4-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, everything changed for the better for Pac West, as Lingle opened with a walk, then Werle walked and Daw singled to right field. That brought up the next batter, swinging and striking out. Two outs and the bases loaded was the situation for next batter, the No. 8 hitter in the lineup, James Hovland. His day before against Steel Lake did not go so well, with no hits. He was 0-1 in this game already, too. But, with his team needing some sort of momentum to wake them up, Hovland became the hero. He singled up the middle and two scored to knot it at 4-4.

“He came through for us,” said Ramirez.

Hovland did. The inning ended and North Central was shut down by Ramirez, who actually threw 27 pitches in his first inning of relief work but scattered a couple walks with fly balls to first and second bases and a strikeout.

In the bottom of the sixth, Pac West scored the go-ahead runs, and then some, so to speak, after a succession of plays: on a Young error hit to shortstop, a Bojorquez hit by pitch, a double steal, and a Rowden and Ramirez RB double and single, respectively, that made it 8-4. Brooks Allen then walked, with the bases loaded, to force in Rowden and make it 9-4. One more walk with the bases already loaded made it 10-4, Pac West.

“We’re having fun, that’s why we are winning,” said Hovland.

Good recipe for success -- having fun and winning.