AUBURN-Steel Lake had its "Mojo" in motion to the tune of a title on Sunday, July 13 at Sunset Park.

Backed by solid defense, Mikey (Mojo) Mojica batted and pitched the Steel Lake All stars to a 4-1 if-necessary championship game victory at the 2008 Washington Majors (ages 11-12) District 10 Little League baseball tournament.

"We beat the giant," exclaimed SL manager Richard Price. "Kent was the two-time state champion."With Jake Koeltrman injured, everybody stepped it up. Everybody contributed. Everyone can make mistakes, so we have that little toilet in the dugout to remind us to flush out the mistakes. This is a great group of kids that take it one game at a time, including state. We have some good players and leadership from players like Mojo and Jordan (Price)."

The majority of this group participated in All Stars in previous years, winning no games as 10-year olds and one game in the 11's.

Steel Lake's next one game at a time chance presented itself on July 21 in a state battle at Freedom Field in Mill Creek.

On this Sunday at Sunset Park, pitching and defense ruled the field.

For three innings, Kevin Thompson no-hit Steel Lake, while Kyle Anderton's bases empty home run in the second inning against Mojica represented the only scoring.

Curve balls and off speed pitches continually undermined the batters.

With one out in the top of the fourth inning, Jesse Fite crushed a solo homer over the left field fence to end the no-hitter and shut out, knotting the game at 1-1.

"For this game, the pitcher was fooling us with a lot of curve balls, but this home run was on a fast ball high and outside," Fite said about his third home run in three games against Kent.

After the Anderton homer, Kent advanced runners onlt as far as second base in the third and fourth innings as Mojica scattered six hits over six innings.

Thompson's stellar three-hitter over 5 1/3 innings was marred only by Fite and the dramatic, deciding fifth inning curtain call by Mojica.

After two ground outs, Clayton Regher dynamited a single up the middle to join Drew Huttenlocker on the bases. On a majestic first pitch swing, Mojica blasted a three-run missile over the center field fence for the eventual winning runs.

"It was a high fast ball," related the mighty Mojica of his third home run off Thompson in two games. "He had been throwing mainly curves. When I saw fast ball, I just tagged it. I held on with my pitching because my team helped me on defense. We just flushed it."

Just the day before, Kent rebounded from the previous Wednesday's 10-4 winners bracket loss to Steel Lake with a turnaround 10-4 triumph, forcing the if-necessary rematch.

Riley Higgins' bases empty home run gave Kent a 1-0 lead before Steel Lake opened fire in the bottom of the first inning.

Legging out an infield single with one out, Mojica waited for one more out and was then air mailed home by a two RBI homer from Jesse Fite. Fite's second home run in two games against Kent gave SL a short-lived 2-1 lead.

A Kade Kryszko solo home run and Devin Riley's three-run homer gave the Kent All Stars a 5-2 margin. Hunter McSwain drilled a two-run four-baser that drew the Lake within 6-4 after four innings, but Kent quickly climbed away to victory.

Steel Lake took care of Tahoma, Chinook, Auburn and Kent before reaching the championship round unbeaten. Soundview reached the losers; bracket finals, but Kent elimnated SV to reach the championship games. Federal Way American was eliminated in the losers bracket semifinals by Kent while Federal Way National split its first two games before being edged out by Chinook.

Players Clayton Regher, Mikey Mojica, Jake Kolterman, Jordan Price, Jesse Fite, Hunter McSwain, Alex Poltz, Tommy Amato, Jacob Nugent, Drew Huttenlocker and Zach Lane represent Steel Lake.

Coaches Scott Kolterman and Dale Fite assist manager Price. Shannon Oyer serves as the league president.