Steel Lake is on the move, going down south where the oranges grow to take on the rest of the Western region state champions after their sweet, juicy, extra-inning 10-9 victory over PacWest in the Senior All Stars Little League State Tournament championship game at Moshier Field July 19.

Brian Thomason connected bat to ball for the game-winning RBI in this one and he had a single message for the southern, central and northern California champs, the New Mexico champs, the Arizona champs, the Hawaii champs, the Oregon champs, the Utah champs, the Idaho champs, and the.....

“That Steel Lake is coming to Cali and they better watch out,” said Thomason, whose team began week-long tournament play starting on July 29 in Upland, Calif.

This game was close between Steel Lake and PacWest, nine hits apiece, even though Steel Lake had another game to lose, being the winner’s bracket team. That means PacWest had to win one more having come through the loser’s bracket. PacWest lost its first game as well to Steel Lake, 6-5. That one was also great, a rousing comeback for Steel Lake for the important early-on tournament win in the bottom of the seventh inning July 15.

Steel Lake was in a much better position pitcher-wise.

“They were running out of pitching and we still had a couple kids left for the next game,” said Edd.

PacWest’s “strong” kid, Ryan Lingle, allowed hardly a run in the other two games he pitched at state. One game pitched was an easy win to start the tournament for Lingle’s PacWest team and the other was the barn-burner loss for Lingle to Steel Lake on the 15th that Lingle had a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh and got to his 97th pitch, was removed via the Little League pitch count rule.

“Same thing as last time,” said Edd. “We hit the ball. The only runs that kid gave up were to our team both games.”

Lingle pitched good in this one, good as one can for facing a good bunch of hitters for average, like Steel Lake’s offense. Same story went for PacWest; who were also hitting the ball, going up against the No.3 best pitcher, Erik Lindenauer, for Steel Lake, who pitched good in his six innings of work before the Little League rules’ 95 pitch count took him from the mound.

Lindenauer’s teammates backed him well to start out, combining for a double from Jared Bachman and a RBI single from Thomason to start the bottom of the first inning and get Steel Lake a lead, 1-0 early.

PacWest chipped away for a run in the top of the third to tie it 1-1.

Steel Lake left that score a distant memory quickly, scoring three runs on four hits as Jeff Edd led off the third with a single followed by a Thomason RBI double, followed by a Kevin Oyer RBI double, followed by a Campbell Flewelling RBI single, so it was 4-1.

PacWest took advantage of a Steel Lake infield error for an RBI, which came after a leadoff walk and made it 4-2. Another sacrifice to move the runner to second and a RBI single to center field made it closer, 4-3, Steel Lake.

In the bottom of four, right after PacWest scored, Steel Lake scored again on a Dan Zumwalk leadoff walk, a Flewelling walk, and a Travis Quackenbush 2-RBI single lined into left field that made it 6-3. An RBI double from Bachman made it 7-3.

PacWest showed that thought was true, once more coming back in the top of the fifth, scoring two runs on two hits.

In that inning, Lindenauer left for a new pitcher before the big hit that closed the Steel Lake lead to 7-5.

“He hasn’t been throwing much in districts,” said Edd, and, this was Lindenauer’s first appearance pitching at state for Steel Lake. “He was tight, didn’t have his full range of motion.”

But, against the good PacWest hitters, Lindenauer, even though his ledger showed five runs earned against him actually he had two of those runs unearned. So Lindenauer did just fine, seven innings, and allowing three earned runs before the 95-rule pitch count takes you out of the game. That is pretty good for not throwing at all in games prior at state and limited usage in districts, according to manager Edd.

So, the new pitcher for Steel Lake was not able to get things done, let’s note, as PacWest tied this game up, 7-7, in the top of the sixth following the other two runs in the top of five.

No matter for Steel Lake, who took every challenge to tie PacWest with aplomb, getting two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Flewelling opened with a walk. Edd singled, Quackenbush walked and Bachman singled after the runner was picked off first base by Lingle. Then Thomason had a 2-RBI single that made it 9-7.

PacWest, now going against a new pitcher for Steel Lake, Mason Lapping, in the top of the seventh, got two runs off him on two hits, doing a two-out rally in that one to knot it, 9-9.

Steel Lake did not score in the bottom of the seventh, setting up extra innings. In the top of eight, Lapping hit the opening batter of the inning before settling down and getting the team’s best hitter out next on a strikeout, and the next hitter out the same “K” way before a fly out to Edd at shortstop ended the threat for PacWest.

“I wasn’t very nervous,” said Lapping. “I just needed to get some outs.”

Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Steel Lake ended this two-hour plus game of great play and scoring back-and-forth all game long by a Quackenbush double to rev things up. Then, after a fly out to left field by the next batter, it was Thomason’s turn again and he turned loose on a high outside fastball perfectly, forearming it with precision into right field, away from the right fielder tailing into the corner.

“My offense came through in the end and really helped me out by getting some hits.”

Lapping was not the first choice his coach Edd and he himself said.

“We were running kind of low on pitching and they decided to give me a chance,” said Lapping.

And he did it just when his team needed it most. Because, although Steel Lake was in a better position for pitchers, they, too, were running low, with ace Quackenbush not able to pitch because he had thrown less than two days earlier, which is a Little League rest requirement of two days inbetween days pitched. And, Lindenauer was done and there was, although some, not a whole lot left for Steel Lake either if Thomason were to get into trouble in the second championship. Thank Thomason, that did not have to happen, and Lapping.

Like Thomason had all tournament, all season really, carrying the team’s highest batting average, .570, his hit was that something to help get his team on their way to Southern Cal.

Steel Lake and PacWest each hit the ball nine times in this game, speaking of the closeness and why it took a lot of help from the whole body of players to win it all for these players splitting up about half and half from Todd Beamer and Thomas Jefferson high schools and one living in Federal Way but attending Bellarmine.

This kind of win bodes well for future high school stars and winning this big tourney here and still going on gives them another set of games to play in together. It took a lot of players to make this happen. This Steel Lake team had to win three games before the championship to be the Washington state representative for the upcoming regional tournament. They beat Sky Valley (Snohomish/Monroe), 5-1, in a last-inning win, then, PacWest in the bottom of seven, then Fort Vancouver in a 10-run win.

Steel Lake senior all stars are Erik Lindenauer, Jeff Edd, Jerrod Bachman, Kevin Oyer, Travis Quackenbush, Brian Thomason, Mason Lapping, Sean Fogelberg, Ryan Rasmussen, Chaz Woo, Chris Nishimura, Jory Tysdal, Ty Zumwalt, Dan Zumwalt and Campbell Flewelling